Open Mobile Alliance
Encyclopedia
The Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) is a standards body which develops open standard
s for the mobile phone
industry.
service enablers working across countries, operators and mobile terminals.
Network-agnostic: The OMA only standardises applicative protocols; OMA specifications are meant to work with any cellular network technologies being used to provide networking and data transport. These networking technology are specified by outside parties. In particular, OMA specifications for a given function are the same with either GSM, UMTS or CDMA2000
networks.
Voluntary adherence: adherence to the standards is entirely voluntary; the OMA does not have a mandative role. The OMA is not a formal government-sponsored standards organization like the ITU
, but a forum for industry stakeholders to agree on common specifications for products and services. The goal is that by agreeing on common standards, stakeholders will be able to "share slices from a larger pie".
"FRAND" intellectual property licensing: OMA members that own intellectual property
rights (e.g. patent
s) on technologies that are essential to the realization of a specification agree in advance to provide license
s to their technology on "fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory" terms to other members.
Legal status: the OMA is a British limited company
.
(focused on instant messaging and presence), The SyncML Initiative
(focused on data synchronization), the Location Interoperability Forum, the Mobile Games Interoperability Forum and the Mobile Wireless Internet Forum. Each of these forums had its bylaws, its decision-taking procedures, its release schedules, and in some instances there was some overlap in the specifications, causing duplication of work. The OMA was created to gather these initiatives under a single umbrella.
Members include traditional wireless industry players such as equipment and mobile systems manufacturers (Ericsson
, Thomson
, Siemens
, Reti Radiotelevisive Digitali
, Nokia
, Openwave
, Sony Ericsson
, Philips
, Motorola
, Samsung
, LG Electronics
, Texas Instruments
) and mobile operators (Telefónica
, Vodafone
, Orange
, T-Mobile
, LG Telecom), and also software vendors (Microsoft
, Sun Microsystems
, IBM
, Oracle Corporation
, Symbian
, Celltick, Expway, Mformation
, InnoPath, Motive).
Open standard
An open standard is a standard that is publicly available and has various rights to use associated with it, and may also have various properties of how it was designed . There is no single definition and interpretations vary with usage....
s for the mobile phone
Mobile phone
A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...
industry.
Principles
Mission: To provide interoperableInteroperability
Interoperability is a property referring to the ability of diverse systems and organizations to work together . The term is often used in a technical systems engineering sense, or alternatively in a broad sense, taking into account social, political, and organizational factors that impact system to...
service enablers working across countries, operators and mobile terminals.
Network-agnostic: The OMA only standardises applicative protocols; OMA specifications are meant to work with any cellular network technologies being used to provide networking and data transport. These networking technology are specified by outside parties. In particular, OMA specifications for a given function are the same with either GSM, UMTS or CDMA2000
CDMA2000
CDMA2000 is a family of 3G mobile technology standards, which use CDMA channel access, to send voice, data, and signaling data between mobile phones and cell sites. The set of standards includes: CDMA2000 1X, CDMA2000 EV-DO Rev. 0, CDMA2000 EV-DO Rev. A, and CDMA2000 EV-DO Rev. B...
networks.
Voluntary adherence: adherence to the standards is entirely voluntary; the OMA does not have a mandative role. The OMA is not a formal government-sponsored standards organization like the ITU
Itu
Itu is an old and historic municipality in the state of São Paulo in Brazil. The population in 2009 was 157,384 and the area is 641.68 km². The elevation is 583 m. This place name comes from the Tupi language, meaning big waterfall. Itu is linked with the highway numbered the SP-75 and are flowed...
, but a forum for industry stakeholders to agree on common specifications for products and services. The goal is that by agreeing on common standards, stakeholders will be able to "share slices from a larger pie".
"FRAND" intellectual property licensing: OMA members that own intellectual property
Intellectual property
Intellectual property is a term referring to a number of distinct types of creations of the mind for which a set of exclusive rights are recognized—and the corresponding fields of law...
rights (e.g. patent
Patent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
s) on technologies that are essential to the realization of a specification agree in advance to provide license
License
The verb license or grant licence means to give permission. The noun license or licence refers to that permission as well as to the document recording that permission.A license may be granted by a party to another party as an element of an agreement...
s to their technology on "fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory" terms to other members.
Legal status: the OMA is a British limited company
Limited company
A limited company is a company in which the liability of the members or subscribers of the company is limited to what they have invested or guaranteed to the company. Limited companies may be limited by shares or by guarantee. And the former of these, a limited company limited by shares, may be...
.
History
The OMA was created in June 2002 as an answer to the proliferation of industry forums each dealing with a few application protocols: the WAP Forum (focused on browsing and device provisioning protocols), the Wireless VillageWireless Village
Wireless Village is a set of specifications for mobile instant messaging and presence services. It is intended to be a standard for cellphones and mobile devices to use these services across platforms....
(focused on instant messaging and presence), The SyncML Initiative
The SyncML Initiative
The SyncML Initiative, Ltd. was a non-profit corporation formed by a group of companies who co-operated to produce an open standard for data synchronization and device management....
(focused on data synchronization), the Location Interoperability Forum, the Mobile Games Interoperability Forum and the Mobile Wireless Internet Forum. Each of these forums had its bylaws, its decision-taking procedures, its release schedules, and in some instances there was some overlap in the specifications, causing duplication of work. The OMA was created to gather these initiatives under a single umbrella.
Members include traditional wireless industry players such as equipment and mobile systems manufacturers (Ericsson
Ericsson
Ericsson , one of Sweden's largest companies, is a provider of telecommunication and data communication systems, and related services, covering a range of technologies, including especially mobile networks...
, Thomson
Thomson SA
Technicolor SA , formerly Thomson SA and Thomson Multimedia, is a French international provider of solutions for the creation, management, post-production, delivery and access of video, for the Communication, Media and Entertainment industries. Technicolor’s headquarters are located in Issy les...
, Siemens
Siemens AG
Siemens AG is a German multinational conglomerate company headquartered in Munich, Germany. It is the largest Europe-based electronics and electrical engineering company....
, Reti Radiotelevisive Digitali
Reti Radiotelevisive Digitali
Reti Radiotelevisive Digitali is an Italian broadcasting, consulting and system integration company, and is the first company to implement and launch a commercial service on the DVB-H Handheld TV for 3G Mobile Operator 3 Italy...
, Nokia
Nokia
Nokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational communications corporation that is headquartered in Keilaniemi, Espoo, a city neighbouring Finland's capital Helsinki...
, Openwave
Openwave
Openwave is a software company. Based in Redwood City, California, USA, Openwave is historically significant in its introduction of the Mobile Internet and its expansion into a large successful mobile software supplier in the mobile telecom sector...
, Sony Ericsson
Sony Ericsson
Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB is a joint venture established on October 1, 2001 by the Japanese consumer electronics company Sony Corporation and the Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson to manufacture mobile phones....
, Philips
Philips
Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. , more commonly known as Philips, is a multinational Dutch electronics company....
, Motorola
Motorola
Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009...
, Samsung
Samsung
The Samsung Group is a South Korean multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea...
, LG Electronics
LG Electronics
LG Electronics is a global electronics and telecommunications company headquartered in Yeouido, Seoul, South Korea. The company operates its business through five divisions: mobile communications, home entertainment, home appliance, air conditioning and business solution...
, Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments Inc. , widely known as TI, is an American company based in Dallas, Texas, United States, which develops and commercializes semiconductor and computer technology...
) and mobile operators (Telefónica
Telefónica
Telefónica, S.A. is a Spanish broadband and telecommunications provider in Europe and Latin America. Operating globally, it is the third largest provider in the world...
, Vodafone
Vodafone
Vodafone Group Plc is a global telecommunications company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's largest mobile telecommunications company measured by revenues and the world's second-largest measured by subscribers , with around 341 million proportionate subscribers as of...
, Orange
Orange SA
Orange is the brand used by France Télécom for its mobile network operator and Internet service provider subsidiaries. It is the fifth largest telecom operator in the world, with 210 million customers . The brand was created in 1994 for Hutchison Telecom's UK mobile phone network, which was...
, T-Mobile
T-Mobile
T-Mobile International AG is a German-based holding company for Deutsche Telekom AG's various mobile communications subsidiaries outside Germany. Based in Bonn, Germany, its subsidiaries operate GSM and UMTS-based cellular networks in Europe, the United States, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands...
, LG Telecom), and also software vendors (Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
, Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982...
, IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
, Oracle Corporation
Oracle Corporation
Oracle Corporation is an American multinational computer technology corporation that specializes in developing and marketing hardware systems and enterprise software products – particularly database management systems...
, Symbian
Symbian Ltd.
Symbian Ltd. was a software development and licensing company, known for the Symbian OS, a smartphone operating system, and other related technologies...
, Celltick, Expway, Mformation
Mformation
Mformation Technologies is a software company that provides a suite of mobile device management software products that helps mobile operators, service providers and enterprises remotely activate, configure, manage, control and secure the mobile devices of their consumer and business...
, InnoPath, Motive).
Relation to other standards bodies
The OMA links (or, in standardization parlance, "liaises") with other standards bodies on a regular basis to avoid overlap in specifications:- 3GPP3GPPThe 3rd Generation Partnership Project is a collaboration between groups of telecommunications associations, known as the Organizational Partners...
- 3GPP23rd Generation Partnership Project 2The 3rd Generation Partnership Project 2 is a collaboration between telecommunications associations to make a globally applicable third generation mobile phone system specification within the scope of the ITU's IMT-2000 project...
- IETF
- W3C
Standard specifications
The OMA maintains a number of specifications, including- Browsing specifications, now called "Browser and Content", previously called WAP browsing. In their current version, these specifications rely essentially on XHTML Mobile ProfileXHTML Mobile ProfileXHTML Mobile Profile is a hypertextual computer language standard designed specifically for mobile phones and other resource-constrained devices....
. - MMSMultimedia Messaging ServiceMultimedia Messaging Service, or MMS, is a standard way to send messages that include multimedia content to and from mobile phones. It extends the core SMS capability that allowed exchange of text messages only up to 160 characters in length.The most popular use is to send photographs from...
specifications for multimedia messaging - OMA DRMOMA DRMOMA DRM is a Digital Rights Management system invented by the Open Mobile Alliance, whose members represent mobile phone manufacturers , mobile system manufacturers , mobile phone network operators OMA DRM is a Digital Rights Management (DRM) system invented by the Open Mobile Alliance, whose...
specifications for Digital Rights ManagementDigital rights managementDigital rights management is a class of access control technologies that are used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals with the intent to limit the use of digital content and devices after sale. DRM is any technology that inhibits uses of digital content that... - OMA Instant Messaging and Presence Service (OMA IMPS) specification, which is a system for instant messaging on mobile phones (formerly known as Wireless VillageWireless VillageWireless Village is a set of specifications for mobile instant messaging and presence services. It is intended to be a standard for cellphones and mobile devices to use these services across platforms....
). - OMA SIMPLE IM Instant messaging based on SIP-SIMPLE
- OMA CAB Converged Address Book
- OMA CPM Converged IP Messaging
- OMA Client ProvisioningOMA Client ProvisioningOMA Client Provisioning is a device management protocol specified by the Open Mobile Alliance Device Management Working Group. The OMA CP protocol covers WAP provisioning with minimal user interaction, typically over-the-air or via SIM Card. The current specification of OMA CP is version 1.1,...
(OMA CP) specification for Client ProvisioningProvisioningIn telecommunication, provisioning is the process of preparing and equipping a network to allow it to provide services to its users. In NS/EP telecommunications services, "provisioning" equates to "initiation" and includes altering the state of an existing priority service or capability.In a...
. - OMA Data Synchronization (OMA DS) specification for Data SynchronizationSynchronizationSynchronization is timekeeping which requires the coordination of events to operate a system in unison. The familiar conductor of an orchestra serves to keep the orchestra in time....
using SyncMLSyncMLSyncML is the former name for a platform-independent information synchronization standard. The project is currently referred to as Open Mobile Alliance Data Synchronization and Device Management...
. - OMA Device ManagementOMA Device ManagementOMA Device Management is a device management protocol specified by the Open Mobile Alliance Device Management Working Group and the Data Synchronization Working Group...
(OMA DM) specification for Device Management using SyncMLSyncMLSyncML is the former name for a platform-independent information synchronization standard. The project is currently referred to as Open Mobile Alliance Data Synchronization and Device Management...
. - OMA BCASTOMA BCASTOpen Mobile Alliance Mobile Broadcast Services Enabler Suite is an open global specification for mobile TV and on-demand video services which can be adapted to any IP-based mobile and P2P content delivery technology...
specification for Mobile Broadcast Services. - OME RMERich Media EnvironmentRich Media Environment is an OMA specification that provides a rich graphical and media experience for mobile applications. RME provides this functionality by integrating the Scalable Vector Graphics language [SVGMD] for graphical object creation, ECMAScript [ESMP11] for script support, with a...
specification for Rich Media Environment. - OMA PoC specification for Push to talkPush to talkPush-to-talk , also known as Press-to-Transmit, is a method of conversing on half-duplex communication lines, including two-way radio, using a momentary button to switch from voice reception mode to transmit mode....
Over Cellular. - OMA Presence SIMPLEOMA Presence SIMPLEOMA Presence SIMPLE is an OMA enabler, product of the work item OMA PAG ....
specification for Presence based on SIP-SIMPLE. - OMA Service EnvironmentOMA Service EnvironmentIn the mobile phone industry, OMA Service Environment , defined by Open Mobile Alliance , is the logical architecture that provides a common structure and rule set for specifying OMA enablers. The following image depicts this general architecture....
- FUMOFUMOFUMO, an acronym for Firmware Update Management Object, is an Open Mobile Alliance specification for updating the firmware of mobile devices over the air....
Firmware update - SUPL, an IP-based service for assisted GPSAssisted GPSAssisted GPS, generally abbreviated as A-GPS or aGPS, is a system which can, under certain conditions, improve the startup performance, or time-to-first-fix of a GPS satellite-based positioning system. It is used extensively with GPS-capable cellular phones as its development was accelerated by...
on handsets - MLPMobile Location ProtocolThe Mobile Location Protocol is an application-level protocol for receiving the position of Mobile Stations independent of underlying network technology. The MLP serves as the interface between a Location Server and a location-based application. Basic MLP Services are based on location services...
, an IP-based protocol for obtaining the position/location of mobile handset - WAP1, Wireless Application Protocol 1, 5-layer stack of protocols
See also
- OMA PAGOMA PAGOMA PAG is the of the Open Mobile Alliance. OMA PAG has the goals of specifying enabler services to allow interoperable exchange of mobile presence and availability information. The specifications are used by operators, vendors, and end users....
- Linux Phone Standards ForumLinux Phone Standards ForumThe Linux Phone Standards Forum is a consortium of a group of companies to create standards for the use of Linux on mobile devices. The main goal of the LiPS Forum is to create application programming interfaces that will allow developers to build applications to inter-operate across Linux...
(LiPS) - LiMo FoundationLiMo FoundationThe LiMo Foundation is an non-profit technology consortium organization dedicated to creating the first truly open, hardware-independent, Linux-based mobile operating system for smartphone mobile devices...
- Open Handset AllianceOpen Handset AllianceThe Open Handset Alliance is a consortium of 84 firms to develop open standards for mobile devices. Member firms include Google, HTC, Sony, Dell, Intel, Motorola, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, T-Mobile, Nvidia, and Wind River Systems.-History:The OHA was...
- Mobile Platform
- 3GPP3GPPThe 3rd Generation Partnership Project is a collaboration between groups of telecommunications associations, known as the Organizational Partners...
- European Telecommunications Standards InstituteEuropean Telecommunications Standards InstituteThe European Telecommunications Standards Institute is an independent, non-profit, standardization organization in the telecommunications industry in Europe, with worldwide projection...
(ETSI)