IBM boosts mobile offerings with Openwave

NEWS IBM and wireless software company Openwave have signed a development agreement to enhance IBM's middleware offering to telecommunications operators. IBM will add Openwave's wireless messaging software to its Service Provider Delivery Environment (SPDE) - a mobile middleware product that was released in February. Over the next 10 years both companies will work to make sure SPDE keeps up with innovations that enable telephone operators to add new services to their networks without having to invest heavily in new infrastructure. Without mobile middleware, adding a service such as instant messaging means an operator has to upgrade almost all parts of a network, from billing computers to handsets.