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Leading IT infrastructure companies to support open mobile architecture initiative to drive mobile software and services market
December 18, 2001
BEA Systems, Inc., Borland Software Corporation, Hewlett-Packard Company, IBM, Oracle and Sun Microsystems, Inc., the leading IT infrastructure and application server vendors, today announced their support for the open mobile architecture initiative, reflecting growing endorsement of an open standards based mobile architecture that will drive the adoption of mobile software and services. These companies plan to work closely together with the mobile communications industry to leverage web applications in the mobile context and bring mobile extensions to the fixed Internet infrastructure.
The companies intend to focus on creating interoperable server solutions for service providers, corporations and mobile operators. Joint specifications will be developed in full compliance with the guidelines provided by the relevant industry standardization bodies.
The IT industry's commitment to the open mobile architecture initiative marks the beginning of the next phase of mobile services, by incorporating a mobile extension for Java(TM) 2 Platform Enterprise Edition (J2EE) based application servers. This effort will lead to the development of uniform mobile application programming interfaces (APIs), providing developers with optimal tools for incorporating mobility in their applications and thus fuel worldwide growth of mobile services and third-party software innovation.
The companies recognize that creating applications for the mobile context poses unique challenges to developers. However, widely used and best-in-class user interface implementations can reduce development and deployment costs, while opening up access to a new and larger customer base. Developers will be able to address both web- and mobile customers with the same underlying application design and maintain superior usability in both environments.
The companies have agreed to work together with operators and network infrastructure manufacturers to facilitate the creation of mobile services using J2EE application servers. A target of this joint work is to hide the infrastructure complexity and leverage the unique characteristics of mobile networks, such as presence, location awareness and mobile authentication. Ultimately, this is expected to bring greater choice of services for consumers and corporations in a non-fragmented platform environment.
New products and solutions combining the mobile domain with the World Wide Web will be based on open mobile architecture enablers, such as Java(TM) and 3GPP compliant technologies, such as WAP2.0/XHTML, MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) and SyncML. In order to facilitate the specification process in the J2EE API technology domain, the companies have agreed to jointly prepare the specification proposals prior to submitting them to the Java Community Process (JCP (SM)).
Today's announcements further compounds the industry's commitment to the open mobile architecture initiative announced at Comdex, Las Vegas (November 13th). At the Las Vegas tradeshow, mobile communication industry leaders jointly announced their aim of creating a global and open mobile software and services market. Industry stakeholders also came together to boost the early introduction of new, interoperable mobile internet access and visual content downloading services worldwide, utilizing the GSM/GPRS evolution and future 3G mobile telecommunications networks based on WCDMA technology.
The scope of the open mobile architecture initiative encompasses terminal client software modules for mobile terminal vendors and the corresponding server solutions. By following consistent global and open standards, these industry leaders will be able to provide their customers with a wide selection of different competitive, yet interoperable solutions and services, and hence promote significant industry growth, as well as ensure that economies of scale are enjoyed throughout the industry.
"Nokia is delighted to see that the charter for open mobile architecture is gaining momentum and expanding to the IT infrastructure domain. It is important that BEA Systems, Borland, HP, IBM, Oracle and Sun share the view with the leading telecommunications companies in November on the significance of open standards in the making of the future digital services environment. Together, we are laying the foundation for an architecture that will bridge the mobile and web domains, creating a seamless user experience and enabling truly powerful services. Server infrastructure application interfaces, such as mobile APIs for J2EE, have a key role in the creation of an interoperable services market. We are confident that global open standards will boost competition and bring the best solutions for the highly demanding mobile customers," said Pertti Korhonen, Senior Vice President, Mobile Software, Nokia.
"BEA is an enthusiastic supporter of convergence in pervasive computing technologies," said Scott Dietzen, chief technical officer of BEA Systems, Inc. "To date, the many successful multi-channel end-users and ISVs have been challenged by the need to support literally hundreds of different wireless devices, as well as multiple mark-up languages, protocols, standards, and location-based services. We fully believe the commitment to standards such as J2EE, J2ME, XHTML, and SyncML is key to reducing the complexity in this space. This initiative is well designed to help apply the "Web effect" to the wireless marketplace, which in turn will make it easier for our customers to build multi-channel applications for pervasive clients."
"Borland and Nokia share a common vision for the next generation of mobile applications. These applications will be written and deployed "end-to-end" from the mobile device through the network infrastructure to the integrated enterprise and Internet servers," said Ted Shelton, senior vice president and chief strategy officer, Borland. "Borland has a history of fully implementing industry standards to ensure interoperability across the enterprise runtime infrastructure. Working with industry leaders on open standards such as the open mobile architecture underscores Borland's strategy to provide a complete application development and deployment environment across multiple wireless platforms."
"We are delighted to be a part of this industry-wide initiative and, importantly, believe that it will stimulate value creation for customers as their lives become increasingly mobile", said Rich DeMillo, vice president and chief technology officer, HP. "HP has a rich tradition of championing open standards and market-unifying architectures as they help our customers by leveling the playing field for developers and paving the way for widespread innovation."
"We are encouraged by the coalescence of the industry around a common architecture for building mobile applications and its collective endorsement of core open industry standards. " says Jon Prial, vice president of marketing and strategy for IBM's Pervasive Computing Division. "Consumers and businesses alike will benefit from a concerted industry initiative to speed the deployment of the next generation of mobile services."
"Oracle has a long history of providing our carrier and enterprise customers with J2EE based open-standards support for the development and deployment of wireless applications on Oracle9i Application Server," said Denise Lahey, senior vice president of the mobile products and services division at Oracle Corp. "We look forward to accelerating the adoption of mobile software and services through participation in the open mobile architecture initiative."
"Sun is committed to open standards and is supportive of this industry-wide initiative to create an open mobile architecture using Java technology because it provides greater choice in the global market for mobile software and services," said Patricia Sueltz, executive vice president for the Software Systems Group at Sun Microsystems, Inc.
About BEA
BEA Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: BEAS) is one of the world's leading application infrastructure software companies, with more than 11,800 customers around the world, including the majority of the Fortune Global 500. BEA and its WebLogicŪ brand are among the most trusted names in e-business. Businesses built on the award-winning BEA WebLogic E-Business Platform(TM) are reliable, highly scalable, and poised to bring new services to market quickly. BEA's-business platform is the de facto standard for more than 2,100 system integrators, independent software vendors (ISVs) and application service providers (ASPs) to provide complete solutions that fast-track and future-proof e-businesses for high growth and profitability. Headquartered in San Jose, Calif., BEA has 96 offices in 34 countries and is on the Web at www.bea.com.
About Borland
Borland Software Corporation (NASDAQ NM: BORL) is a leading provider of technology used to develop, deploy, and integrate software applications. Delivering best-in-class technology solutions dedicated to interoperability, Borland allows enterprises of all sizes to move into Web-based computing while leveraging legacy systems. From the Fortune 1000 to the Borland Nation comprised of millions of developers around the world, Borland provides customers the freedom to develop applications, deploy them anywhere, and integrate and manage them across the enterprise. Borland solutions enable organizations to increase productivity and deliver higher performance projects faster and on budget, while lowering total cost of ownership.
Founded in 1983, Borland is headquartered in Scotts Valley, California with operations worldwide. To learn more, visit Borland at www.borland.com, the community site at community.borland.com, or call Borland at (800) 632-2864.
About HP
Hewlett-Packard Company -- a leading global provider of computing and imaging solutions and services -- is focused on making technology and its benefits accessible to all. HP had total revenue of $45.2 billion in its 2001 fiscal year. Information about HP and its products can be found on the World Wide Web at www.hp.com.
About IBM
IBM is the world's leading e-business company offering a wide range of services, solutions, software and technologies that allow businesses to take full advantage of the exploding wireless market. IBM's pervasive computing and wireless solutions extend new and existing e-business applications to the emerging class of connected devices and appliances. IBM has pioneered mobile e-business across many industries, geographic locations, and the three key business segments: business-to-employee; business-to-business; and business-to-consumer. Together with our partners, we have developed mobile solutions in the health care, financial services, retail, travel, utilities, government, and public and telecommunications industries. More information about IBM can be found on the web at www.ibm.com.
About Nokia
Nokia is the world leader in mobile communications. Backed by its experience, innovation, user-friendliness and secure solutions, the company has become the leading supplier of mobile phones and a leading supplier of mobile, fixed broadband and IP networks. By adding mobility to the Internet Nokia creates new opportunities for companies and further enriches the daily lives of people. Nokia is a broadly held company with listings on six major exchanges. www.nokia.com
About Oracle
Oracle is the world's largest enterprise software company. For more information about Oracle, visit our Web site at www.oracle.com.
About Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision -- The Network Is The Computer[tm] -- has propelled Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ: SUNW) to its position as a leading provider of industrial-strength hardware, software and services that power the Internet and allow companies worldwide to take their businesses to the nth. Sun can be found in more than 170 countries and on the World Wide Web at www.sun.com.
Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation. Sun, Sun Microsystems, the Sun logo, Java, J2EE and JCP are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners
For further information, please contact:
Nokia,
Communications, Mobile Software
Tel. +358 71800 8000
Tel. +358 7180 73559
Open-Mobile.Architecture-Comms@nokia.com
Megan Matthews
Director
Corporate Communications
Nokia Inc. (Americas)
tel. + 1 972 894 4267
megan.matthews@nokia.com
Christina Grenier
BEA Systems, Inc.
+1-408-570-8330
christina.grenier@bea.com
Amanda Williams,
Borland Software Corporation,
Tel. +44 (0) 118 924 1428
awilliams@borland.com
Virginia Dimpfl
Hewlett-Packard Company
WW Business Customer Organization
PR Manager, Partners & Solutions
+1 408 447 1695
virginia_dimpfl@hp.com
IBM Corporation
My Luu
Manager, Public Relations
Tel +1-914-766-3055
myluu@us.ibm.com
Reema Bahnasy
Oracle Corp.
Public Relations
Tel. +1 650.506.3397
reema.bahnasy@oracle.com
Russ Castronovo,
Public Relations
Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Tel. +1 408 863 3306
russ.castronovo@sun.com
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