du selects Openwave's Context Aware Mediation platform to enhance its growing IP mobile traffic

Openwave Systems. (Nasdaq: OPWV), a global software innovator delivering context-aware mediation and messaging solutions, today announced that du, the integrated telecom service provider in the United Arab Emirates, has selected several products from the Openwave Context Aware Mediation suite.

The products include Openwave Media Optimizer, Openwave Web Optimizer, Openwave Integra, Openwave Web Adapter, and Openwave Media Adapter, and are expected to help du better manage and monetise its mobile network traffic through the optimisation of Web and video content delivery to a wide range of mobile devices.

“We wanted the most efficient way to manage our growing network traffic so that we could improve our users' experiences, while at the same time create new services,” said Hatem Bamatraf, Senior Vice-President - Network Development, du.

“We believe the quality of Openwave's Context-Aware Mediation solutions will provide us with the advanced technology needed to deal with all types of traffic, especially online video through Openwave Media Optimizer. These targeted solutions are expected to also help us provide customers with the products and services they really want when they want them, and all at affordable prices.”

Openwave's Context Aware Mediation solutions operate through an open, IP framework and are expected to serve as a single control point for du's total traffic management. These Openwave solutions will enable policy control, content adaptation and Web and media optimisation, allowing du to offer a variety of advanced services, while simultaneously improving the overall user experience.

“Data growth in emerging markets is on the increase and operators need an intelligent way to manage this new influx of Web and video traffic,” said John Giere, senior vice-president of products and marketing, Openwave.

“Openwave's Context-Aware Mediation suite combines a powerful, next-generation service mediation and policy management engine that's designed to allow operators to effectively grow customer revenue while lowering operating costs. Openwave is pleased to begin a budding relationship with du - an established UAE-based company with a global reputation - and we look forward to providing them with outstanding products and support.”

Openwave Media Optimizer is an intelligent, scalable, and policy-aware video delivery solution that enables the reduction of data transmission costs and works to improve the online video experience across any device.

Media Optimizer provides content-aware compression that works to ensure that perceived video quality remains the same after compression, reducing costs while increasing effective bandwidth. . Media Optimizer's advanced caching also helps eliminate the need for operators to deploy hundreds of servers to manage traffic during peak traffic periods.

Openwave Web Optimizer uses compression, caching and transcoding techniques to increase data transfer rates over du's wireless data networks while decreasing the amount of traffic flowing over the network. Web Optimizer delivers faster browsing speeds and more immediate access to content while conserving valuable bandwidth.

Openwave's Integra platform orchestrates and mediates mobile Internet services with a rich policy-rules engine, allowing each transaction to be processed based on factors including user profile, device capabilities, content and network type. As traffic increases, Integra can rapidly scale to deploy new mobile data services across converging access networks and devices.

Openwave Web Adapter takes content requests from mobile phones for standard Web sites and converts the Web pages into highly compressed, functional mobile phone-compliant WAP2 pages. Web Adapter enables subscribers to access the vast majority of the Web on their mobile phones in a mobile-compatible format and provides access to more of the Web on a WAP2-standard phone than any other competing product.

Passport allows operators to offer a range of different data access plans to their subscribers, from a monthly recurring plan with specified “fair usage” limits to a more flexible pay-as-you-go, time-based “pass” that might be more suitable to the casual data user.

Passport monitors the user's activity (by time or traffic volume) and can proactively inform them when appropriate events such as allocated quotas being reached, changes to their service plan, new data changes that may apply or new services that may be of interest. The subscriber may also manage their service plans directly with on-demand access to time and/or volume “meters” and options for extensions or upgrades.

Openwave Media Adapter converts Web objects - including audio/video clips and MS Office documents - to a format suitable for your mobile handset. Specialised content is presented simply and intuitively as a Web page, an image, an appropriately resized media file or a stream. Media Adapter increases Web traffic by improving Web usability - users get the content they want on their devices, in the same PC-style format.