Kineto, Boingo Partner For Wi-Fi, Cellular Convergence

LONDON — Kineto Wireless has teamed with Wi-Fi network integrator Boingo Wireless to ensure full interoperability between Boingo's Wi-Fi toolkit for mobile handsets and Kineto Wireless' Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) system.

“UMA based services today are focused on home solutions. This agreement means operators can now extend the reach of these converged cellular-Wi-Fi services to over 30,000 hotspots globally,” Steve Shaw, director of marketing at Kineto told EE Times .

Initially targeted for UMA-enabled Windows Mobile 5-based devices, the collaboration means mobile and integrated operators will be able to extend mobile voice, data, and IMS services to their customers via the Boingo Roaming System.

“There is increasing momentum behind Wi-Fi and cellular convergence using UMA technology, and such a collaboration can only help increase that,” said Shaw. He added the deal between the two companies in not exclusive on either side.

In operation, as UMA-enabled handset identifies an access point, the mobile device will query the Boingo client to determine if it is supported within the Boingo Roaming System. If so, the handset will then automatically connect to the access point and initiate UMA service delivery.Kineto also confirmed that it has extended its partnership with Texas Instruments and will use the Kineto client software on the chip company’s WiLink and OMAP-Vox platforms.

Our report from the 3GSM World Congress that took place February in Barcelona, Spain, revealed exclusively that TI was readying a reference design for mobile handsets using Kineto's client software.