Subject: [NEXTEL-1] TeleSym Works to Improve Quality of Wi-Fi Calls

From: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 19 May 2003 14:14:53 -0400

TeleSym Works to Improve Quality of Wi-Fi Calls

Start-up company TeleSym is introducing software designed to improve the
sound quality of phone calls over Wi-Fi networks. TeleSym's SymPhone
software attempts to reduce the static, and compensate for blips in
transmissions and latency on wireless voice-over-IP calls. The TeleSym
software is marketed either directly to corporate purchasers, or through
hardware manufacturers or service providers. It is designed for use in
warehouse or retail settings, and by other companies with large groups of
roving employees.
==============================================================================

Start-up aims to improve Wi-Fi calls
By Michael Kanellos
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
May 19, 2003, 4:00 AM PT

http://news.com.com/2100-1037-1006547.html

TeleSym is trying to clear the static out of Wi-Fi calls.

The Bellevue, Wash.-based start-up is marketing software that lets people make what are
basically free telephone calls over a Wi-Fi network through a laptop, PDA (personal
digital assistant) or cell phone.

More importantly, the underlying technology minimizes the effect of dropped packets or
other sundry problems that occur in Internet transmission, the company says. The end
effect, according to TeleSym, is that the speaker doesn't sound like he or she is calling
from inside a well, or is on a ham radio on the outskirts of Chang Mai.

"Most people have gone on the assumption that you need quality of service (improvements)
in the Internet because of packet loss," said Raju Gulabani, the company's CEO. "But it is
possible to compensate...(The TeleSym technology) is designed to take into account that
there is not quality of service on the Internet. The quality is so good you could be on a
call for 24 hours without your brain hurting."

Although analysts and PC executives have for years been touting the ability to make
telephone calls over computer networks, with only limited results, momentum is now
building for VOIP (voice over Internet Protocol). The quality of the transmissions is
rapidly improving while the cost savings of bypassing the telephone carriers has become
more apparent. Cisco Systems has become one of the principal proponents .

Wi-Fi essentially extends the reach of VOIP functionality. Handhelds enabled with Wi-Fi
run for far less time on a single battery charge than traditional cell phones.
Nonetheless, mobile Wi-Fi calls basically cost nothing because they run across existing,
expensed computer networks.

While U.S. carriers are mostly only in the tinkering stage with Wi-Fi calls, overseas
carriers are moving fairly rapidly to adopt the approach more broadly. China Mobile, the
largest mobile carrier in that country, is already bundling Wi-Fi/GPRS (General Packet
Radio Service) solutions with mobile phones and laptops, according to sources, while China
Netcom is promoting broadband and Wi-Fi for business and commercial buildings.

Using notebooks or PDAs as phones isn't a huge mental stretch either, said Jon Arnold,
VOIP program leader for consulting firm Frost and Sullivan, referring to TeleSym's
product.

"You're not trying to turn the device into something it isn't," Arnold said "People
complain that VOIP is grassroots and fragmented, but so were the first days of the
Internet."

Rather than sell full-fledged VOIP systems like those produced by Cisco,
TeleSym develops software, which it sells directly to corporate buyers and
increasingly will sell indirectly through hardware manufacturers and/or service
providers.

The TeleSym system consists of SymPhone Client software, which basically
turns electronic devices into cell phones, and two server applications used to
connect and route calls. The SymPhone Call Server routes calls between client
phones inside a corporate firewall, while the SymPhone PBX Connector
connects client phones to the outside world.

A package dubbed SymPhone N comes with the client software and the Call Server, while the
SymPhone NP package comes with both server applications, along with the client.

The PBX Connector can sustain 92 simultaneous calls, Gulabani said. Because studies show
that on average only one in 20 phones in a large organization are active at any given
time, the company says that one server can handle a staff of about 1,800.
Together, the servers cost $3,500, while the client software costs $300 to $400 per
device. But "there are no recurring charges for cell phone calls," Gulabani said. "When
you travel you can just use the broadband connection in the hotel."
Still, the company's main selling point is quality of service. Gulabani and the company's
other founders have developed algorithms that compensate for blips in transmissions and
latency.

"We're able to handle much more jitter and delay than most other competitors can," said
Gulabani "You can't compensate for four packets in a row being lost, but we can compensate
for two to three packets."

The company is currently focusing on the SymPhone N package, which will be marketed to
retailers, warehouses and other companies with large numbers of roving employees. The
setup essentially turns a handheld or bar code scanner into a walkie-talkie.

"In many cases they use pagers and cell phones and get monthly charges," Gulabani said,
adding that universities are looking at the setup for student communication.

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