Motorola and Sun hail $1bn mobile IP deal

Motorola and Sun Microsystems have announced a $1bn deal to provide open standard IP (Internet Protocol)-based wireless technology. The ten year non-exclusive deal allows Motorola to produce network servers, base station controllers and base stations allowing voice and data convergence.

Motorola claimed the new partnership will provide a new level of wireless availability: the wireless equivalent of a near-infinite wired dial tone. Motorola will also be able to use the technology for its satellite, paging, two-way radio and Internet products.

Under the deal, Motorola will purchase up to $1bn of hardware and software from Sun Microsystems and Motorola subsidiaries, Network Solutions Sector and Motorola Computer Group.

Motorola CEO, Chris Galvin claimed the deal is a triumph for open standards, moving the wireless industry away from a proprietary past toward a reliable digital network for the next century.

Sun's president of Solaris software, John Mcfarlane, said Sun and Motorola share a vision of "potentially billions of new consumers who are able to access wireless network services".

Robin Duke-Woolley, senior consultant at consultancy, Schema, said the deal is another step towards the mobile Internet. "With open standard IP, mobile networks will become as open as the Internet is today," he said.