Ericsson enables e-services for the Smart home

Ericsson enables e-services for the Smart Home Ericsson's new range of products opens up untapped business opportunities for Network Operators and Service Providers, while bringing consumers a wider selection of services over the Internet into their homes. Ericsson today announced a highly innovative, end-to-end solution for the connection of consumer and small business appliances to Internet services. The Ericsson solution enables operators a rapid path to implement new services for Internet access, remote surveillance, security, energy control and healthcare using one common platform and communications architecture. The Ericsson e- services (electronic services) solution will make it possible to transfer service offerings currently worth more than USD 30 billion per year to an Internet driven economy according to a McKinsey study. As Internet and wireless networks converge and new technologies become available, homes and small offices will be equipped with "service gateways" functioning as the integration-point for a range of communications-based services. Through a single point of contact network operators can now offer consumer and small business users a wide range of utilities including telephony, Internet access, alarm and security, remote energy control and management, healthcare, e-commerce, entertainment and more. Ericsson intends to take a leadership in developing industry networks and standards that will enable rapid growth of the e-service market. Ericsson's e-services solution benefits network operators and service providers by allowing them to develop a whole new range of services and increase the number of services they sell to each subscriber, thereby increasing customer loyalty. The Ericsson e-services solution also benefits all consumers by lowering services costs, simplifying the service provider interface, providing a broader choice of service providers, and enabling entirely new ways of simplifying our life. The e-services solution from Ericsson contains all the elements needed to create the e-services infrastructure: The e-box service gateway is a combined thin server and communications gateway. Through its open architecture the e-box connects to appliances in the home via technologies such as Ethernet and LonTalk today and Bluetooth , DECT, FireWire , HomePNA and others in the future. In the same way, the e-box leverages the value of existing wide area wireline and wireless networks while providing flexibility towards WCDMA, ADSL and other high speed access technologies. The highly reliable Ericsson e-box service gateway also enables service providers to cost effectively deploy new offerings without investing in dedicated communication networks per service. The carrier class e-manager Services and Operations Management system is based on Ericsson's proven technology and expertise in building telecom networks scaling to millions of subscribers. The e-manager makes e-services networks robust, expandable and cost-efficient increasing total service scalability, availability and efficiency. rd The e-tools development environment allows service providers, 3 party application programmers and appliances vendors to rapidly develop services and products for the e-services market. The e-tools environment is based on platform-independent Java technology enabling a wide range of products that leverages an already existing knowledge and technology infrastructure. The e-manager and the e-box service gateway, including support for a range of service applications, are available now. The e-tools development environment will be available in the second quarter of 1999. Ericsson is the leading provider in the new telecoms world, with communications solutions that combine telecom and datacom technologies with freedom of mobility for the user. With more than 100,000 employees in 140 countries, Ericsson simplifies communications for its customers - network operators, service providers, enterprises and consumers - the world over. Please visit Ericsson's Press Room at: http://www.ericsson.se/pressroom FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT Rolf Johansson, Marketing Manager, e-services Ericsson Radio Systems AB Phone: +46 8 404 57 75, Mobile: +46 70 559 29 62 E-mail: rolf.johansson@era.ericsson.se Jöran Hoff , Vice President Business Unit New and Special Business Operations Ericsson Radio Systems AB Phone: +46 8 757 00 00 Isabella Laihorinne Smedh Ericsson Corporate Communications Phone: +46 8 4045654, Mobile: +46 70 5510369 E-mail: Isabella.Laihorinne-Smedh@lme.ericsson.se ------------------------------------------------------------ Please visit http://www.bit.se for further information The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1999/02/18/19990218BIT00190/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1999/02/18/19990218BIT00190/bit0002.pdf