Starhome Joins Forces with a European Consortium to Share its Wealth of Knowledge about Roaming for a Public Safety Communications Project - Starhome is working to enable communications in emergency situations in a program with the University of Luxemburg   

Zurich, Switzerland, March 2, 2010 - Starhomer, the leading provider and acknowledged driving force of roaming services for mobile network operators, today announced that it is participating in the CELTIC FT-PSC (Federated Test bed for Public Safety Communications) Consortium. The project is focusing on public safety and disaster management and includes developing communications among national operators during emergency situations. 

The FT-PSC project is addressing the lack of existing public safety communications and information systems interoperability and the effect it has on response times during an emergency situation. Currently, establishing direct roaming relations among national operators is problematic, as competitive operators do not generally have bilateral roaming relations. However in an emergency, if one network crashes or does not have coverage in specific area, other networks should provide backup. The Starhomer Roaming Broker solution for new generation networks will be developed in the project as an alternative to bi-lateral operator roaming agreements.

Shlomo Wolfman, Starhome's co-founder and Chief Operating Officer, commented: "The need for international roaming in emergency situations is of paramount importance. We are excited to take part in the FT-PSC project, which will enable European carriers to use Starhome's New Generation Roaming Broker technology as a potential life-saving tool. Starhome has contributed over 10 years of notable roaming knowledge to the industry and is always looking for ways to assist."

Starhome's Roaming Broker solution for new generation networks can be used on a day-to-day basis between operators who do not wish to spend time and resources in signing costly and lengthy agreements with numerous operators in order to provide sufficient services for their subscribers. Moreover, the roaming world is dynamic and constantly becoming more complex. In the next generation IP world, the situation will be even more complex, where legacy networks will be involved with LTE (4th generation) networks, players from the WiFi/WiMAX arena, and fixed-line and cable operators. Starhome's Roaming Broker for new generation networks takes on the hybrid scenario of legacy and new generation.

CELTIC is a European R&D programme that initiates and runs privately and publicly funded Information and Communication Technology (ICT)/telecommunications R&D projects. The FT-PSC Consortium members include: Atos Origin, ES, CREATE-NET, IT, Deltabit, FI, Innovalia Association, ES, IPv6 Forum Slovakia, SK, Ministère d'Etat, LU, Nethawk Oyj, FI, Nextel, ES, Sec-Control, FI, Securitas, FI, SES Astra, LU, Software Quality Systems (SQS), ES, Telindus, LU,   University of Trencin, SK, UPV, ES and VTT, FI.

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 About CELTIC FT-PSC

The FT-PSC CELTIC project is building federated European test bed for testing of public safety communication and information systems. The test bed will allow European telecom manufactures and software providers to carry out tests and evaluation of their products, results of R&D projects in international environment with participation of public safety users. The Federated test bed will make possible to test large scale heterogeneous communication systems including the heterogeneous networks simultaneously based on several standards such as GPRS, UMTS, WLAN, WiMax, PMR (TETRA, TETRPOL, P25). The integrated - deployable and fixed networks for public safety will be part of the federated test bed. The established federated test bed will create a platform for interoperability and conformance testing of communication and information systems for public safety that will be carried out with industrial participation and participation of TETRA association and other interested organizations.

 

About Starhome

Starhome is a field proven leader in roaming whose cumulative knowledge and expertise has made it the roaming partner of choice for mobile operators. Since its establishment in 1999, Starhome manages and monitors over 900 roaming solutions for over 178 mobile operators in 118 countries worldwide.

Starhome's solutions address all key roaming requirements and specifically target three distinct areas of activity at the mobile operator. For Retail, Starhome offers seamless solutions to stimulate and increase roaming traffic and usability. For Wholesale, our powerful solutions enable teams to meet their wholesale targets and IOT discount agreements. For Operations, our mission-critical solutions optimize network efficiency and reduce cost of ownership.