NEC and SiRF Achieve A-GPS Milestone With Successful Secure User Plane Protocol Interoperability Testing
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SAN JOSE, Calif., Feb. 9: Achieving a key milestone towards the widespread adoption of the Secure User Plane for Location (SUPL) protocol, NEC Corporation (NASDAQ:NIPNY), NEC Europe Ltd. and SiRF Technology Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIRF) today announced the successful completion of assisted-GPS (A-GPS) interoperability testing in London on a commercial GPRS/WCDMA network. The success of the interoperability testing holds the promise of advancing the widespread adoption of SUPL and enabling mobile operators worldwide to cost-effectively deliver a wide variety of highly accurate location-based services.
The comprehensive testing covered the SUPL protocol as well as network connectivity, and used mobile phones incorporating SiRF's SUPL version 1.0 compliant SiRFstarIII A-GPS chipset and NEC's SUPL compliant location-information system. NEC and SiRF Technology are supporting the SUPL standard to meet the accelerating demand for more accurate, location-based services worldwide.
"Interoperability with NEC's location-information system was a seamless exercise that substantiates the robustness of our implementation of SUPL standard," said Kanwar Chadha, founder and vice president of marketing at SiRF. "Commercial availability of NEC-enabled SUPL systems will be welcomed by operators worldwide as they usher in a new generation of innovative location-based services."
SUPL version 1.0, adopted by the Open Mobile Alliance, is a standards-based protocol that promotes location awareness in mobile handsets by allowing a mobile handset client and a location server to communicate position data and requests for position data over the existing wireless IP network just like mobile internet web pages. Using this approach, wireless carriers can accelerate their time to market for launching location enabled services and achieve revenue advantages because there is little effect on the existing mobile infrastructure and minimal server installation footprint. Alternate methods for enabling location awareness in mobile handsets using Control Plane Protocols require substantial modification to the mobile network infrastructure.
"NEC is committed to the global success of location-based information services, and the success of our interoperability testing with A-GPS chipset leader SiRF Technology ensures the user-plane A-GPS location-information system can now be reliably deployed by operators," said Kiichi Tamida, head of value-added services for NEC in Europe. "In 2001, NEC technology enabled Japan's first commercial user-plane location information system, and today NEC is providing continual improvements to mobile operators' location-information services."
SiRF will be demonstrating the SUPL capability at booth number 1F06 in Hall 1 at the 3GSM World Congress 2007 being held February 12-15 in Barcelona, Spain.
About NEC Corporation
NEC Corporation (NASDAQ:NIPNY) is one of the world's leading providers of Internet, broadband network and enterprise business solutions dedicated to meeting the specialized needs of its diverse and global base of customers. NEC delivers tailored solutions in the key fields of computer, networking and electron devices, by integrating its technical strengths in IT and Networks, and by providing advanced semiconductor solutions through NEC Electronics Corporation. The NEC Group employs more than 150,000 people worldwide.
For additional information, please visit the NEC home page at: http://www.nec.com/.
* Newsroom: http://www.nec.co.jp/press/en/
About SiRF Technology Holdings, Inc.
SiRF Technology Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:SIRF) develops and markets semiconductor and software products that are designed to enable location-awareness utilizing GPS and other location technologies in three primary markets: Wireless, Consumer and Automotive. SiRF's SiRFstarIII GPS chipset allows mobile handset vendors to benefit from ultra low power consumption, industry leading navigation performance and a tiny circuit board footprint. Founded in 1995, SiRF is headquartered in San Jose, Calif., and has sales offices, design centers and research facilities around the world. Additional information about SiRF and its location technology solutions can be found at http://www.sirf.com/.
FCMN Contact: rparr@sirf.com
Source: SiRF Technology Holdings, Inc.
CONTACT: Lori Evans of Evans Public Relations, +1-650-312-8344, Mobile,
+1-650-200-5891, lori@evanspublicrelations.com for SiRF Technology
+Holdings,
Inc.; or Rebecca Parr of SiRF Technology, Inc., +1-408-392-8422, rparr@sirf.com
Web site: http://www.sirf.com/
http://www.nec.com/
http://3gsmworldcongress.com/
