First multi-radio phones out by Christmas

Nokia has announced that it will have the first multi-radio handsets out by Christmas, and is launching a raft of other products to speed the adoption of combined fixed line and mobile services.

Other plans include making VoIP capability a standard application in enterprise phones this year, and adding support for unlicensed mobile access in the first half of next year, allowing communication with devices like BT's Bluephone.

A software upgrade for Nokia's 770 tablet PC next year will also allow the device to be used as a VoIP terminal.

The move is part of Nokia's increasing focus on converging PBX-based fixed line telephony with mobile cellular services. In the longer term the company expects non-IP PBXs to be phased out and enterprise and consumer voice traffic to become solely based on IP.

"Voice is the biggest IT application in the enterprise," said Jaakko Olkkonen, general manager of enterprise voice solutions at Nokia.

"Voice calls make up 10-20 per cent of enterprise IT spending, bigger than email or ERP. It's also the biggest in number of users, and converging fixed and mobile users into a single system can have big benefits."

Olkkonen explained that the current growth in VoIP systems is forcing companies to refocus on voice systems, with VoIP systems expected to outnumber PBX systems by 2007.

The switch towards IP, which he described as "not a mainstream application yet but growing fast", will accelerate the move towards single IP voice and data systems for office and mobile communication.

Olkkonen gave the example of the financial services industry where all calls resulting in a trade have to be recorded, severely limiting the ability of traders to work away from the office.

A converged system, besides saving on the cost of multiple devices to do the same job, would allow staff to work anywhere, anytime.

But Tero Ojanperä, Nokia's chief strategy officer, dismissed the challenge of VoIP services like Skype.

"Skype cannot survive on voice calls alone," he told vnunet.com. "It needs a business strategy; someone has to make money somewhere."

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