Bridgewater Unveils New Mobile Data Offload Solutions

Selected by four Tier 1 operators in Europe, North America, and Asia Pacific

BARCELONA, Spain, Feb. 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - Mobile World Congress Hall 1 Stand 1F47 - Bridgewater Systems (TSX: BWC), the mobile personalization company, today announced that four Tier 1 operators in Europe, North America, and Asia Pacific are offloading 3G data traffic to Wi-Fi hotspots and femtocells using Bridgewater's new mobile data offload solutions.

News

    -   Mobile operators are facing enormous capacity and coverage challenges
        due to the rapid adoption of W-iFi-enabled smartphones and laptop
        data cards, and increased indoor usage. This has resulted in service
        interruptions as subscribers move from one network to another and as
        Home Location Registers (HLR) that store subscriber information and
        were built for voice services have been unable to keep up with new
        mobile data requirements.

    -   Bridgewater's new mobile data offload solutions address these
        challenges and include:

        -  The Bridgewater(R) Service Controller anchored by Bridgewater's
           Subscriber Data Broker(TM) which securely and transparently
           re-authenticates and re-authorizes subscribers and performs
           critical accounting functions as they move from a congested 3G
           network to a Wi-Fi hotspot, indoor femtocell, or 4G network. It
           federates subscriber data from existing HLRs and caches that data
           to ensure fast and secure access to Wi-Fi and femtocells. In
           femtocell deployments, the Service Controller also authenticates
           and authorizes the femtocell, stores the femtocell profile and
           location, provides quality of service prioritization of mobile
           devices, and manages entitlements such as provisioning and
           firmware updates.

        -  The market leading Bridgewater(R) Policy Controller (PCRF) applies
           real-time network, application and subscriber policies to manage
           mobile data growth. It can enable 'selective' offload by applying
           policies to move traffic based on network conditions or a
           subscriber's profile, usage behaviour, or location.

    -   The new solutions have extensive interoperability with leading Wi-Fi
        and femtocell, security gateway, and HLR equipment providers.

    -   They enable operators to:

        -  Alleviate 3G network congestion and reduce costs by offloading
           mobile data traffic to a Wi-Fi hotspot or femtocell without the
           need to provision these services in the HLR. Operators deploying a
           multi-access offload strategy can expect savings in the range of
           20 to 25 per cent per annum.(1)

        -  Ensure secure and transparent access as subscribers move to a
           Wi-Fi hotspot or femtocell and back to a 3G network again without
           service interruptions or the need for subscribers to sign in
           again.

        -  Increase revenues by directing subscribers to operator-owned Wi-Fi
           networks as part of a service bundle or through revenue share
           agreements with Wi-Fi hotspot providers.

Quotes

Ari Banerjee, Vice President, Yankee Group

"Shifting data traffic off a congested mobile network and onto a Wi-Fi hotspot or femtocell fundamentally changes the economics of delivering that data. Considering that more than 50% of mobile data sessions originate indoors, Bridgewater's innovative multi-access approach to mobile data offload can provide significant cost benefits to operators as well as delivering a better mobile experience to subscribers."

David Sharpley, Senior Vice President, Bridgewater Systems

"Bridgewater's new data offload solutions are hitting the mark with mobile operators who want to alleviate network traffic congestion and optimize services across their different access networks - whether it is 3G, 4G, Wi-Fi, or femtocells. By combining subscriber, service, and policy controls with a multi-access approach, we are uniquely positioned to help operators reduce costs and deliver a seamless customer experience, regardless of network type."

Visit Bridgewater Systems and see the Data Offload and Policy Control Demonstrations at Mobile World Congress, Hall 1 - Stand 1F47, February 15-18, 2010, Barcelona, Spain. Join Bridgewater's Russ Freen, Chief Technology Officer, at the 'Network Breaking Point' session to discuss solutions for managing mobile data growth on February 17th at 2:00 PM.

Tags / Keywords

Bridgewater Systems, mobile data offload, network congestion, policy control, service control, femtocells, Wi-Fi

Links

http://www.bridgewatersystems.com/Data-Offload.aspx

http://www.bridgewatersystems.com/Femtocells.aspx

http://campaigns.bridgewatersystems.com/forms/ProfitableMobileDataModel

http://www.yankeegroup.com/home.do

About Bridgewater Systems

Bridgewater Systems, the mobile personalization company, enables service providers to efficiently manage and profit from mobile data services, content and commerce. The company's market leading mobile personalization portfolio provides a real-time, unified view of subscribers including entitlements, devices, networks, billing profiles, preferences and context. Anchored by Bridgewater's Subscriber Data Broker(TM), the portfolio of carrier-grade and standards-based products includes the Bridgewater(R) Service Controller (AAA), the Bridgewater(R) Policy Controller (PCRF) and the Bridgewater(R) Home Subscriber Server (HSS). More than 140 leading service providers including America Movil, Bell Canada, Clearwire, Cox, Hutchison Telecom, Iusacell, Scartel, SmarTone-Vodafone, Sprint, Tata Teleservices, Tatung, Telmex, Telstra, and Verizon Wireless use Bridgewater's solutions to rapidly deliver innovative mobile services to over 150 million subscribers. For more information, visit us at www.bridgewatersystems.com.

Bridgewater, Bridgewater Systems, the Bridgewater Systems logo, WideSpan, Smart Caps, myPolicy, and Subscriber Data Broker are trademarks or registered trademarks of Bridgewater Systems Corporation. All other company, product names and any registered and unregistered trademarks mentioned are used for identification purposes only and remain the exclusive property of their respective owners.

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    (1) Chetan Sharma Consulting, 2009

SOURCE Bridgewater Systems