Ericsson, the world’s leading provider of telecommunications equipment and Vennetics, an innovator of telecommunications and IT applications, have today announced that the Vennetics J-Box products have been successfully integrated with the Ericsson Composition Engine. The Ericsson Composition Engine is a bridge between existing TDM based service architectures and next generation IMS/IP networks. The platform is flexible enough to be deployed in a number of roles, from managing IN triggers across multiple control points, through convergent service components such as the IM-SSF, to IMS centric solutions like the SCIM.
J-Box is a set of SIP based applications aimed at mobile operators seeking to deploy solutions for PC users. Solutions are supported by J-Box that leverage voice, location, messaging and presence from the mobile network in order to differentiate the offerings of mobile service providers from existing Internet companies. In order to help mobile operators keep pace within the fast moving Internet service domain, Vennetics is delivering against a rapidly expanding roadmap for the J-Box products. This represents a significant opportunity for mobile operators but it also highlights some of the challenges faced by traditional telecommunications companies as they seek to expand their service footprint to the PC.
Ivan McShane, Engineering Director at Vennetics, explains, “We have been involved in a number of deployment projects to install J-Box against IMS and other SIP based architectures at different mobile operator sites. These projects are typically much more complex than similar service increments, which see Internet companies rapidly expand their feature set. The main reason for this is that mobile operators have existing service portfolios, typically being used by millions of subscribers, which are realised against a diverse set of underlying legacy technologies. While J-Box is frequently a step into a new domain for mobile operators, with new business models generating revenue streams according to different mechanisms, it is still necessary to consider service interactions on both a technical level and also in relation to market propositions. This is where the Ericsson Composition Engine is hugely valuable.”
The Ericsson Composition Engine allows for the rapid configuration, in a graphical environment, of a logic flow between different mobile network services and features. Without the need for new software development tasks or complex systems integration projects, new applications can be provided to end users by quickly defining the relationship between the additional logic and the existing network functionality. In this manner, the Ericsson Composition Engine can in fact increase the inherent value of any new service by deploying it not just as a standalone application but also allowing the incremental capabilities to enhance existing services, thereby sweating additional value from legacy assets.
Ivan continues, “By deploying J-Box within the Composition Engine, Ericsson and Vennetics can allow mobile operators to orchestrate the emerging PC based services with the trusted capabilities of their existing service networks. In this manner, the capabilities of both new and emerging service platforms can become more than the sum of their parts. We have already demonstrated this together with Ericsson for several mobile operators. The Ericsson Composition Engine has created compelling end user services, which combine J-Box with other network resident resources like location services and crucially, off-network resources like social networking sites and hosted enterprise tools like Internet CRM systems. Vennetics will now build on this early success in order to provide an increased range of mobile network applications and Internet service plug-in applications, which can be orchestrated together in order to add real value for PC based customers of mobile service providers.”
Frans de Rooj, Strategic Product Manager for the Ericsson Composition Engine, commented, “We are delighted with the significant progress that we have made with Vennetics. In a short space of time, we have been able to move from completion of the technical integration exercise to demonstrations of exciting new services with real business value. Ericsson will be fully supportive of the ongoing Vennetics developments towards the Composition Engine and as such, we anticipate that as more J-Box features become available the possibilities for composite services that leverage these capabilities will increase exponentially.”