Nokia Teams With Hotsip To Provide Multimedia IP Services

Nokia is teaming up with Sweden's Hotsip AB to use Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) technology to enable a wide range of new IP communication services between PCs and mobile devices.

Nokia will include Hotsip's SIP PC Client, the Hotsip Active Contacts PC, as part of the Nokia IP Multimedia Subsystem offering for network operators. Nokia will also use Hotsip Multimedia Communications Engine (M2CE) to provide voice instant messaging with the Nokia offering.

SIP is the session and service control protocol for multimedia sessions, and allows IP connections to carry any kind of IP traffic to any kind of device. It can enable a wide range of advanced communications capabilities, including rich calls between mobile phones and PC clients that include hyperlinks and video, as well as call forking and other communications functions. SIP is emerging as the foundation of advanced multimedia and converged IP services because it supports a wider feature set in a smaller footprint than H.323.

Indeed, according to Nokia vice president for Networks Petri Poyhonen, the Hotsip agreement will open up a whole range of application possibilities for IPO infrastructures built on Nokia's IMS. "The proven interoperability of the Nokia IP Multimedia Subsystem offering and Hotsip's solutions will allow operators to deploy new and exciting applications," he said in a statement. "Our successful cooperation with Hotsip will further drive the convergence of mobile and broadband networks."

Nokia will also use Hotsip's Multimedia Communications Engine as an external application server to provide voice instant messaging functionality in its IMS.