News release

Compaq Eases Short Message Service Congestion for GSM-based Mobile Operators

Solution Allows Carriers to Offload SMS Traffic—and Keep Growing

Compaq Computer Corporation (NYSE: CPQ) today announced an innovative solution that enables GSM-based mobile operators to solve a pressing network congestion problem related to the soaring success of wireless short message services (SMS). Called SMS Offload, the Compaq solution relieves the congestion by moving the SMS traffic off the primary network and onto a supporting network. Compaq SMS Offload allows operators to transfer the SMS traffic in a manner that is less costly, more flexible and easier to implement than conventional approaches.

Global SMS traffic is growing almost exponentially, according to the GSM Association, and will reach almost 100 billion messages per month by 2003. Many mobile operators have seen the capacity of their underlying network infrastructure become severely over-burdened. The resulting congestion can have serious business consequences for the operator: 1) less than instantaneous SMS transmission time—which can lead to customer dissatisfaction and higher churn, or customer loss; and 2) constraints on the operator's ability to add new customers to a successful, revenue-producing service.

In addition to offloading existing SMS traffic, the Compaq solution can provide a more cost-effective transport for additional SMS traffic. Compaq demonstrated SMS Offload at the recent GSM World Congress with partners BMD Wireless and Business-On-Air (an independent wireless transaction service provider), where live messages from Monaco Telecom's network were handled daily.

At the same show, Compaq's partner Logica demonstrated SMS Offload at a volume of 25 million messages all through the Congress using Logica's SMSC.

All SMS traffic is handled on a core network infrastructure, SS7 or Signaling System 7, whose prime task is to handle all basic analog signaling on the carrier network. The SS7 network can be expanded, but it is expensive, time-consuming, and there are technology limitations. The innovative approach of the Compaq SMS Offload solution is to transfer SMS traffic from the SS7 network to a digital IP (Internet Protocol)-based network.

The IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) is working to define standards to carry signaling traffic over IP networks. The Compaq SMS Offload Solution moves SMS traffic to IP networks today, and provides a smooth migration to a full SS7-over-IP deployment based on the SIGTRAN standard, the accepted industry protocol for SS7 signaling transmission over IP.

The Compaq SMS Offload solution includes the software, the hardware and the professional services for integration and ongoing support.

Regarding software, the Compaq SMS Offload solution, which is a part of Compaq's Network Offload Middleware family, integrates with two separate key components. These two, the Compaq IP-Signaling Transfer Gateway (IP-STG) and the Signaling Gateway (SG7), which are based on Compaq's SS7 implementation (called Compaq IN7), retain traditional connectivity at Short Message Service Centers (SMSC) and Mobile Switching Centers (MSC). The solution is transparent to existing SMSCs and MSCs.

Jenny Newton, vice president of Compaq's Telecom Division in EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa), said, "With Compaq's deep expertise in network infrastructure, we are helping service providers optimize their networks for revenue enhancement and cost reduction. Operators are looking for fast ROI on their new investments, and Compaq SMS Offload certainly delivers that." Newton added, "SMS Offload has the additional advantage of being able to handle excess capacity of other services allied to SMS, such as location, virtual chat, and multimedia messaging, among others."

The Compaq SMS Offload solution is available immediately, and Compaq is working closely with targeted customers, specifically service providers and VARs (value added resellers) who have unified messaging products.

Company Background

Founded in 1982, Compaq Computer Corporation is a leading global provider of information technology products, services and solutions for enterprise customers. Compaq designs, develops, manufactures and markets information technology equipment, software, services and solutions, including industry-leading enterprise storage and computing solutions, fault-tolerant business-critical solutions, communication products, personal desktop and notebook computers, and personal entertainment and Internet access devices that are sold in more than 200 countries directly and through a network of authorized Compaq marketing partners. Information on Compaq and its products and services is available at http://www.compaq.com.