News | June 30, 1999

Nokia, Ericsson Begin WAP Interoperability Testing

By Robert Keenan, Managing Editor

Over the past few years, Internet access has become one of the main themes for design engineers. To deliver Internet access in wireless products, major manufacturers formed a consortium called the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) Forum. The main goal of this forum is to establish standards for enabling Internet access in wireless products.

Over the past year or so, WAP technology has found its way into the mainstream wireless environment with major handset, operators, and base station designers all employing this technology in their designs. But to become a true global standard, companies must now prove that WAP-enabled devices can interoperate with each other.

Identifying this need, Stockholm, Sweden-based Ericsson and Helsinki, and Finland-based Nokia, two of the industry's largest manufacturers, have initiated interoperability testing between their WAP products and solution. Under the agreement, the two companies will determine how well their WAP-enabled mobile phones and server products will interoperate.

It's no surprise that Nokia and Ericsson are two of the first companies to test interoperability. Both companies are co-founders of the WAP Forum. As a result, both companies have said they are committed to promoting WAP as the de-facto standard for delivering Internet access to wireless products.

This is Nokia's second announcement this year relating to WAP interoperability testing. In January, the handset and equipment manufacturer began performing interoperability tests with Redwood City, CA-based Phone.com (formerly Unwired Planet), another WAP Forum co-founder (See UP Opens WAP Interoperability Lab, Begins Tests with Nokia). In that announcement, Nokia said it has started performing interoperability tests between its WAP-enabled products and Phone.com's WAP-compatible UP.Link server suite.

New Contract

On a related note, Ericsson has signed an agreement with Norwegian operation Telenor Mobil. Under the pact, Ericsson and Telenor will cooperate to develop a range of WAP-based services. Through this agreement, Telenor plans to enable users to access the Internet and other online services using WAP-based terminals.

For more information on the WAP specification or WAP Forum, visit http://www.wapforum.org.