Its only a few days now till the celebration of mobile technology that is the 3GSM World Congress  kicks off in Barcelona. If youre heading to the show, heres a run-down of some of the highlights among the 13,000 exhibitors. If youre not, heres just a small sample of what youre missing

The Facts:
The Show: 3GSM World Congress
The Venue: Barcelona
The Dates: Monday 12 Thurs 15 February
Exhibitors: 1,300 (approx.)

Exhibitor Information:

NQUIR – Stand 7B55 
NQUIR  will be showcasing its Mobile 2.0 video call services. These include:
TRIBOOO Video Blogging – a mobile community where callers record and post their funniest or most interesting moments.
SOOOSHI Video Speed Dating – where callers post their profile and rate profiles posted by other male or female users of the service.
MOOOSIQ Video Store –  allows callers to browse through a catalogue of music video clips and to buy a selected clip via a WAP Push message. The service is free to the calling party.
GOOOL Video Shout Portal – a combination of ad-funded content generated by football fans commenting on an ongoing football game – live at the stadium or at in front of a TV at home or at a bar. The service also contains premium content provided by football clubs on a pay-per-view basis.
FORYOOO Video Karaoke dont ask.

Actimagine Stand 2G08
Actimagine, the first company to create a video codec specifically designed and optimized for mobile devices, will unveil major announcements and demonstrations of its patented Mobiclip technology.
Actimagine says it will be the first company to demonstrate video content on TV via mobile phonewith a quality never reached today, even by video iPods. It is also holding private viewings of the Beta version of its server-based massive encoding solution. The idea is to offer to content providers, aggregators and sharing sites a solution that will allow them to have their content available for anyone on all kind of mobile devices. Content can be premium content, but also advertising or user generated.
Actimagine will reveal its aggressive plans to embed its technology in all mobile devices though licensing partnerships with manufacturers, and its plans to make the technology available under licence to organisations including content distributors, aggregators and sharing sites.
As a member of the ARM Connected Community, Actimagine will also provide demonstrations on ARMs stand at the show.  To introduce the next step of its strategy, the company has achieved an eight-fold improvement in decompression rate with no increase on CPU requirements.

Red Bend Software Hospitality Suite 4.5HS17
Red Bend
will be demonstrating the first-ever installation, update and removal
of native embedded software applications on a closed mobile phone
architecture using a commercially available mobile phone from a leading
handset manufacturer in Hospitality Suite 4.5HS17.
The demo will be
performed using Red Bends vRapid Mobile product suite, which the
company claims revolutionises the way that manufacturers and platform
providers bring mobile phones to market, and the way that operators and
independent software vendors (ISVs) deliver mobile services.
vRapid
Mobile provides  what Red Bend says is the first comprehensive approach
to customising software on mobile phones and delivering targeted mobile
services for different consumer segments. vRapid Mobile can update, add
and remove individual embedded software  components on any mobile
phone. Red Bend says it creates new revenue opportunities for the
entire mobile value chain to deliver software features, applications
and services easily and securely over-the-air to feature phones and
Smartphones already in the hands of consumers:

Telepo and Global IP Solutions Stand 2J40
Telepo and Global IP Solutions
are showcasing true enterprise mobility and usability. The two
companies will be demonstrating next-generation multimedia
communication solutions for enterprises where mobility and usability
are key elements. The software-based solution is developed by Telepo,
while Global IP Solution enables superior voice quality.
Telepos
solution has been specifically developed with ease-of-use as its key
feature for both the individual and IT manager. Central to its design
is an intuitive user interface and single identity, which enables a
consistent look and feel across devices. Telepos solutions are built
on open standards, such as SIP and Linux, enabling integration with
existing and legacy mixed-vendor (PBX) infrastructures, without
additional investments and providing a migration path to all-IP
communications.
Telepo has been short listed for a GSM Association 2007 Award in the category of Best Mobile Enterprise Product or Service.
Global
IP Solutions claims it has established itself as the de facto standard
in the embedded voice-processing market. The company has additionally
expanded its technology leadership by offering focused enterprise
applications that extend the functionality of voice based enterprise
solutions.
For an appointment at Hospitality Suite 3.1HS60 in the Gallery, contact Telepo via email at  3gsm@telepo.com 

Emoze – Stand 2A25
Emoze
will be staging the Push Email showdown on its stand,
(3gsmshowdon.com) starting at 12 noon on Tuesday 13 Feb, in which its
free Push Email software is putted against the Blackberry. Emoze is
inviting visitors to the stand to join the company in an only one will
win ultimate showdown.
Who can get their emails, calendar and
contact quicker, easier, more secure and free anytime, anywhere?
Emoze asks. Turn up at 12 noon on 13 Feb to find out. Better still, get
there at 11.45 to be fitted with your free Emoze cowboy hat.

SDP Alliance – Stand 2J27
The Service Delivery Platform (SDP) Alliance will be formally unveiled at 3GSM.
The
SDP Alliance is a collaboration of seven software vendors, each of
which provides a best-of-breed component of a service delivery platform
(SDP).  Alliance members include Aepona, Changingworlds, Cibenix,
MobileAware, Mobile Cohesion, OpenNet and Xiam. 
The key
components of the SDP architecture provided by the member companies
cover secure and open access to core network capabilities; intelligent
personalised navigation for content discovery; content rendering and
optimisation; content management and content push technologies; partner
relationship management; convergent charging; and one-to-one marketing
and content delivery.

Mobile Distillery – Stand 2F49
Mobile Distillery,
a Java mobile porting software company, will premiere Version 4 of its
award-winning Celsius Java ME, Brew Porting and optimizing software
solution.
Aimed at solving the complexity of developing Java ME
games, mobile marketing and business applications for hundreds of
mobile devices, Celsius v4 gives Java ME and Brew developers greater
scope to develop Flash-like applications directly portable to 550
handsets; and to increase the quality of mobile applications by using
high quality images, sounds, music or data. It also offers click for
Brew formatting, for US phones, and access to fully connected
applications; from SMS to Http, via BlueTooth or Near Field
Communication (NFC).
The Celsius solution has been used to develop
more than 200 applications including the latest mobile games from
Recreate, Wizarbox, Exkee, Visiware and Touchlink Mobile as well as the
latest multimedia application from Lexis Mobile, Axellance,
Anxa/Playfone and Mobile business application from Mobilysim, Atos
Worldline.
New features demonstrated at 3GSM  will include
FlashLikeForms, UnLimitedJARsize architecture for Gemaltos Full
Multimedia SIM, Java ME to native Brew, Bluetooth, SMS, Push Registry,
and Fully Plug-in architecture.

Abaxia – Stand 2E56
Abaxia,
which specialises in mobile desktop solutions, will be showcasing its
recently-released Abaxia Mobile Desktop (AMD) suite. This is a range of
mobile embedded products, designed for customising the first page of
the handset with a simple, intuitive and easy-to-use operator-centric
interface. 
The suite consists of three highly-customised
applications, including an extensive user interface (UI) a search
engine and discovery interface, and a tool that also takes the handset
environment into consideration. Abaxia says the AMD provides network
operators with a powerful tool for building brand loyalty amongst its
customers, increasing ARPU and reducing churn, and gives handset
manufacturers the ability to respond faster to operator requirements
and changing market demands, while also reducing costs and product time
to market.

Nuance Stand 2H48
Nuance
will use 3GSM to demonstrate its Nuance Mobile mobile speech platform,
which unites Nuances complete offering for mobile users. The show
will serve as the European launch platform for some of the new
capabilities in Nuance Mobile, which incorporates advanced speech
recognition and dictation, alongside natural text-to-speech.

mBlox – Stand F43 (Hall 1)
mBlox,
the worlds largest mobile transaction network, will be discussing why
it has been campaigning for the introduction of wholesale data tariffs
from operators. This model is needed, the company says,  because
wholesale data tariffs can be far more robust and segmented than retail
tariffs could ever accomplish. This would enable operators to create
price structures that accurately reflect the value of what is being
carried over their network, whether it be SMS or mobile TV.
The
company will also be explaining why it believes off-portal mobile
browsing will be a significant factor in the evolution of mobile
advertising and ad-funded content as well as the next-phase of mobile
content downloading. 
Finally, mBlox will be announcing some major
consumer research which will analyse the status of the mobile content
download space across Europe.

Symbian Stand 2 (Hall 8)
In 2006, Symbian
reached a significant milestone, with the news that over 100 million
Symbian Smartphones had shipped worldwide. At 3GSM, Symbian will
provide an update on its product developments and financial results for
2006, and will discuss how Smartphones make Mobile Web 2.0 work.

Mobile Cohesion – Stand D60 (Hall 1)
Telecoms software company Mobile Cohesion
will be launching HYDRA/LIVE, its hosted 3PRM solution. The company
will also be announcing more customer implementations of HYDRA, as well
as a HYDRA-based service delivery platform (SDP).   
HYDRA/LIVE
takes key partner relationship management functionality from HYDRA and
makes it available to operators who need a hosted ASP application for
partner management today. Hutch Thailand is already using the
HYDRA/LIVE solution to allow it to gain better visibility and control
of its growing network of partners.

Enterprise Ireland Pavilion – Stand 1F17 (Hall 1)
The Enterprise Irelend Pavilion is host to 18 of Irelandsleading telecoms companies, including:

Accuris Networks, which develops fixed-mobile convergence and telecoms software, will demonstrate its award winning AccuROAM platform.
AccuROAM
provides service convergence and service continuity between existing
cellular networks and IP based networks for voice, messaging and data.
The AccuROAM platform delivers fixed mobile convergence, and is
compliant with emerging IMS standards to provide seamless handover
between cellular and wi-fi networks.
The AccuROAM demo will
highlight innovative features that are critical to deploying a
successful and profitable FMC service offering. These include Voice
call continuity –  Accuris will show a seamless, uninterrupted voice
call from a GSM to a wi-fi network and from a wi-fi to a GSM network;
Network domain selection – Accuris will demonstrate how AccuROAM
uniquely enables operators to control in real-time the wireless network
used by their subscribers; For the first time ever, Accuris will
demonstrate GSM to wi-fi messaging and wi-fi to GSM messaging.
AccuROAM
was recently honoured in Frost & Sullivans Product Differentiation
and Innovation category in the FMC Market Award for 2006.  According to
Frost & Sullivan, AccuROAM is far superior to any other FMC
solution currently offered by any vendor in the market today.

Openmind Networks  –  The messaging solutions provider will showcase Message-OS Adapt as a service component architecture
module for WebSphere Application Server version 6.1.
Openminds Message-OS platform is
used by mobile operators to realise an advanced messaging architecture
that delivers consistent services across SMS, MMS and IMS technologies.
Openmind
Networks will integrate Message-OS with IBMs WebSphere Application
Server using its Message-OS Adapt product and demonstrate a range of
services that can be deployed into IBMs telecom enterprise community:
copy to email, auto reply, auto threads, SMS makeover, and IMS Gateway.
Message-OS
Adapt is an open interface that gives mobile operators compelling new
ways to interact with both their enterprise and consumer communities.
Message-OS Adapt hence allows operators to reuse their assets and
deliver fast and profitable new services.
The Message-OS platform
has been designed by Openmind Networks to provide a unified management,
access and control layer for SMS, MMS and IMS services in a telecom
network. Openmind Networks has developed a suite of products that
exploit the underlying capabilities of the platform to address key
business areas including inter- and intra-operator message routing,
spam and privacy protection, personalised service support and
adaptation to standard compliant application servers.

Arantech
will discuss its vision for the customer experience management market
for mobile operators and other communications service providers in
2007, including why customer experience management is of crucial
importance to mobile operators; Arantechs ability to discover hidden
revenues, which have an immediate impact on an operators bottom line;
recent agreements with three tier-1 European operators; and the
companys recent acquisition of a large American operator as a customer
(their first CDMA deployment).

ChangingWorlds, which
supplies mobile portal platforms and personalisation solutions, will
showcase its ClixSmart Intelligent Portal Platform. This is a modular
solution that offers intelligent and personalised content navigation
features, which the company says are proven to increase mobile Internet
traffic. It intuitively personalises the operators portal structure
for each subscriber, so that the users portal is relevant to his or
her particular interests.  ClixSmarts intelligent navigation
technology, enhances usability by promoting the most relevant services
closer to the portal home page.  Subscribers spend less time searching
and more time viewing personalised content.  ClixSmart has been
successfully deployed with over 40 operators worldwide and, the company
says, is proven to increase data ARPU (average revenue per user) for
operators.

Asavie Technologies
will announce support for Microsoft Activesync over WiFi and cellular
Internet connections, enabling organisations to rapidly and easily roll
out Microsoft Exchange e-mail, calendar and contact services to
employee devices.

Cape  will
ddiscuss the successful deployments of RevenueOffice 4.0, the latest
version of its Revenue Assurance solution; company expansion with the
recent opening of new offices in the Americas and Asia Pacific; and
examples of the return on investment that their clients experience
following deployment on CAPE solutions.

Trust5   will
discuss the launch of the new O2 Active portal powered by MIME. Trust5
has been managing content and portal services for O2 Ireland since
November 2003, including games, music and alerts.

Valista will be
making an announcement with a number of other key players. The Valista
Plus suite of solutions and services automate and simplifies the
end-to-end business processes in the digital commerce value chain
including multi-channel ordering, merchandising, authentication,
payments, settlement, delivery, and post-purchase care.

If youre going, enjoy the show, and the chaos. If youre not, or
even if you are, stay tuned to Mobile Marketing Magazine for all the
breaklng news.