Airvana Inc., ip.access, and Ubiquisys will support the Femto Forum’s Services Special Interest Group (SIG) by working together toward a common service framework and application program interfaces (APIs). The SIG’s mission is to develop a framework to simplify the development and deployment of femtocell applications, which includes efforts to establish a set of standard APIs.

Femtocells sit at the intersection of multiple networks including mobile, Internet, home, and office—all of which are fundamental to people’s lives. The intelligence within the femtocell, such as presence and digital content visibility, can be used by application logic residing in any of these networks. The SIG’s work will help the industry establish a framework that encompasses all of these options and establish a common approach.

Several unique attributes suit femtocells for supporting an interesting array of applications. First, they change the economics of mobile data by providing massive bandwidth indoors to mobile devices at very low cost. Second, femtocells make sophisticated presence-based applications simple for not only users of cutting-edge smart phones but also everyday legacy feature phones. Finally, they make it easy for people to share their digital content across various previously isolated networks.

“Femtocells open the door for exciting applications that can deliver a new and highly valuable dimension to how customers use their mobile devices,” said Simon Saunders, the Femto Forum’s Chair. “To see femtocell vendors come together in this way is a powerful validation of the potential femtozone services have to change the way both mobile operators and their subscribers view mobile devices.”

An open development environment based on freely accessible, standard APIs is critical to drive developer interest and create greater opportunities for the widespread adoption of femtozone applications. Airvana, ip.access, and Ubiquisys seek to ensure that application developers have access to this type of open framework and invite developers and other industry vendors to support this effort.

“Femtozone applications greatly expand the value femtocells can deliver to both mobile operators and their subscribers beyond the already recognized improvements in indoor voice coverage and packet data user experience,” said Vedat Eyuboglu, CTO of Airvana. “Femtozone applications allow the femtocell to become the center of the connected digital home by bridging consumers’ mobile and home environments.”

“We believe collaboration on femto services is the right approach,” said Nick Johnson, CTO of ip.access. “The power of the femtocell as a platform for new services can only be fully realized if femtocell vendors cooperate to create an open, standards-based development environment. The Femto Forum provides an ideal place for us to work alongside other vendors who share the same commitment.”

“Femtocells are intelligent devices that blur traditional boundaries between Internet, mobile, and devices on the home and office LAN (local-area network),” said Will Franks, founder and CTO of Ubiquisys. “As a result, femtocell intelligence can be harnessed by applications running almost anywhere. That’s why we support the work of the Femto Forum to establish a common approach to femtocell APIs, which will make it easier for developers to femto-enable their apps.”