Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Starent's PTT Workaround

From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 22 May 2003 03:28:50 -0400

Starent's PTT Workaround
05.20.03

You know how the old sayings go:

"The quickest way to make a car run fast is to take the brakes off it
and run it on methanol."

"The easiest way to make grandad run fast is to take his pants off and
set his arse on fire."

Now startup Starent Networks Corp. is looking to add a "new" phrase to
the old chestnut lexicon: "The easiest way to add fancy-shmancy services
like push-to-talk (PTT) to older CDMA and GSM wireless networks is by
using Starent's service node technology."

OK, so it's not very catchy. But that doesn't mean Starent's products
won't catch on [ed. note: geddit!?] with service providers. Push-to-talk
is a technology that enables subscribers to use their phones like
walkie-talkies, quickly connecting with other users for short
conversations with more than one person at once. Subscribers like it,
which means operators of skanky "it's seen better days, I can let you
have it for a fiver, guv" network infrastructure need to find a way to
roll it out.

Nextel Communications Inc. (Nasdaq: NXTL - message board) is currently
the only operator in the world that has a commercial push-to-talk
offering, courtesy of its proprietary iDEN network (see Nextel's
Nationwide Walkie-Talkie). Other operators in the U.S. and Europe are
racing to get PTT services up and running on their 2.5G general packet
radio service (GPRS) and CDMA2000 1xRTT networks (see Walking, Not
Running, to PTT, Winphoria Talks Back and Vendors Push Carrier
Upgrades).

Starent, which has just signed an equipment deal with Brazilian carrier
Vivo (see Starent Wins Vivo Deal), points out that rolling out PTT only
on newer networks limits the potential revenue that operators will see
from such a service, simply because many users will not upgrade to a new
phone, and so never get to use PTT.

Using its service-node technology, Starent has come up with a way to
implement a pseudo-PTT service that will work on older phones and
networks.

One of the main problems with implementing PTT on GSM-based and CDMA
networks is that it that it can take time to set up "data calls" over
cellular networks. There can be seconds of delay before a user is
connected to the subscriber they wish to talk to (see Ericsson:
Pain-to-Talk?).

Starent has not come up with a miracle solution to call-setup problems
on these networks [ed. note: so we don't get to shout "Hallelujah,
Brother!" then? What a pity]. In fact, the company has simply
sidestepped the problem. The operators can set up numbers for users to
call when they want to initiate a PTT session with one or many users
(which is where the technology really differs from a standard voice
call). Once a user has started a session, they remain directly connected
to another user or group for as long as they continue the call.

Starent handles the VOIP side of the equation by routing the call
through its Packet Data Serving Nodes (PDSNs) or GPRS Gateway Support
Nodes (GGSNs) -- service nodes (wireless routers, basically) that
connect the radio elements of a wireless network to the IP core and
handle tasks like traffic management and QOS levels (see What's the
Wireless Router Market Worth?). "We essentially treat it as a data
call," says Gennady Sirota, VP of product management and marketing at
Starent.

Gennady says carriers with a large installed base of subscribers who
aren't likely to be tempted to upgrade their handsets are the primary
target for such services. "Like Vivo, like China Unicom," he says.

Starent isn't alone in talking up the service-creation potential of its
box. Startup rivals, especially Megisto Systems, have become
increasingly focused on promoting the extra services that their boxes
can enable, even if the equipment ends up alongside an existing vendor's
service node.

— Dan Jones, Senior Editor, Unstrung

http://www.altavista.com/r?ck_sm=2384de1b&ref=2001b0081&ci=4701&r=http%3A%2F%2Fc.moreover.com%2Fclick%2Fhere.pl%3Fz72600364%26z%3D222585

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