Networks line up for single telco device

AccuRoam promises to merge fixed and mobile communications and let customers move seamlessly between connections, writes John Collins

A Dublin-based software firm staffed by senior executives of pioneering telecoms software outfit Aldiscon is close to announcing a new product that promises an end to one of the great quests for telecoms providers - convergence of fixed and mobile communications.

Sources close to Accuris Networks say that the new AccuRoam product will allow users to roam between a variety of networks - GSM mobile, 3G mobile, Wi-Fi or broadband - using one device with a single phone line. It is believed to be the first off the shelf product for the so-called fixed mobile convergence market. The product will be sold to network operators and is installed at the back-end of their infrastructure.

As well as selling direct, Accuris has a number of sales partners including HP and Logica CMG which have a significant number of telecoms customers. If Accuris can crack this market, the upside potential is massive - some analysts have predicted the market for fixed mobile convergence products could be worth $9 billion (€7.4 billion) by 2009. Telecoms operators are keen to provide convergence products for a variety of business reasons. With mobile handsets coming on the market that can access Wi-Fi and other networks based around the IP protocol that underpins the majority of modern networks, savvy consumers are able to reduce their call costs by making calls using voice over internet protocol (VoIP) services such as Skype.

While the operators may get a cut of this revenue if they operate the hotspot that the user roams onto, if customers use a home or corporate network the telco is basically cut out of the equation.

A product like AccuRoam would enable telecoms to offer services to customers over a variety of networks but, more importantly, control which networks their customers roam onto. All of this can be achieved on a single handset with a single phone number that will reach the customer regardless of the network that they roam onto.

While a user is in the office their phone would connect to the corporate IP network and make and receive calls using VoIP. When they leave the office, the phone would seamlessly switch over to a 3G/CDMA network where coverage is available or a GSM network in rural areas. The same phone can also use VoIP to communicate over public Wi-Fi hotspots in hotels or airports for example and can utilise a broadband connection in the home.

The user sees no difference but, by utilising the different networks, operators can provide a range of new services and also optimise profits by using the cheapest available connection.

The industry as a whole is approaching this type of multi-network connectivity with the IP Multimedia System (IMS) specification which is being supported by a number of vendors. Not surprisingly given the potential size of the market, Accuris Networks will face stiff competition from a variety of sources. Two other software companies addressing the same problem are Chicago-headquartered BridgePort Networks and Canadian outfit NewStep Networks. Traditional voice and networking companies such as Cisco and Avaya are also looking at providing a single point of contact for all IP-based communications and are forging links with mobile equipment makers.

What can give Accuris its edge is the strong pedigree its senior management has in the area of mobile convergence. In 1996, while at Aldiscon, they deployed a system for the Atlanta Olympics that enabled roaming between digital GSM and the analog AMPS system which was popular in the US at the time. In 2000 they provided CDMA, part of the 3G mobile standard, to GSM roaming for Motorola and the Iridium satellite network.

Last year it provided a data roaming solution that allowed subscribers to Israeli network Pelephone to move between CDMA and GPRS networks - in effect a prototype of the AccuRoam product that is expected to be unveiled next week.

To date, the company has been backed by its founders - all of whom were formerly senior executives at Aldiscon and Apion, which was its Northern Ireland development centre but was spun out when Aldiscon was acquired by Logica for $85 million in 1997.

Apion was subsequently acquired by Phone.com at the height of the tech boom in 1999 for $239 million. Senior management at Accuris include chief executive Aidan Dillon, who headed up engineering at Aldiscon, chief technology officer Louis Corrigan and head of sales Malachy McGuinness, while Larry Quinn, an Aldiscon founder, is chairman of the board.

The company is headquartered in Dublin with sales and support offices in Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Grenoble and Boston. It currently employs 40 people but this is expected to grow. Next week Accuris will also announce a multimillion euro investment from Atlantic Bridge Ventures, the VC firm staffed by a number of former Parthus executives as well as Quinn, who is credited as being a venture partner on the firm's website. Quinn also established the vehicle - Cladbourne - which acquired Accuris from Eircom in 2002. Accuris was founded in 1997 as a joint venture between Eircom and its then strategic partner KPN Telia as a software developer.

With the launch of the AccuRoam product and the completion of a first round of external investment, Accuris is expected to have a much higher profile. While convergence has been a mantra of the telecoms industry for a number of years, Accuris's timing is right. The phones are now being released that make it possible while consumers are embracing technologies like VoIP and Instant Messaging.