Online storage provider i-drive and IP-based messaging provider Openwave Systems Inc. announced Monday that they will collaborate to deliver an integrated communications and storage solution to Communication Service Providers (CSPs).
“The ability to store, access and share files and rich media is the next natural extension to messaging,” said Don Oas, vice president of Product Management for Openwave. “Our collaborative effort, made possible by both companies’ commitment to open standards, gives service providers an extensible solution that enables new revenue streams and reduces cost of ownership through simplified deployment and operation.”
This collaboration will enable CSPs to provide their business and consumer users the ability to store, access and share any type of content by accessing their i-drive powered storage solution through their Internet-enabled mobile phone or PC. For example, by using the i-drive and Openwave solution, an executive preparing for a sales presentation can use her mobile phone to access business documents stored in her i-drive and send them directly to her client.
The two companies are working on combined solutions to meet the needs of service providers, who are extending their existing messaging infrastructure to provide applications for management and sharing of files and rich media content. This cooperative effort brings Openwave’s communications infrastructure to i-drive’s file management applications, and adds the scalable storage management and peer-to-peer data exchange capabilities of the i-drive Enhanced Storage Platform to Openwave’s messaging applications.
“As media grows richer and drives the need for scalable, cost-effective storage solutions, it is critical that service providers can deliver messaging and storage applications on top of a single, cohesive infrastructure,” said Arif Janjua, CEO of i-drive. “The agreement between i-drive and Openwave provides the structure for the parties to address this need within the telecommunications market.”
Collaborative product offerings from i-drive and Openwave are expected to be commercially available in the third quarter of 2001.
