Symbian Ready program validates five new partner technologies

Augmentra, Cicero Networks, EQO Communications, Intrinsyc and Micron validate solutions under the Symbian Ready programs, offering handset vendors quality technology and improved time to market

LONDON, United Kingdom – Symbian Limited, the market leader in open operating systems for mobile phones, today announced that Augmentra, Cicero Networks, EQO Communications, Intrinsyc and Micron are the first members of the Symbian Partner Network to have successfully validated solutions under the Symbian Ready programs. The program ensures that Symbian customers, the market leading handset manufacturers, have an objective measure of the quality of partner technologies to help speed the time taken in creating Symbian smartphones. For Symbian partners, the program provides technical support to make development easier and quicker as well as technology showcase opportunities to key decision makers in the mobile space.

Mike Whittingham, VP, Ecosystem Development, Symbian, comments, “In an increasingly competitive industry, time to market and quality of products are vital. Symbian Ready promotes high quality and best practice, helping partners to make the most of their technology and improve development efficiency on Symbian OS. We are delighted to validate these five new partner technologies and in turn pass the benefits onto our customers.”

Since its launch in April 2008, Symbian has run the following programs: Symbian Ready AUTO for FreeWay, Symbian Ready VERO for NAND Flash, Symbian Ready AUTO for SQL and most recently Symbian Ready AUTO for Location Aware Applications.

“Symbian Ready is a valuable program for serious mobile software development companies, providing us with accurate technical information and great marketing benefits. Augmentra is very pleased that our ViewRanger navigation solution has been accredited the Symbian Ready validation for Location Aware Applications and we look forward to working with Symbian’s customers more closely as a result,” said Mike Brocklehurst, CTO, Augmentra Ltd.

“Cicero Networks is excited to have qualified its CiceroPhone VCC client as the first Symbian Ready AUTO for Freeway application. Symbian Ready makes application innovation easier and provides a structured, concise and easy to use method for application certification on the latest versions of Symbian OS,” said Ross Brennan, CEO, Cicero Networks.

“The Symbian Ready for FreeWay program offers superb product design support and we found the turnaround time to be exceptional. Symbian Ready accreditation makes it far easier for our development team to design and implement real-time applications for Symbian smartphones,” said Bill Tam, CEO, EQO Communications.

“Intrinsyc is delighted that our Destinator GPS navigation software has been accredited the Symbian Ready validation for Location Aware Applications. The program helps us make the most of Symbian OS technologies and the accreditation will increase customer confidence in the quality of our solutions and services for Symbian OS,” said Tracy Rees, Interim Chief Executive Officer, Intrinsyc.

“The Symbian Ready VERO program provides our customers with an assurance that our products have been thoroughly tested with the latest versions of Symbian OS. Micron is very pleased that our NAND flash technology is the first to be certified through the Symbian Ready VERO program,” Eric Spanneut, Director of Mobile Memory Marketing, Micron.

“Vodafone supports and encourages Symbian to work with its partners through Symbian Ready as this could help to improve the quality of applications and on-device software. We believe that through this program Symbian is well positioned to deliver a material benefit to Vodafone through improving the experience we deliver to our customers using Symbian smartphones,” said Phillip Carter, Head of Vodafone’s Terminal Platform Programme.

For more information on Symbian Ready, go to www.symbian.com/partner.

- ENDS -
Notes to editors
About the Symbian Ready programs

There are two routes to Symbian Ready validation: Symbian Ready AUTO—where partners self-validate solutions against particular Symbian Ready criteria for specific technology areas; and Symbian Ready VERO—where Symbian verifies partner solutions against Symbian Ready test criteria for specific technology areas.
Symbian Ready VERO for NAND Flash

Symbian OS v9.2 onwards provides support for NAND Flash. NAND Flash technology enables devices to use low cost high capacity memory for both the device software and user data. This validation program tests the functionality, robustness and performance of NAND Flash drivers.
Symbian Ready AUTO for FreeWay

FreeWay is the new communications architecture included in Symbian OS v9.5 onwards. FreeWay maximizes IP networking performance and enables Bearer and Service mobility. This validation program ensures that applications are designed and implemented to work robustly and effectively with FreeWay.
Symbian Ready AUTO for Location Aware Applications

Symbian OS v9.3 onwards provides a comprehensive location-based services framework. LBS provides the infrastructure to obtain information on the current position of the device to create location aware applications. This program ensures that the client of the Location Acquisition API is using the service correctly.
Symbian Ready AUTO for SQL

Symbian OS v9.3 onwards provides an SQL API. Based on SQLite, Symbian SQL is a standards-oriented database which enables high performance and scalability. This program provides a compliance checklist for SQL APIs which increase robustness of applications which make use of SQL for data storage on the device.
About Symbian Limited

Symbian is a software licensing company that develops and licenses Symbian OS™, the market-leading open operating system for mobile phones.

Symbian licenses Symbian OS to the world’s leading handset manufacturers and has built close co-operative business relationships with leading companies across the mobile industry. Close to 250 million Symbian OS-based units by 14 device manufacturers have shipped since the formation of Symbian 10 years ago.

Symbian has its headquarters in London, with offices in Cambridge, United Kingdom, China, India, Japan, Korea and United States. For more information, please visit www.symbian.com.