June 11, 2004
Technology in Focus features analysis of recent technology news articles, by the consultants in Technology Group, IDA. This is the top pick of the month from a list of 10-20 news analysis compiled monthly.
LG Electronics Licenses Bitfones mProve for Wireless Software Update of Mobile Phones, 3 May 04
by Lee Sze Chin, ENAT Consultant
Problem
As mobile phones gets more and more complex and feature-rich, mobile software glitches are also becoming increasingly commonplace. This is further aggravated by shorter time-to-market which leaves less time for thorough testing; in 2001, DoCoMo was forced to recall and replace hundreds of thousands of its Sony S503i.phones.
While software updating for the desktop via the Internet is a routine nowadays, firmware updates for mobile phones are still very manual and expensive. Frustrated mobile users have to visit service centres to manually flash their devices via means of a cable-based solution. This process not only poses inconvenience to the mobile users but also incurs additional maintenance cost to either the device vendor or the operators.
Saviour
Bitfone is one of a growing number of companies selling OTA mobile software upgrade technology to the worlds operators and handset makers. The technology allows mobile operators or handset manufacturers to remotely repair mobile-phone software glitches, upgrade the firmware and even introduce new software applications, anywhere, anytime. Hence, all types of embedded software including the RTOS (Real Time Operating System), software libraries, drivers, protocols and embedded applications can be updated and upgraded seamlessly over-the-air. This could potentially cut the costs associated with recalling and replacement of faulty handsets estimated at $8 billion annually.
Other companies making significant headway in this emerging market includes DoOnGo, Red Blend and Insignia. DoOnGo appears to have established a foothold in the Japanese market given that DoCoMo uses its OTA solution and both Sharp and NEC have licensed its technology. In fact, early this year, NTT DoCoMo discovered a software bug in its 3G FOMA N900i series mobile phones, developed by NEC. Instead of recalling the 160,000 units sold, DoCoMo alerted its subscribers via messages which contain a mobile Internet link where the software patch was available for OTA download using DoOnGos technology.
Technology
Most of the end-to-end solutions consists of 3 basic elements:
- Update package generator is the core of the technology; instead of downloading the entire new firmware to the phone over limited bandwidth, it employs smart algorithm to perform a byte-level analysis of firmware versions to create a light-weight update package which is typically less than 5% of the new firmware image.
- Lifecycle manager and OTA delivery server which initiates the update via a network push or subscriber pull method, discover the capability of the handset and finally delivers the update package over a secure wireless channel (SSL) to the client agent on the handset.
- Client Agent is a micro-client, with small foot print, installed on the mobile handset which interpret the update package and apply a byte-for-byte update. The Client Agent would have to be designed and developed for different operating systems for mobile handsets.
In November 2003, Bitfone co-founded a special interest group known as the OTA Flash Forum whose goal is to standardize the client agents so that all OTA-equipped handsets can work with all OTA-equipped networks. It is unclear at this stage if the SIG would make any significant impact and how the work complement or compete against the OMAs effort in standardizing device management. However, the presence of Orange and T-Mobile in the OTA Flash forum is a clear sign that Tier 1 operators are looking at such OTA solutions.
Some words about the writer
Lee Sze Chin is a consultant with the Technology Group, tasked with the responsibility of identifying, tracking and exploring leading edge enabler technologies in the mobile wireless space. He is currently looking into areas such as Wireless Java, Mobile Web Services and Mobile middleware platform such as OSA/Parlay.
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