A Winning Game Plan for Mobile Content Delivery
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Nov 2005
A Winning Game Plan for Mobile Content Delivery Allowing customers to download a hockey theme song as a cell-phone ring tone is just the beginning of what carriers like Canada's Bell Mobility can do with a flexible content delivery solution. In early 2002, Bell Mobility began to search for a partner that could help it roll out Java technology-based devices and services. Bell Mobility was specifically interested in support for wireless downloading of applications to CDMA handsets. Bell Mobility chose a solution from Pixo, which simplified the deployment of new services by seamlessly integrating J2ME technology with the Sun Solaris Operating System and Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE platform) technology. Last November, Canadian cell phones came alive with the sounds of hockey. Bell Mobility, Canada's leading wireless provider and a division of Bell Canada, had provided its users with exclusive access to a ring tone of Canada's beloved "Hockey Night in Canada" theme song, which has played at the start of all televised hockey games in Canada since 1968. The song has become the country's second, albeit unofficial, national anthem. Web sites are dedicated to it, children learn to play it in school music classes, and even those who don't know the difference between a helmet and a hat trick can hum it. Fans were thrilled to be able to download the ring tone from Bell Mobility, which is known for providing unique services that its users really want. "For a while there, everywhere you went in Toronto cell phones were playing the hockey theme," says Ontario-based systems analyst Ian McCullum. "And when a phone rang people would smile and walk up and ask how they could get that ring tone. It was like Bell had thousands upon thousands of live advertisements in this city. It was viral marketing at its very best." Java Technology Scores Big In early 2002, Bell Mobility began to search for a partner that could help it roll out Java technology-based devices and services. Bell Mobility was specifically interested in support for wireless downloading of applications based on Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition (J2ME platform) technology to CDMA handsets. The company wanted to provide ring tones and screen wallpaper as well as innovative content to its users. And it wanted to deliver automated notifications to subscribers who had opted to receive updates and news in selected content categories. After evaluating the available solutions, Bell Mobility chose a solution from Pixo, which Sun Microsystems recently acquired. Pixo had developed technology to manage the secure distribution and management of digital content for mobile subscribers. Pixo's technology simplified the deployment of new services by seamlessly integrating J2ME technology with the Sun Solaris Operating System and Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE platform) technology. Offering downloadable digital content requires a robust infrastructure to manage access, billing, and distribution to all those mobile devices. The Sun Open Net Environment (Sun ONE) Content Delivery Server is high-performance server software that simplifies the process of managing wireless content applications and distributing them to subscribers. Bell Mobility required a solution that could centralize digital content management, ensure secure content downloading, and customize subscriber interfaces quickly. It also wanted to make it as easy as possible for developers to add new content regardless of whether subscribers owned new or legacy handsets.
Keeping a Winning Edge An important competitive difference was Sun ONE Content Delivery Server's ability to serve up content beyond basic ring tones and wallpaper, says Brian O'Shaughnessy, vice president of wireless technology at Bell Mobility. "Being first to market with this solution has enabled Bell Mobility to reassert its position as an industry leader," he says. Sun ONE Content Delivery Server allows customers to search for and select new content to download from their PCs or via their mobile phones. Digital rights management (DRM) features allow rights and permissions to be applied to the content, giving users flexible options. For example, applications can be set to run in evaluation mode, allowing customers a chance to try before they buy. And the solution enables Bell Mobility to automate and streamline application management and testing, a critical quality control tool. Meanwhile, the Subscriber Portal component provides dynamic location access, a particularly important feature for Bell Mobility, which offers content to French- and English-speaking customers. Finally, Bell Mobility's application distribution platform had to easily integrate with the company's existing network infrastructure prepaid and postpaid billing, short message service centers (SMSC), LDAP subscriber database, a new WAP 2.0 gateway, a push proxy gateway (PPG), and SMTP--as well as demonstrate the ability to integrate into its network management system. The product delivered all this and more. In June, Bell Mobility introduced Canada's first enhanced content download service. Since then, customers have downloaded games such as Sony Pictures Entertainment's Jeopardy, ring tones such as Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, and screensavers such as--surprise--hockey logos. In a span of just six weeks, the service offerings grew from 40 available downloads to more than 1,800. Now Bell Mobility looks forward to working with Sun to achieve sustained business results and develop new services, O'Shaughnessy says. Content Delivery Takes MVP After extensive evaluations and lab testing at Bell Mobility's service provider lab, Bell Mobility licensed Sun ONE Content Delivery Server for use in its application distribution system. In addition to evaluating the solution's key features, Bell Mobility subjected the system to load and stress testing. Rapid response times and the ability to support high availability through clustering and load balancing were required. Sun ONE Content Delivery Server maintained or beat the target response times during prolonged and repeated exposure to peak loads. "Application downloading is a key service for Bell Mobility," says Reade Barber, associate director of Bell Mobility. "We selected the Sun ONE Content Delivery Server because it will enable us to offer a broad suite of consumer and business application downloads with the ability to easily keep content updated to meet customer demand." Equally critical is usability. After all, the best content delivery system in the world is useless if customers don't have access to it. With Sun ONE Content Delivery Server, users can be alerted to new content they might enjoy based on previous downloads, or they can be notified when a new upgrade or add-on is available for content or applications they already have. And the solution makes secure payments easy. The technology can also be extended to interoperate with the Java Card Subscriber Identity Module (SIM), a swappable card that can be moved from device to device while maintaining the user's identity, so that, as mobile devices become more sophisticated, a user could download music to a PC then transfer it to a mobile phone that has an MP3 player built in. Or a user could download games to a phone and a PDA using the same billing account and password. SIM cards are widely used in GSM phones in Europe and Asia. Sun is confident that the Sun ONE Content Delivery Server will prove useful in the enterprise. Companies could, for example, use it to disseminate product information and sales updates to a mobile sales force. Additional Information: Get details on the Sun ONE Content Delivery Server. Learn more about the Sun technologies Bell Mobility uses in conjunction with the Sun ONE Content Delivery server: |
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