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In this issue

Industry bloggers marvel at HP OpenCall Video Blog solution

HP OpenCall recently participated in a blogger event in London, destined to present HP Communications, Media & Entertainment (CME) solutions to EMEA technology bloggers, positioning HP through visionary speakers and showcase solutions. Jean-Marie Bulte (Solutions Architect, HP OpenCall Media Solutions) presented the HP OpenCall Video Blog solution to great acclaim.

Ewan McLeod, CEO of Neo One & Interactive Energy, reports on the event in his blog under the title HP: 91 billion dollars and still innovating, now in the mobile video space.

"Moments later Jean-Marie was demonstrating a real time video RSS service that, when you video-call in to record a video, updates near instantly with your latest content. The commercial possibilities of these sorts of services: Massive if pitched right."

He goes on to say: "Can a developer who's just knocked up a video call recording service confidently assert that his service will scale from 20 users to 20 million? ...Talk to HP. What's fascinating is I really didn't know HP did this sort of thing..."

"I've been getting emails from the audience all day remarking on their surprise (and delight) at learning just how advanced HP's mobile video operations are."

HP Software Awards of Excellence 2007 - EMEA

HP has announced the winners of its second annual HP Software Excellence in Innovation Awards in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region. Vodafone, Germany was selected to receive the prestigious HP Software Award for Excellence in Innovation. Vodafone used HP OpenCall Media Platform to deliver its innovative Visual Mailbox service in just seven months—well ahead of its competition. Vodafone expects the service will increase market penetration of its voicemail service and boost customer loyalty.

This award recognizes organizations using HP Software to fuel innovation, gaining new market opportunities and competitive advantage as a result:

The winning companies were recognised during the 2007 HP Software Universe event in Barcelona, Spain. The HP Software Awards of Excellence are offered annually at the HP Software Universe events.

HP OpenCall behind award-winning visual mailbox

Vodafone Germany has launched a Visual Voice Mail service, an application based on HP OpenCall Media Platform Call Completion with HP OpenCall partner Speech Design. The "Vodafone Visual Mailbox" is a new kind of mailbox that redirects messages straight to the handset as a voice MMS.

The advantage for users of receiving their voice messages on their mobile phone is that they can hear them at the click of a button and don't have to call the mailbox to play them back. This charge-free new generation mailbox service received an accolade for its innovativeness and excellent user convenience even before it was launched when it received the "Plus X Award" technology prize from media society networks and the plugged Media-Verlag publishers.

Telenity delivers first Video Ringback Tone solution in EMEA

Nawras, in Oman Middle-East, and Geocell, in Georgia, have selected Telenity's Video Ringback Tone (RBT) solution to enrich their end-users' value added services offering. Video Ringback tone is an enhancement of the existing CoolRings Ringback tone solution from Telenity based on HP OpenCall Media Platform (OCMP) 4.0.

Subscribers of the service can:

• Personalize their communications with a variety of multimedia content: music videos, celebrity clips, personal messages, infotainment clips or promotional messages.
• Assign different Video RBT to different callers or a groups of callers.
• Select a variety of Video RBT for their callers based on date, day or time.
• Gift video content to other subscribers.
• Receive flexible SMS notifications for new video content availability.

New HP OpenCall Partner Program

HP OpenCall has a long history of collaboration with partners to bring revenue generating applications to its customers. Over the past five years HP OpenCall has been successful in attracting many of the most innovative Application Partners in the industry. As Service Providers look to enhance revenue streams through innovative new applications and reduce operating cost through consolidation and convergence, HP OpenCall took the wraps off the next evolution of the HP OpenCall Partner Program at this year's HP Communications World 2007 event in Barcelona on November 27.

In its evolution, the HP OpenCall Partner Program will not only strengthen the application partner focused developer curriculum, but for the first time introduce a comprehensive reseller channel curriculum. The enhanced HP OpenCall Partner Program now enables system integration partners to promote, sell, deliver and support a rich ecosystem of HP OpenCall partner offerings directly with their customers.

As a Service Provider you can expect to benefit from the newly enhanced HP OpenCall Partner Program in more than one way. More and better supported partners means more applications for you to chose from and add to your bottom line. As all applications run on HP OpenCall technologies they fit into your consolidation, convergence and innovation strategies and you will be able to leverage your investment in HP OpenCall even further - whether you prefer to buy from HP directly or via one of the HP OpenCall Partner Program's system integration partners.

For an overview of partner offerings available on HP OpenCall please visit the HP OpenCall Partner Offering web and contact your HP Sales representative.

HP enhances OpenCall Media Platform to help mobile operators deliver personalized, interactive multimedia services

Deployed by more than 100 operators in 45 countries and running multiple interactive multimedia services on a single platform, enabling operators to consolidate legacy systems and further reduce costs, the HP OpenCall Media Platform 4.0 incorporates years of innovation and real-world experience.

HP has announced an enhanced media platform to help telecom operators accelerate growth by providing their mobile and broadband customers with a wide variety of personalized, interactive multimedia services.

The HP OpenCall Media Platform 4.0 is a carrier-grade media server that handles call connections and the special digital processing that is required for services offering multimedia content, such as rich video and advanced messaging in social networking communities. By handling multimedia efficiently, HP OpenCall Media Platform helps operators deliver more attractive services, generate more revenue and increase customer loyalty. HP OpenCall Media Platform 4.0 also incorporates the media resource function (MRF) capability making it ready for deployment in emerging IMS networks.

Available for broadband and wireless networks, the platform's powerful technology enables people to use their mobile devices and PCs to enjoy a host of personalized, interactive experiences including: interactive voice and video response systems, multimedia portals to video and music, video messaging, video blogging, audio and video conferencing, video sharing, participation TV, and personalized video ring-back tones, among others.

Announcing Service Delivery Platform 2.0

November 7 saw HP launch the next phase in its already successful HP OpenCall software based HP Service Delivery Platform offering, SDP 2.0. Developed to leverage the flexibility of a service-oriented architecture (SOA), the HP Service Delivery Platform 2.0 optimizes the convergence of IT, networks and Web 2.0 functionality to bring governance, management and quality to service delivery.

The HP SDP reinforces the architectural philosophy behind IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) in which application, service delivery, session control and transport are decoupled and allowed to evolve independently. HP OpenCall powers the real-time service delivery infrastructure of the HP SDP. HP OpenCall does this by providing a set of open, standards based service platforms and enablers such as the Home Location Register, Home Subscriber Server, Intelligent Network Server, Internet Protocol Signaling Gateway, Media Platform amongst others. These market leading platforms, backed by HP OpenCall services and support, support both legacy and next generation IMS environments, and bring the power and flexibility of IT to telecom without sacrificing stringent "carrier grade" requirements.

The SDP 2.0 enhancements have been directly driven by increasingly sophisticated subscriber demand for rich, context-aware converged services. In response, Service Providers must transition their infrastructure to develop, deploy and manage services that can be delivered rapidly and profitably in a controlled and secure manner.

HP OpenCall Internet Protocol Signaling Transfer Gateway v.2.2

The HP OpenCall Internet Protocol Signaling Transfer Gateway (IP-STG) version 2.2 runs on Linux RHEL4.4 and supersedes the previous HP OpenCall IP-STG 2.1. It brings an enriched feature set, such as Intelligent Routing that allows the HP OpenCall IP-STG to route signaling traffic based on application parameters and not just on the underlying signaling protocol criteria. It also provides SIGTRAN to SIGTRAN routing for full IP interfaces as does an IP-Signaling Transfer Point (IP-STP).

This release offers security enhancements and a higher number of Global Title Translation (GTT) rules. HP OpenCall IP-STG 2.2 can also be used as the signaling front-end for HP OpenCall USP-M 4.1 or 4.2.

HP OpenCall Home Location Register (HLR) release D60.00

The HP OpenCall Home Location Register (HLR) release D60.00 includes support for Advanced Database Architecture (Single Image Database), an alternative deployment architecture that allows for a single view of up to 40 million subscribers on a single database using a NonStop Cluster Architecture. The complete product enhancements in this release are:

• DPA GCI Alias
• Advanced Signal Strength Arbitration (ANSI)
• IS-875 Plus Code Dialing (ANSI)
• Limited Mobility & MSS (ANSI)
• MIN based IMSI (ANSI)
• Position Request (ANSI)
• WIN Modify (ANSI)
• Radio Access Technology Restriction (GSM)

HP OpenCall SIP Network Server 2.0

The HP OpenCall Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Network Server (OCSNS) 2.0 is the first commercial release of the HP SIP Network Server, providing an OSI model Layer 7 load-balancer for SIP network elements.

The HP OCSNS is highly flexible and configurable through scripting, allowing message routing based on any SIP field or combination of fields. In addition, its architecture makes it easy to add plug-ins on top of its proxy, redirect and registrar functions for enhanced customization. This benefits the Service Provider, enabling intelligent routing to select the best application server to handle an incoming call. Service Providers can now deploy new generation services on any SIP network easily and reliably.

The HP OCSNS is HP OpenCall Media Platform (OCMP) audio and video ready: it performs back-end detection failure and load-balancing, and provides high-availability to the media applications by distributing the SIP messages on the available back-end servers.

HP OpenCall Service Controller release 6.1

HP OpenCall Service Controller release 6.1 is now available. The HP OpenCall Service Controller is a flexible, carrier-grade platform for building multi-network-based services and developing applications in 2G and 3G, fixed or mobile network architectures. Highlights of this release include:

• Unmatched performance: 18000 TCAP transactions/s (TPS) benchmarked on a single node, with linear processor scalability.
• Support of HP Itanium servers in addition to PA-RISC systems.
• New network connectivity (such as SIGTRAN) and back-end/front-end signaling configurations for a flexible network architecture design and reduced CAPEX.
• License Server for dynamic traffic capacity allocation across several platforms resulting in improved use of software license.
• Additional message sets for the development and delivery of current and next-generation services.
• Increased performance and scalability for deployment of powerful configurations.
• Security improvements enabling the deployment of Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) compliant solutions.
• Significant license price decrease compared to previous OCSC 5.x release.

The HP OpenCall Service Controller exists in Simplex or Duplex (High Availability) configurations and can be deployed in fixed or mobile SS7 networks or Voice Over IP networks via standard Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) or dedicated Netcentrex CCS interface.

Compatible with services deployed on previous HP OpenCall Service Controller releases, the HP OpenCall Service Controller release 6.1 enables a smooth migration while bringing a new set of features and additional connectivity available to existing or new services, combined with an attractive price/performance ratio.

HP OpenCall technology and solutions featured in French media event

HP OpenCall was the focus of a recent visit by French journalists and analysts to the HP site in Grenoble. The topics that were covered during the event included HP's telecom activities (including HP OpenCall, HP CME solutions and the HP Intel Solution Center), HP's recently announced High Performance Computing center in Grenoble, and the site's Halo facilities.

01net.com produced a video report, highlighting the HP OpenCall Video Blog solution, the HP CME Video Karaoki solution and the Halo room facilities. The video (in French) can be viewed at the 01net web site.

HP OpenCall Universal Signaling Platform version 4.2

The HP OpenCall Universal Signaling Platform 4.2 on Linux RHEL4 (any updates), HP-UX 11iv1 or HP-UX 11iv2 (HP OpenCall USP-M 4.2) brings more performance on the middleware/back-end (e.g. up to 42000 TPS on Linux), and the support of HP C-Class Linux Blades (AMD or Intel processors). It comes also with a set of new features, including 'Transaction Forward', optimization of the usage of Ethernet boards, and the ability to distribute application on more remote servers.

Released at the same time as HP OpenCall Internet Protocol Signaling Transfer Gateway (IP-STG) version 2.2 - which is the SS7 front-end for HP OpenCall USP-M - HP OpenCall USP-M 4.2 benefits directly from the set of features brought by this new version of IP-STG. For example, it has the ability to use application criteria to route incoming traffic towards applications running on the back-end, SIGTRAN to SIGTRAN routing, security enhancements and a higher possible number of Global Title Translation (GTT) rules.

HP OpenCall USP-M 4.2 is fully backward compatible with previous versions of HP OpenCall USP-M (4.1-x), and can also be deployed with HP OpenCall IP-STG 2.1.

HP OpenCall SS7 sales extension in 2008

HP OpenCall Software is pleased to announce an extension of the availability of the HP OpenCall SS7 product in 2008.

HP OpenCall SS7 product was to be discontinued at the end of 2007. This discontinuance concerned all the currently available HP OpenCall SS7 releases (3.2 and later), as well as the corresponding SS7 Telecom hardware (Telecom Signaling Units and Telecom Signaling Cards).

Now, HP OpenCall SS7 product (3.2 and later release, as well as SS7 telecom hardware) will be discontinued as follows:

• Last order date for HP OpenCall SS7 platforms: December 31st, 2008
• Last shipment date for HP OpenCall SS7 platforms: March 31st, 2009
• End-of-support date for HP OpenCall SS7 platforms: December 31st, 2013

Please note that the end of support date has also been delayed by one year.

The licenses and corresponding SS7 cards products (Telecom Signaling Units, PCI E1/T1 or V35 4 ports TSC cards) for HP OpenCall SS7 will be available for capacity upgrades or software upgrades, after end of 2008, and until September 30th, 2009 at the latest (last order date), depending on the availability of these products in our inventories. This will allow capacity expansion or upgrade of HP OpenCall SS7 software only on existing SS7 platforms, during 2009. Please note that, starting from January 1, 2009, HP may adjust the price of the SS7 telecom hardware and licenses, to cover the extra costs of this extension.

As a reminder the replacement product for HP OpenCall SS7 is HP OpenCall USP-M. This product brings scalability and performance and ensures API backward compatibility with HP OpenCall SS7, for a smooth migration path.

HP OpenCall Media Platform (OCMP) 3.1.1 discontinuance

HP OpenCall Media Platform (OCMP) release 3.1.x will be discontinued on December 31 2007. It will be supported until October 2010 which is in line with end of support date for Red Hat 3. Capacity upgrades will be possible until December 2008. The capacity upgrades may be limited by hardware availability. There are no plans to sustain HP OCMP 3.1.x on Red Hat 4.

The primary replacement product is HP OCMP 3.2 which includes all the functionality of HP OCMP 3.1.x. In some cases (SIP only), HP OCMP 4.x can also be considered as a replacement alternative.

HP OpenCall Media Platform (OCMP) Video 1.0 discontinuance

HP OpenCall Media Platform Video 1.0 will be discontinued on December 31 (last lifetime buy) with a last shipment date of June 30, 2008.

As a replacement product for the HP OpenCall Media Platform Video 1.0 HP recommends HP OpenCall Media Platform 4.0 which includes equivalent functionality to that of HP OpenCall Media Platform Video 1.0.

HP OpenCall IP-STG version 2.1 discontinuance

HP OpenCall Internet Protocol Signaling Transfer Gateway (IP-STG) version 2.1 will be discontinued on March 31, 2008 (Last Order Date). This minor version of HP IP-STG v2 will then be supported for 3 years, until December 2011. The replacement product is HP OpenCall IP-STG version 2.2, released in September 2007.

HP OpenCall Developer Portal new URL

Migration of the HP OpenCall Developer portal to a new Developer portal URL is completed: please update your bookmarks accordingly.

The 'Entry Development Package', a complimentary access to HP OpenCall Developer resources including web-based training, developer tools download (including 1-month-free developer assistance), tutorials, code samples and technical whitepapers is available at this site.

This package has dedicated pages per product: the HP OpenCall Getting Started pages are now available from the above link or directly at:

HP OpenCall at Mobile World Congress, February 11-14 2008, Barcelona

HP OpenCall is pleased to announce its participation in the GSM Association's Mobile World Congress 2008 in Barcelona. GSMA represents the interests of more than 700 GSM mobile phone operators across 218 countries around the world as well as over 200 manufacturers and suppliers. The association's members serve more than two billion customers - over 82% of the world's mobile phone users. HP OpenCall will again have a major presence at the HP booth, HP Club, with customer meetings and much, much more.

A priority for us, and our teams, is to take the opportunity in Barcelona to meet with our customers and partners, and members of the media and analyst community. And because we understand the pressures of busy schedules, we positively encourage meetings that are prescheduled and confirmed ahead of the event itself. All meetings will be hosted in the HP Club, located in Hall 6 and meetings can be scheduled via your local HP representative or PR/AR Team. HP OpenCall experts will be available on the HP Booth, located in Hall 8, where HP solutions, including those of the HP OpenCall portfolio, will be demonstrated.

If you don't yet know HP OpenCall well yet, take time to pay us a visit in Barcelona! We'd like to show you how HP OpenCall can boost your revenue, cut costs, build brand equity and reduce churn.

11th ICIN conference, October 8-11, 2007, Bordeaux

Under the theme of "Emerging Web and Telecom Services: Collision or Competition?", covering a wide range of topics relating to next-generation services, including IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), Service Oriented Architectures (SOA), peer-to-peer technology, web2.0, service composition, security and profile/data management, HP OpenCall was the subject of three papers:

• "Validation and Authorization Services from Service Providers in E-Commerce", by Antoni Drudis, Dominique Sandraz and Paul Serra (HP OpenCall), presented by Claude Florin (HP OpenCall), describing how MRF and other IMS functionality can be used by service providers to provide user verification and transaction authorization services for e-commerce.
• "Case Study on the Convergence of Web Services and IMS", by David Mansutti, Marc Lamberton, Marie-Noelle Mathieu and Bruno Menez (HP OpenCall), highlighting how web technology has been integrated with IMS technology to implement instant group communication solutions.
• "Conversa: Uniting Mobile Video with a Community-Based Web Service", by Alex Vorbau, April Mitchell and Mitchell Trott (HP Labs), describing the Conversa social networking application that has been implemented on HP OpenCall Media Platform video in collaboration with HP OpenCall.

The full list of presented papers is available at the event web site.

HP Software OpenCall Customer Advisory Board, February 11, 2008

As a valued HP Software customer, you are invited to attend our exclusive HP OpenCall Customer Advisory Board meeting on February 11, Barcelona, Spain, in conjunction with the Mobile World Congress 2008. We are planning content that should be of great interest to you ! We will be meeting in the Boardroom of the El Principal restaurant, calle Provenca 286/288 in Barcelona.

The Customer Advisory Board brings together thought leaders who share creative methods and innovative practices they've applied to their top initiatives. As a member, you'll have access to confidential information as well as an opportunity to network with your peers, provide feedback on HP strategic direction and future offerings, and discuss your company's top priorities with HP Software executives. Your ideas are important to us, and we would greatly appreciate your time and participation in this high-priority event.

To show our appreciation for your time and effort, we would also like to invite you to join us for the Executive Customer cocktail reception and dinner hosted by Sebastiano Tevarotto, Vice President and General Manager, Communications, Media & Entertainment Business, and Marc Rotthier, EMEA Vice President and General Manager, Communications, Media & Entertainment Business, after the meeting.

Please also save the date for the HP Software OpenCall Customer Advisory Board meeting to be held on March 31 2008 at at CTIA in Las Vegas.

Contact your local HP Sales Rep for details of these events.

Announcing the new HP OpenCall web

Strategy, solutions and platforms for service provider success

HP OpenCall software powers agile businesses in a rapidly changing market, and our new web site is keeping the pace. As service providers strive to create innovative user experiences that drive revenue growth, reduce risk, and keep costs under control, HP OpenCall supports the critical initiatives that result in success.

Our new web site at www.hp.com/go/opencall mirrors our winning approach, with a framework based on three key strategic principles:

• Consolidate legacy environments on open, flexible scalable IP networks to lower costs, eliminate redundancies and make component reuse possible.
• Converge network types and infrastructure elements such as billing systems, subscriber management databases and application platforms to enhance the user experience.
• Innovate dramatic new services like video messaging, video blogging and instant communication to win and hold market share in a ruthlessly competitive environment.

To learn in detail how the HP OpenCall portfolio of integrated solutions, platforms, services and support—together with our unique combination of IT and telecommunications expertise—puts service providers back in the driver's seat and enables them to master change, check out the new www.hp.com/go/opencall.

HP OpenCall Interactive Voice Response (IVR) Datamonitor white paper

A new white paper has been published with Datamonitor, "Slashing the TCO for IVR: Comparing CAPEX and OPEX for Traditional and Open Standards-based IVR". It is posted on SearchTelecom (TechTarget/BitPipe).

This Datamonitor white paper analyzes the costs and benefits that open standards-based Interactive Voice Response (IVR) platforms provide to carriers. It will help readers understand the market landscape and dynamics of open standards-based IVR platforms; grasp the real cost advantages of Voice-XML platforms; and gain insight into HP OpenCall's strategy to help service providers optimize their cost structure while delivering new services.

Accelerating 3G Mobile Video Communications white paper

This white paper offers an in-depth analysis of why HP OpenCall can assist service providers in bringing new innovative multimedia solutions to market in a cost effective way. It lays out the vision of a typical day in the life of a 3G video user. It also looks at the business and technical requirements that service providers need to consider and which can be met by the HP OpenCall Video solutions offering.