Espoo, Finland - February 19, 2004 - Nokia today announced successful completion of pilots with Orange and Vodafone, featuring single sign-on for mobile devices, a technology eliminating the need for multiple entering of user authentication credentials when accessing different services, such as gaming or ticket reservations. In addition, Nokia is working with America Online, Inc., to demonstrate a prototype Nokia mobile device offering Radio@AOL, a leading online radio service. All these service pilots are based on Liberty Alliance Project specifications, a group committed to developing open, interoperable specifications for network identity.
For mobile phone users, the single sign-on solution will facilitate access to Web services reliably and seamlessly, independent of the network or device. The consumers will also have control of personal information.
For the industry, open standards for single sign-on and identity-based Web services will enable interoperability, increase customer satisfaction, reduce costs, and also accelerate commercial opportunities by stimulating use of mobile devices.
For mobile phone users, the single sign-on solution will facilitate access to Web services reliably and seamlessly, independent of the network or device. The consumers will also have control of personal information.
For the industry, open standards for single sign-on and identity-based Web services will enable interoperability, increase customer satisfaction, reduce costs, and also accelerate commercial opportunities by stimulating use of mobile devices.
"Nokia has been pleased to co-operate with America Online, Orange, and Vodafone on these projects based on Liberty Alliance standards. The successful pilots have validated the Liberty Alliance as a great example of open standardization. On top of delivering technical specifications in a timely manner, the group also provides business, privacy and policy guidelines addressing market requirements," said Pertti Korhonen, Chief Technology Officer, Nokia.
"America Online is pleased to be working with Nokia to develop a pilot that implements the Liberty Web Services Framework to enable delivery of Radio@AOL to mobile phones," said Peter Ashkin, Executive Vice President of America Online, Inc. "We believe that this pilot successfully demonstrates how AOL and Nokia could work together to leverage open standard technologies like Liberty Alliance and OMA specifications to provide mobile consumers with anytime access to compelling digital media services."
"Our collaboration with Nokia on piloting and evaluating identity-based web services is an important further step in Vodafone making access to a wealth of mobile services for its customers both easy and secure," said Mike Walker, Vodafone Group R&D Director.
"The identity-based web services are a focus area at Orange and France Telecom Group. Our trial of Liberty Alliance phase 1 specifications has already demonstrated the single sign-on user experience, and it has helped us to identify - and recommend a target architecture," said Axel Chazelas, Head of Multimedia, Orange Research & Innovation.
Nokia's first announced solution featuring single sign-on is the Nokia WAP Gateway, a leading product with over 50 operator customers worldwide. The Nokia WAP Gateway supports single sign-on and authentication according to the Liberty Alliance Project specifications. It functions as a proxy server enabling the majority of current mobile devices that do not have to have in-built support for the authentication specifications.
The Nokia WAP Gateway passed the first-ever Liberty Alliance sponsored conformance test, announced on December 9, 2003.
About Nokia
Nokia is the world leader in mobile communications, driving the growth and sustainability of the broader mobility industry. Nokia is dedicated to enhancing people's lives and productivity by providing easy-to-use and secure products like mobile phones, and solutions for imaging, games, media, mobile network operators and businesses. Nokia is a broadly held company with listings on five major exchanges.
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