Kineto's combined VoLGA/IMS client for voice over LTE

MILPITAS, USA: Kineto Wireless, Inc., the key innovator and leading supplier of solutions that enable delivery of mobile services over broadband, today announced the industry’s first software client that supports both VoLGA (voice over LTE via Generic Access) and IMS voice for LTE handsets.

“It is inevitable operators migrating to LTE will need to support more than one voice option,” said Uwe Janßen, senior vice president of core networks at Deutsche Telekom. “While the long-term approach for LTE voice remains IMS, many operators will require an interim voice solution, and we see VoLGA being the best approach, by far. As both are based on the same radio mechanisms, there is a natural evolution from VoLGA to IMS, which is nicely demonstrated by the integrated client.”

An important requirement for any LTE handset is concurrent support for both the interim VoLGA and longer-term IMS voice solutions. Operators around the world will adopt IMS voice on different timelines, so LTE handsets must support the interim approach along with IMS to provide an effective roaming solution. Kineto’s combined client is the industry’s first to provide this comprehensive solution.

“Kineto is the first vendor to offer one voice client which combines support for both VoLGA and IMS voice into a single solution,” said Mark Powell, vice president and general manager of Kineto’s client software business unit. “Kineto’s innovative client architecture, with field upgradeable software, helps operators and handset vendors overcome the complexities of bringing new voice solutions to market.”

Expanding on Kineto’s previously announced VoLGA Software Developer’s Kit (SDK), the new client enables handset manufacturers to easily integrate a combined VoLGA/IMS voice client and accelerate LTE handsets to market. In addition, the client can be upgraded over the air through standard procedures to support new and evolving functionality, providing operators, as well as subscribers, a future-proof solution.

“This is an important step for bringing LTE networks to market faster,” said Stéphane Téral, principal analyst with Infonetics Research. “The evolution to mobile IMS voice will take longer than many expect, and a combined voice client which can be field upgradeable removes some of the risk associated with LTE rollouts.”

Kineto’s combined VoLGA/IMS voice client is compliant with the VoLGA Forum’s release 1.0 specifications and is planned to support the recently announced “One Voice” IMS telephony profile.

VoLGA is defined specifically to pave a smooth migration path to IMS voice. VoLGA utilizes many of the same connection protocols defined in IMS voice, including RFC 4867 and RoHC (robust header compression). VoLGA works with IMS data services, like the Rich Communications Suite (RCS) over LTE, enabling operators to begin their IMS deployments with new revenue-generating applications while laying the foundation for IMS voice.