Nokia, Motorola announce software alliances
By Colleen Taylor, Contributing Editor -- EDN, August 6, 2007
In the mobile communications realm, the hardware and software worlds have merged in a duo of new deals announced separately today by rival cellular phone makers Nokia Corp. and Motorola Inc.
For its part, the Finland-based Nokia today announced that it has extended its existing collaboration with Microsoft Corp. around mobile entertainment to include support for Microsoft's PlayReady technology into the Nokia S60 and Series 40 mobile device platforms.
PlayReady is a new content access technology from Microsoft that purports to make it easy for content owners and service providers to deliver "virtually any type of digital content in a flexible manner." As part of the agreement, Nokia and Microsoft said they will also collaborate on expanding and simplifying consumer scenarios for accessing, experiencing and moving digital content using mobile devices.
By supporting PlayReady, Nokia said it will make it easier for content owners and service providers to offer premium digital content for a radically increased installed base and enable more flexible business models, such as renting content or accessing it offline. For consumers, PlayReady brings flexible ways to manage their digital content between online, home and mobile devices.
Microsoft and Nokia said they expect the first services using Microsoft PlayReady technology to appear in 2008.
Meanwhile, Motorola announced it has formed a strategic alliance with device software optimization (DSO) provider Wind River Systems designed to provide integrated AdvancedTCA (ATCA) and MicroTCA communication platforms with Carrier Grade Linux and VxWorks runtimes.
Through this agreement, Motorola's embedded communications computing business and Wind River will work together to deliver bundled hardware and software solutions for next-generation networking designs for the telecom, military and aerospace, medical and industrial automation industries. The companies also will provide joint customer support, as well as collaborate on product development and on driving joint value for industry initiatives such as OpenSAF high availability software, virtualization technologies and development environments for multicore processors.
The first bundled solution, a MicroTCA-based COTS solution with Wind River Carrier Grade Linux, is now available through leading global distributors Arrow Electronics Inc. and Avnet Applied Computing Solutions. Other solutions including the ATCA-9301 Cavium Octeon-based solution are expected to be available later this year.
