Imagine being able to have a converged VoIP & data solution that services your mobile phone, your (mobile) laptop, and your (mobile) PDA with a single VoIP number. Well, today Tatara Systems, a leader in mobile services convergence, announced availability of its Converged Mobile VoIP solution to enable nomadic VoIP services using a subscriber's mobile phone number across any IP network, with the first application as an integrated laptop solution for mobile operators. (Bridgeport Networks does something very similar)

Tatara has entered market trials with major carrier customers marking an industry first where an end-user subscriber is able to maintain their mobile phone number identity to both make and receive VoIP calls across a variety of access networks using converged mobile devices such as laptops. This offering gives mobile operators, both traditional and MVNOs, the opportunity to participate in the growing VoIP market by providing a significantly better, integrated end-user solution than you can get today via a standalone softphone service. “One-number” VoIP yields a quick return on investment for carriers looking to deliver new service revenues leveraging their existing networks, while building the foundation for a graceful transition to more advanced IMS applications.

“Convergence is the most important trend in communications – and not just wireless - today,” said Craig Mathias, a Principal with the wireless and mobile advisory firm Farpoint Group. “One-Number VoIP will be very popular with end users, and offers mobile operators a unique opportunity to retain customer ownership while gaining from the proliferation of VoIP service offerings entering the market.”

With Converged Mobile VoIP solutions, mobile operators are now able to extend 2G/3G voice services for their subscriber base across a variety of private and roamed networks. This provides a valuable service extension for customers traveling outside the 2G/3G coverage, such as in-building or internationally. In addition to delivering a new revenue generating service, Converged Mobile VoIP also enables mobile operators to retain customers considering competitive VoIP offerings by delivering a far superior product offering. Having already delivered Converged Mobile Messaging, Tatara continues to be the industry leader by being the first to deliver Converged Mobile VoIP services enabling customers to have a significant time to market advantage leveraging the following key capabilities of the Tatara Mobile Services Convergence Platform:

• Integrated SIP-based softphone launch from Tatara’s client, working with the industry’s leading softphone vendors,
• Intelligent network authentication and converged Mobile VoIP service authorization,
• Packet Data Gateway functionality for secure tunneling and termination of voice services back to the home network,
• Presence and location management in the HLR, and
• Embedded SIP Back-to-Back User Agent enabling seamless NAT and Firewall traversal as well as real-time SIP session management, voice call information, historical voice call record storage, and CDR generation for integration into existing billing systems.

“Mobile operators are now seeing significant subscriber adoption of their laptop-based 3G/Wi-Fi mobile office service by their most valuable customer segments”, said Steve Nicolle, CEO and President of Tatara. “Our solution allows them to utilize the advantage they have over standalone VoIP providers by delivering a consistent and converged set of voice and data services under one brand across the end-user’s two most significant devices – their handset and their laptop.”

Tatara’s Mobile Services Convergence Platform is deploying real services today while providing the infrastructure to support rapid deployment of additional converged mobile services over time. The company continues to partner closely with service providers worldwide to implement compelling revenue generating solutions. The Tatara solution enables service deployments today using 3GPP/2 compliant architectures that are extensible to support a variety of new multimedia applications, content and devices.