First-Ever UMA Awards Recognize Excellence and Innovation of UMA-Based Products and Services Worldwide
February 13, 2008 – Acton, MA – Azimuth Systems today announced that it has won a UMA Innovation Award for best test solution for its FMC Performance Test Suite. The award was presented at a ceremony on February 12th during Mobile World Congress 2008 in Barcelona.
The Azimuth FMC Performance Test Suite is the industry’s first fixed-mobile convergence performance test solution, which includes a comprehensive suite of automated test scripts that streamline the testing of fixed-mobile convergence products and validate the seamless mobility of UMA devices and networks. Used by service providers, handset manufacturers and semiconductor vendors, the Azimuth FMC Performance Test Suite provides a full range of unique and repeatable performance tests on converged Wi-Fi/cellular handsets over a broad range of real-world environment dynamics and measures Wi-Fi performance in the areas that get the most attention from end-users: dropped calls, battery life and call quality.
“As fixed-mobile convergence continues to gain in popularity, vendors are faced with key customer satisfaction issues,” said Graham Celine, senior director of marketing at Azimuth Systems. “Azimuth took these issues into consideration when designing our FMC Performance Test Suite and created a solution that allows in-lab replication and validation of quality of service at a fraction of the cost and time required for outdoor field testing.”
The submissions were judged by an independent panel made up of key industry analysts including Peter Jarich, principal analyst with Current Analysis, Stéphane Téral, senior analyst with Infonetics Research, Anton Wahlman, analyst with ThinkEquity Partners LLC., and Malik Saadi, principal analyst with Informa Telecoms and Media. Georges Penalver, senior executive vice president of strategic marketing for France Telecom Group, hosted the awards ceremony.
“One of the primary reasons that we selected the Azimuth FMC Performance Test Suite to receive the UMA Innovation Award is that it is truly a revolutionary product, enabling testing that was previously difficult or even impossible,” said Anton Wahlman of ThinkEquity Partners LLC. “By allowing vendors to prove that their handsets deliver the Wi-Fi quality of service required by end-users, we believe that Azimuth’s FMC Performance Test Suite will dramatically help to accelerate the validation of UMA-enabled products and the rapid adoption of converged voice and data services.”
Since ratification by the 3GPP, UMA technology has quickly gained popularity through worldwide deployments. Today, more than 12 operating companies have deployed UMA-based service offers, and more than 30 companies have products that support UMA.
Details about the award categories and winners are available at: http://www.umatoday.com/awards.
About UMA Today
UMA Today is an international consortium of companies joined together to lead the adoption of 3GPP UMA Technology around the world. UMA Today publishes the UMA Today Magazine, maintains the UMA Today website, hosts Webinars and is involved in other industry activity to promote UMA technology. For more information, please visit www.UMAToday.com.
About UMA Technology
UMA technology is the 3GPP global standard for fixed-mobile convergence. UMA enables secure, scalable access to mobile voice, data and IMS services over broadband IP access networks. By deploying UMA technology, mobile operators can deliver a number of compelling fixed-mobile convergence services. The most well-known applications of UMA include dual-mode cellular/Wi-Fi handsets and 3G femtocells access points. Leading operators around the world have embraced UMA technology as the foundation for their fixed-mobile convergence strategy, including Orange/France Telecom, British Telecom, T-Mobile US, TeliaSonera, Netcom, Saunalahti and Cincinnati Bell.
About Azimuth Systems
Azimuth Systems is a leading provider of wireless data communications test solutions. Azimuth’s products are used by the world’s foremost wireless semiconductor, system vendors and service providers to speed time-to-market and improve wireless product quality. Azimuth’s standardized test solutions enable research, development, QA and marketing engineers to test the performance, conformance and certification of wireless devices and networks supporting data, voice and video applications. The company is based in Acton, Massachusetts and is backed by prestigious investors including Kodiak Venture Partners and North Bridge Venture Partners. Azimuth may be contacted at (978) 263-6610 or at www.azimuthsystems.com.
Azimuth® is a registered trademark of Azimuth Systems.
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For additional information, contact:
Graham Celine
Azimuth Systems, Inc.
978-268-9220
graham_celine@azimuthsystems.com
Jill Colna
SVM Public Relations
401-490-9700
jill.colna@svmpr.com