LAGUNA NIGUEL, Calif., Sept. 28, 2004 (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 several new members, including: Discretix, Insignia Solutions, LGE, mi4e device management, Redknee, and Synchronica.
The OTA Flash Forum, founded in 2003 by Bitfone, Gemplus, Motorola, Orange and T-Mobile USA, now has 18 official members and continues to increase participation by international operators, device manufacturers and technology providers. The group recently completed its eighth meeting on August 20, 2004, addressing such topics as interoperability of OTA clients and servers, end-to-end security, and the evolving role of device management in the wireless ecosystem. Since then, the group has produced a whitepaper on OTA interoperability recommendations, and is planning to meet again on October 5, 2004, hosted by Sprint in Overland Park, Kansas, USA.
"We have seen a significant increase in pilot projects, commercial deployment plans and expanded use cases for OTA technology coming from both operators and manufacturers around the world," said Gene Wang, CEO of Bitfone and chairman of the OTA Flash Forum. "As new members join the Forum, we have a broader ability to identify and document Best Practices that will supplement industry standards and help all participants realize greater value out of their OTA initiatives."
A major objective of the OTA Flash Forum is to contribute technical specifications for consideration by industry standards bodies, such as the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA). The Forum's first submission to the OMA, the Firmware Update Protocol Specification, was adopted by the OMA Device Management Working Group as the baseline for an emerging OMA firmware update standard.
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.