Slash Time to Market for Delivering Mobile Services

Consumers are eager to subscribe to the latest in high-value mobile data services. Telecom companies need a simple way to respond to these demands while cutting the cost, complexity, and headaches involved in delivering and billing for these services.

Sometimes less really is more.

In an industry where the first service to reach the market almost always wins, slashing the time required to develop and deliver mobile services can radically raise communications service providers' profit potential.

Cutting the cost, complexity, and headaches involved in delivering and billing for services also opens new revenue streams. And reduced licensing and upgrade fees for the software solutions used to power the delivery of services is another tangible benefit, allowing companies to plan ahead and incorporate new technology without hassles or sudden network interruptions.

An Integrated—and Integratable—Solution

Sun Java System software from Sun Microsystems offers mobile carriers all these benefits—and more.

"Service delivery is an incredibly competitive field; you need to be the first to market. Sun Java System has reduced time to market for service delivery from two to three months down to just a few weeks, saving some Sun clients hundreds of millions of dollars in the process," says John Haliwell, Sun executive director of worldwide strategic solutions, software.

"And of course there's more to it than just being fast. Sun Java System also offers solutions to manage the entire service delivery process—from development to billing."

Integrating data is also key.

"It's all about accelerating delivery time for service providers, while reducing management cost and complexity across the board," says Chris Gianelli, Sun telecom industry manager. "So many providers are struggling with isolated islands of information on their networks. Sun Java System brings integration to the network and gets everything working together in a very cost-effective way."

The Sun Java System platform is an open, integratable stack of building blocks that enables a complete service delivery solution.

"Open" means that Sun Java System components adhere to industry standards; "integratable" means that it's easy to add a variety of targeted solutions to the complete package.

"All Sun Java System elements have been designed to operate together perfectly," Gianelli explains. "It's a complete end-to-end solution that can be configured to suit each client's individual needs."

And there are no hassles with costly updates, Haliwell adds. Sun's Java Enterprise System, formerly known as Project Orion, is a sensible way to keep technology up-to-date. The system delivers updates to the Sun Java System software stack every quarter, making the upgrade process headache-free, affordable, and predictable.

Service Delivery to Smile About

In order for telecommunications companies to make the transition from supplying basic telecom services to providing high-value mobile data services, they need a new layer of service delivery infrastructure, says Roy Sehgal, vice president of business development for July Systems, which develops service delivery platforms for next-generation mobile data.

This infrastructure must be flexible enough to support multiple business models and must include advanced capabilities for creating, deploying, delivering, and charging for services, Sehgal explains.

Sehgal's company has developed the July Meta-Service System (JMSS), which coordinates all three dimensions of an operator's service environment: network and enabling infrastructure, internal and third party applications, and subscribers. The service delivery platform also equips carriers with all the technology and business capabilities required to deploy and deliver mobile content, applications, and other services easily and—most important—profitably.

For July Systems, developing products that adhere to open standards is paramount. The company does not want to lock customers into a proprietary, exclusionary solution.

"July is working with the Sun Java System framework because of its synergy with July's standards-based vision of open, flexible architectures for the delivery of multiparty mobile data services," says Sehgal. "July uses Java throughout all components of JMSS. Sun Java System solutions give July and our customers a flexible and scalable platform for building and deploying services on demand."

July offers its service delivery platform in a range of variations designed to address operators' short-term, medium-term, and long-term requirements and varied data services strategies.

JMSS is currently in pilot tests and commercial rollouts with leading operators in the Asia-Pacific and European markets. Customers are using JMSS in collaboration with third-party application developers and content providers to roll out Java technology-based applications, multimedia messaging services, audio and video streaming, and e-mail.