SINGAPORE -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 06/19/2006 -- The Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) announces the availability of OMA Push to Talk over Cellular 1.0 as an Approved Enabler Release (OMA PoC 1.0). OMA PoC 1.0 is a multi-party form of immediate communication that allows mobile phone users to engage in walkie-talkie style group conversations. OMA PoC 1.0 cooperates mainly with two other Enabler Release specifications -- OMA XML Document Management Enabler 1.0 (OMA XDM 1.0) and OMA Presence Enabler 1.0. These enablers allow the users to group communities of friends or colleagues for one-to-many conversations, and also to see their presence for availability.

The OMA PoC 1.0 approval comes one year after the specification was introduced to the market as a Candidate Enabler Release when it entered OMA's Interoperability Testing Program (IOP). High expectations for reliability and time pressures from the market enhanced the testing voracity for this approved PoC Version 1.0. Since May 2005, the enabler has been tested in 6 IOP TestFests organized round the globe by OMA. The latest OMA TestFest in March 2006 tested 11 product implementations from OMA members, and the year's complete testing includes Client implementations from 22 separate companies and Server implementations from 8 separate companies. Two test tool companies have also participated in the test initiatives.

"The OMA Board of Directors' approval of the PoC 1.0 specification demonstrates the importance of OMA's Release Program and its commitment to testing viable product implementations for the broader uptake of products and services in the global mobile market," says Jari Alvinen, Chairman of the Board, Open Mobile Alliance. "Operators in the US, Europe and South America have begun to see significant interest in the Push to Talk over Cellular service. OMA PoC 1.0 Approved Enabler Release will allow wider adoption of enhanced service capabilities, introduction of PoC into new markets and a more reliable group of interoperable Push to Talk over Cellular services world wide."

"OMA PoC 1.0 was developed with representation from across the mobile value chain, and contains contributions from both vendor and operator communities, as well as cooperation with other industry standards bodies including 3GPP, 3GPP2, IETF," says Craig Rhodes, Chairman of the OMA PoC Working Group. "This cooperation has enhanced the work of the OMA as well as its partners in creating the specification. One of our main challenges was provisioning a reliable MS infrastructure during the interoperability testing while meeting the large number of features as set forth by the companies participating in the OMA. We are very proud of the results or our testing and cooperation and we look forward to new revenue streams for the industry as well as new and reliable Push to Talk over Cellular services for consumers around the world."

About PoC 1.0 AER
The PoC 1.0 Approved Enabler release, as defined in OMA, is specified as a SIP-based service enabler utilizing IMS/MMD capabilities (defined in 3GPP and 3GPP2) as well as standard protocols defined by the IETF.
Required Capabilities
-- On-demand session handling for One-to-One and One-to-Many voice
communication
-- Pre-defined group support for chat and instant communication
-- Ad hoc group communication
-- Instant personal alert for invited call backs and One-to-One Updates
-- Incoming session barring
-- Manual and automatic answer modes
-- Media transport and control re-using existing internet protocols

Optional Features
-- Group advertisement to add users to existing groups
-- Pre-established sessions
-- Simultaneous sessions
-- Talk burst queuing and priority
-- Media adaptation or transcoding

About the OMA Release Program
To date, OMA has published 47 Enabler Releases. The OMA continuously operates an interoperability program to validate Enabler specifications, as well as the implementations of member products and services. Using a clear working process, the Enabler Release Program is designed to deliver two key milestones for each enabler:
-- A Candidate Enabler Release delivers an approved set of open technical
specifications that can be implemented in products and solutions, and then
tested for interoperability.
-- An Approved Enabler Release represents Candidate Enabler Releases that
have successfully gone through the Interoperability Program (IOP) of OMA.
The IOP tests interoperability between different member company's
implementations -- either within the OMA or through co-operation with an
outside organisation.

For more information, visit http://www.openmobilealliance.org/release_program/index.html.

For a full list of products testing in OMA's IOP Program, please visit http://product.openmobilealliance.org/.