Convergin, a provider of core wireless convergence servers (WCS) today announced that Unefon, Mexico's leading CDMA operator, has chosen Convergin to enable its 2.7 million subscribers to make and receive calls with a single number on virtually any phone: wireless, wireline or VoIP softphone. Ah, yes, the beauty of IP!

IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) will certainly aid in this type of convergence (Convergin supports IMS). IMS allows the service provider to combine wireline and wireless applications in the same session, and allows sessions to be dynamically modified on the fly, for instance add video to a voice call, or transfer a cell phone call to your landline seemlessly. This makes possible "blended" services such as video telephony, push-to-talk, chat, broadcast TV using multicast IP video streams, video-on-demand, video surveillance, and other applications. IMS carries signaling and bearer traffic over IP and acts as a session controller application that matches user profiles with the appropriate call/session-handling servers and then routes the call or session to the appropriate destination.

In any event, Convergin claims that this new service is the first full commercial deployment of fixed mobile convergence in North America, as seen by their press release.

Unefon Chooses Convergin for First North American Fixed Mobile Convergence Commercial Deployment

Core wireless convergence servers enable 2.7 million subscribers to make and receive calls with a single number on virtually any phone

New York, NY - December 13, 2005 - Convergin, the leading provider of core wireless convergence servers (WCS), today announced that Unefon, Mexico's leading CDMA operator, is using Convergin's Accolade Core WCS to enable its 2.7 million subscribers to make and receive calls with a single number on virtually any phone: wireless, wireline or VoIP softphone. The new service, marketed under the WOW-Unefon brand, is the first full commercial deployment of fixed mobile convergence in North America.

With the addition of Convergin's Accolade platform to the network, Unefon seamlessly expanded its core network without any interruption of service or degradation of service quality. Unefon now extends beyond CDMA to include SIP/IP, which allows it to offer services to new markets including fixed line, enterprise, and advanced multimedia communication. Additional services include the ability to make Unefon calls from dual-mode (CDMA/WiFi) phones and from softphones, while roaming worldwide or over the Internet.

Unefon is one of the leading adopters of softswitch technology in its wireless network, which is being used together with Convergin's WCS to provide the WOW services. All the new WOW services transparently interact with Unefon's existing IN pre-paid charging system, leveraging the existing billing infrastructure and market awareness to the new domains. This allows Unefon customers to share a single account across the different access methods, and centralize their communications needs in a single Unefon wallet.

"Convergin met the challenges of our advanced IN network and allowed us to integrate the pieces together to offer unified service delivery not only to our traditional CDMA subscribers, but also to fixed-line users, and roaming users that use wireless IP connectivity via Wi-Fi." said Mr. Ernesto Wagner, MIS Director for Unefon. "By adding the Accolade to our network we are able to significantly expand our service capabilities while evolving and leveraging our comprehensive network."

Using Convergin's Accolade SCIM functionality enables the convergence of SIP clients to Unefon's network without compromising the full connectivity to its existing Wireless Intelligent Network Service Control Points (SCPs), that include Prepaid SCP and an additional SCP running advanced, location-based VPN services.

"We have now established ourselves as the leading vendor for Fixed Mobile Convergence solutions," said Dr. Ayal Itzkovitz, CEO of Convergin. "We are the first vendor to take a Fixed Mobile Convergence solution to a commercial deployment in North America. Our core convergence approach is proving itself to decision makers looking to deploy these solutions today and looking long-term towards the network evolution to IMS."