NORWAY, Nov. 29, 2000 (PRIMEZONE) -- Leveraging on the Playground concept, a community where selected vendors can access and utilize the latest of Ericsson's technology, Ericsson Norway and Birdstep Technology ASA today announces a joint development project with the objective of delivering a working prototype and demonstrator application based on Ericsson Bluetooth and Communicator Technology.
The emerging use of Communicator Technology in combination with wireless technologies such as Bluetooth and Wireless LAN, will pave the way for new opportunities for corporations and end-users alike. "Talk phones with limited computing resources are transforming into mobile multimedia terminals", says Haakon Bryhni, CTO of Wireless Technologies at Birdstep.
"Within this user space we find location based solution for areas such as construction and building sites, health care personnel, tourist point of interest, business campuses and business professionals, airline in-flight and on-ground services, shopping malls, gas stations and numerous others. The combination of Ericsson technology with Birdstep's application enabling technologies, allows us to build value-added solutions for the nomadic users," says Bryhni.
The goal of the project is to deliver a working prototype of Birdstep Transaction Point using Ericsson terminals that enables location specific services demonstrating service opportunities when a wireless terminal is equipped with Birdstep's ultra small footprint database.
"According to independent market researchers, it is estimated that by 2005 the Bluetooth wireless technology will be a built-in feature in more than 1.8 billion products", says Vice President Thor Steffensen at Ericsson. "This again, allows for technology companies such as Birdstep to provide value added applications to our terminals" he continues.
About Birdstep Technology ASA
Birdstep Technology ASA is the developer of Birdstep DataBase Engine, an award winning, leading edge Ultra Small Footprint data and storage engine for any kind of data structures. It runs on operating systems such as Win32, Windows CE, Pocket PC, Linux, VxWorks, Epoc, pSOS, QNX and Palm/OS. The Birdstep DataBase Engine is targeted for devices such as mobile phones, PDAs/PWAs and Embedded Systems.
Oslo, November 29th, 2000
In addition to database technology, the company also possesses world-class competence and wireless technology infrastructure solutions such as Birdstep IP Zone Software and Birdstep Mobile IP Software. Birdstep was founded in August 1996 and has offices in Oslo, Norway and in San Jose, California, USA.
Please visit us on the Internet: www.birdstep.com
About Ericsson
Ericsson is the leading communications supplier, combining innovation in mobility and Internet in creating the new era of mobile Internet. Ericsson provides total solutions covering everything from systems and applications to mobile phones and other communications tools. With more than 100,000 employees in 140 countries, Ericsson simplifies communications for customers all over the world.
Please visit us on the Internet: www.ericsson.no