Lucent Technologies and TeleCommunication Systems (TCS) announced an agreement for Lucent to distribute and resell globally TCS location-based solutions and applications.
Location-based solutions enable service providers to offer their enterprise and residential customers a broad array of useful new services.
For example, a 'family finder' service could enable a parent to quickly locate and call other family members. A business could easily coordinate package deliveries and pickups based on constantly updated knowledge of driver locations.
Lucent intends to offer the TCS Xypoint Location Platform and Xypoint Secure User Plane for Location (SUPL) Server with Lucent's IP Multimedia Subsystems (IMS) solutions portfolio, including the Lucent Intelligent Services Gateway (ISG), iLocator application and managed service offerings to provide network operators integrated location-based solutions.
The location-based services include navigation, 'family finder', asset and fleet tracking, location-specific traffic and weather information, and location-based mobile alerts and advertising.
Juniper Research, a market analyst firm, estimates that location-based services could create $4 billion in new revenue for wireless carriers by the end of 2008.
'Highly personalized information such as precise location and presence provides carriers the ability to offer their customers compelling services that can improve carrier customer retention and expands premium-service revenue opportunities for mobile operators,' said JJ Lhospital, vice president, Lucent Technologies Applications Solutions Business Unit. 'TCS proven ability to build, deliver and support its location-based services architecture, including their location infrastructure offering and applications like TCS Places, and traffic, asset or people tracking, was a key factor in selecting them as our partner.'
The agreement enhances Lucent's ability to share location-based data across Lucent and TCS solutions in order to location enable other applications in Lucent's portfolio such as Lucent SurePay Real-Time Rating and Charging Suite and Lucent Active PhoneBook.
User location is an important attribute, together with user presence, subscriber preferences, and real-time session control that enables operators to provide blended lifestyle services.
'The relationship with Lucent gives us the opportunity to offer our industry-leading experience and technology to a broader market to meet carrier challenges and subscribers demand for location-based services (LBS),' said Maurice B. Tose, TCS chairman, CEO and president. 'Keeping up with the standardization trends, as location-based technology evolves, is a challenge for mobile operator groups and service providers. TCS has addressed this challenge with a flexible advanced software design concept for its distributed architecture.'
TCS Xypoint Location Platform TCS location technology originated from its experience working with CDMA, TDMA, GSM, and UMTS operators over the last eight years.
When combined with TCS location solution, the Lucent ISG operates as a location-enabling server to support simplified integration of location-based and other mobile/converged applications into carrier networks.
Acting as a service delivery platform (SDP), the ISG provides a single entry point for applications to access and integrate dynamic network intelligence such as subscriber location data, billing and provisioning information, and policy/privacy instructions to create new value added services.
The ISG supports Lucent's iLocator application -- a location-based service integrated with the Lucent Presence Solution, instant messaging, and voice access to create a unique blended service offering that will be enabled by subscriber location information from TCS Xypoint Location Platform solution.