Leading Mobile Phone Vendors Complete Second Round of Test on New 3G Header Compression standard

12/14/2001 5:56 AM EST

Leading Mobile Phone Vendors Complete Second Round of Tests on New 3G
Header Compression Standard

Ericsson, Nokia, Siemens and Effnet are Testing Protocol that Improves
IP Error Rates and Response Time on Wireless Networks

Effnet announces the successful completion of a second round of 3G
mobile telephone interoperability testing in Tucson, Arizona. Mobile
telephone vendors Ericsson and Siemens participated this round with
Effnet in a series of tests to verify the interoperability of systems
that use a new IP header compression protocol that dramatically improves
response times, error rates, and voice and image quality for Internet
Protocol services delivered over 3G wireless phones. The
interoperability testing was supervised by the two co-chairmen of the
Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) working group on Robust Header
Compression (ROHC).

"Interoperability testing confirms that the standard is being
implemented by multiple vendors as intended. Mobile handsets
manufactured by one vendor should work seamlessly with 3G infrastructure
equipment manufactured by other vendors," explained IETF ROHC working
group co-chair Dr. Carsten Bormann. Dr. Bormann, of Universität Bremen
TZI, is coordinating the ROHC interoperability tests. "Approving a
common standard for header compression was the first step. Insuring that
the actual implementations operate effectively across vendor platforms
requires an exhaustive series of tests, in which the leading vendors are
participating."

Testing Series Attracts Key Players
The Tucson test is the second in a series of tests being jointly
conducted by leading mobile telephony and header compression companies.
Nokia, Ericsson, Siemens and Effnet completed the first round of ROHC
interoperability tests in Southampton, UK in August. The first round
tested header compression using IPv4 addressing. The second round of
ROHC tests, just completed in Tucson, focused on robustness of the new
protocol. The interoperability tests are open to any vendor that has
implemented the IETF 3095 header compression standard.

"Leading suppliers to mobile network operators are aggressively pursuing
header compression as a way to free valuable 3G bandwidth," explained
Dr. Mikael Degermark, University of Arizona professor, co-chair of the
IETF ROHC working group, and a co-founder of header compression vendor
Effnet. "Our interoperability testing will enable a critical mass of
suppliers to offer products that incorporate the latest header
compression standard in the near future."

Header Compression Protocol is Part of 3G Standard
A mandatory component of the ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards
Institute) and 3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project) endorsed UMTS
standards, ROHC increases bandwidth and spectrum efficiency by
eliminating redundancy from the IP packet header while leaving the data
payload unchanged. Header compression is especially critical for
applications that have large streams of small data packets, such as
voice-over-IP and multimedia applications, including gaming and
interactive video.

Recent industry initiatives aimed at accelerating the adoption of 3G
will also accelerate the demand for IP header compression in mobile
networks. By enabling 3G mobile terminals and services to fully
interoperate, these initiatives will allow full-scale interactive
multimedia services to be sold into mass markets.

Header Compression Reduces 3G Bandwidth Requirements
The ROHC standard is designed to perform under the demanding
requirements of wireless communication links, which are subject to high
latency, long round-trip times and lossy transmissions. Header
compression can reduce total IPv6 packet size by as much as 75%,
increasing bandwidth and interactive response while reducing latency and
packet loss.

Designed to be embedded into wireless base stations and handsets, ROHC
significantly improves IP packet transmission over links with low speeds
and long delays in high noise environments. Header compression increases
effective data throughput, allowing carriers to transmit as much as 300%
more IP traffic by reducing the bandwidth requirement for IP packet
headers. Valuable link capacity is then freed for other uses, allowing
wireless network operators to expand and differentiate their services,
without requiring an additional investment in network infrastructure to
increase the available bandwidth.

About Effnet
Effnet innovates and licenses award-winning key technologies that
resolve data speed, efficiency and security challenges in Internet
Protocol (IP) networking and IT security. Effnet focuses on software
development in Robust Header Compression (ROHC), a technology viewed as
becoming essential for providers of IP-based wireless networks. Effnet's
wholly-owned subsidiary, Wkit Security, develops copy protection
software. The Effnet group employs approx. 50 persons. Effnet Group AB
shares are traded on Sweden's Nya Marknaden (symbol: EFFN). Read more
about Effnet at www.effnet.com. Read about Wkit at www.wkit.com.

For additional information contact:
Örjan Grinndal, CEO Effnet Group +46-(0)8-564 605 50, +46-(0)709-57 53 75
Marika Philipson, CFO Effnet Group +46-(0)8-564 605 50, +46-(0)708-32 44 56