Genaker was founded in 2003 as a spin-out of a Nokia R&D center. Now it is a fully independent and privately-owned company with 25 employees, focusing on SIP and IMS technology. Its most notable product is an IMS-based PoC (Push-To-Talk-over-Cellular) Dispatcher. Genaker is extending its portfolio into a new range of rich SIP/NGN applications in areas such as RCS (Rich Communication Suite), Web 2.0 and mobile convergence.

David Viamonte, senior technology manager at Genaker, says the company started working with SIP and IMS technologies in 2003. “We saw a need for a coordination center for Push-to-Talk over Cellular (PoC), delivering a new group of communication services to professionals in their everyday duties,” Viamonte explains. “We wanted to build a future-proof, cost-effective solution, based on cellular technologies, so IMS-based PoC was an obvious choice.”

“We first developed a PoC Dispatcher for Windows XP. It serves as a coordination center for corporate communications, including PoC, presence, group management and location-tracking features. Then we moved to PoC clients for other operator systems, such as Windows Mobile, as well as to IMS Java clients. Leveraging the success of our PoC products in the corporate segment, we are currently expanding into other exciting areas. Now we are active in the Rich Communication Suite (RCS) program and developing new services that combine the best of the mobile and the internet worlds for both corporate and residential users.”

PoC is one of the first examples of IMS-based services and Viamonte says it was a natural step for Genaker to move from PoC into other IMS-based applications.

“IMS is the common playground that will enable rich multimedia communication between end users regardless of terminals, access network, technology, location, or the operator providing the service,” he says. “It is a truly unique open standard that serves users, operators, service providers, and application developers in the delivery of interoperable services in an ‘ecosystem’ manner.”

Genaker initiated its partnership with Ericsson in 2006; and the benefits are evident. “By going with Ericsson we can reach a much broader market than we can alone,” Viamonte says. “And Ericsson is a key player in the SIP/IMS area, pushing the build of the IMS ecosystem harder than any other player. Additionally, Ericsson has PoC infrastructure as part of its IMS offering.”

Svante Nelsson, strategic product manager for PoC at Ericsson, has worked closely with Genaker. He says: “It is always interesting to work with partners outside Ericsson. Genaker has contributed with applications in areas where Ericsson was not present. Thanks to its experience as a small software company, working close to customers, Genaker has shown Ericsson new ways of using our product offerings. Genaker has also proven to be very efficient and productive in our joint projects.” 

Genaker is involved in several exciting projects. One is collaboration with Ericsson R&D in Spain to investigate how to leverage IMS enablers and services – such as presence and multimedia telephony – in building e-health services to improve the quality of life for sick people and the elderly.

Addressing independent developers, Viamonte says they should exploit the rich assets of multimedia enablers that IMS offers. “IMS is based on open standards, combining internet and mobile technologies, and makes it possible for developers to reach the broadest possible community of end user with innovative services.”

By Benny Ritzén

Genaker website
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