LAGUNA NIGUEL, Calif., Feb. 1, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- The OTA Flash Forum, a special interest group addressing the technical and operational issues facing over-the-air (OTA) management of mobile devices, today announced its top initiatives for 2005, and the addition of several new members, including: Swisscom Mobile, Swapcom, Mobilethink, McAfee, Jataayu, Ganesh Technologies, elata, and Aepona. The group also published a whitepaper on End-to-End Security for Firmware Updates.
The OTA Flash Forum (OTAFF) identified four priorities which would drive its activities for 2005:
-- Client Interoperability -- Ensuring devices with different
download and/or FOTA clients can be managed by a common OMA-DM
compliant server environment. Addresses FOTA implementation
issues, such as support for subscriber opt-in and update package
metadata.
-- Mobile Security -- Maintaining integrity of mobile devices by
facilitating OTA download of security software and associated
virus update files, reporting security problems to customer care,
and invoking a firmware update to wipe the device clean when
necessary.
-- FOTA Security -- Ensuring secure ingestion of update packages into
an operator's network and secure download onto a device. Includes
SIM-based security validation for FOTA.
-- Remote Diagnostics -- Addressing OTA solutions for gathering
device status and configuration data, diagnosing problems in
devices, monitoring quality of service (QOS), and invoking FOTA
updates to fix problems when necessary.
"With more than 40 participants attending the December OTAFF meeting hosted by Orange, it's clear that we're entering a big year for OTA Device Management projects," said Gene Wang, CEO of Bitfone and chairman of the OTA Flash Forum. "The group voted on priorities for 2005, including device interoperability, security, and diagnostics, and we're excited to release a security whitepaper as our first milestone in facilitating secure yet flexible FOTA deployments."
The "End-to-End Security for Firmware Updates" whitepaper presents security techniques to protect the network elements involved in firmware updates, including DM servers, applications and devices. Wireless operators must ensure that their networks will not be compromised, nor service disrupted, as a result of security attacks on FOTA-enabled devices. Secure delivery of update packages is also essential to user privacy and to corporate asset protection. The whitepaper can be downloaded from the OTA Flash Forum website at www.otaflashforum.org.
The next OTA Flash Forum meeting will be hosted by European operator Swisscom on February 10-11, 2005, in Interlaken, Switzerland. Interested parties may inquire or register for the meeting by sending email to cfitzgerald@otaflashforum.org. Non-member companies are welcome to attend as "observers".
About OTA Flash Forum
The OTA Flash Forum is an open membership special interest group formed to foster the worldwide development, implementation and use of over-the-air (OTA) software updates for mobile devices. The OTA Flash Forum consists of leading carrier, manufacturer and solution provider companies which seek to promote widespread adoption of standards-based OTA update technology and contribute to the evolution of OTA services and applications in support of broader device management strategies. Founding members Bitfone, Gemplus, Motorola, Orange and T-Mobile USA initiated the OTA Flash Forum in June of 2003. For more information, visit www.otaflashforum.org.