ENGLISH
 日本語 中文 한국어
|
|
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
SITE MAP
|
 |
|
|||
|
|
|
|
Should SCOTA Supersede FOTA?By Ilana BogomolnySr. Product Manager, Red Bend Software FOTA – Updating of Firmware Over the Air – is a successful mobile technology that is routinely used in millions of mobile phones and devices to introduce new features and provide performance improvements. In comparison, SCOTA – managing Software Components Over the Air – is a relative newcomer. SCOTA, however, has already become a common feature in operators’ requirements and device specifications, with early adopters among some of the leading device manufacturers. Red Bend customers who are implementing, or planning to implement, SCOTA on their mobile devices expect to use it as the only software management process for the entire device software stack. Therefore, the question arises whether devices that support SCOTA should still use FOTA to update firmware, or whether SCOTA can and should absorb FOTA functionality, making SCOTA the sole software-managing mechanism. With FOTA, the entire firmware is updated, from the OS kernel and middleware to the top of the built-in application stack. FOTA uses the OMA DM (Open Mobile Alliance Device Management) enabler called FUMO – Firmware Update Management Object. SCOTA enables more granular and flexible management of discrete software components. With SCOTA, one or more piece of software can be changed without requiring an update to the rest of the device. SCOTA’s popularity will increase with the proliferation of app stores as there is now a need to update software components so that consumers can have access to the latest applications, without needing to replace devices. SCOTA uses the OMA DM enabler called SCOMO – Software Component Management Object. The main advantage for a single, unified mechanism on the device for managing software components, as well as for the device firmware, is that it enables dependencies to be defined between software components and the firmware version they require. When such a dependency exists and a new or updated software component requires a firmware update, it becomes possible to implement a single, holistic update operation handling both the software and firmware components by the same mechanisms. The result is a seamless update and a properly working device no matter how the consumer wants to personalize it. Merging FOTA into SCOTA also makes it simple to transition the management of some software components that are embedded in the firmware image and updated via FUMO to be handled as individual entities managed via SCOMO. Operator-branded applications packs are a good example. Of course, for devices where only FOTA is required and where component management of any kind is not planned, there is no advantage in replacing FOTA with SCOTA. For OEMs and operators that have already implemented FOTA (FUMO) and are introducing SCOTA (SCOMO) on their device, it only takes a few steps to make sure that firmware updates are managed through SCOMO. Looking toward the future, the OMA DM SCOMO standard is almost ready to handle firmware updates. There are a few enhancements that need to be made to the SCOMO standard if it is to fully supersede FUMO as the FOTA enabler. The good news is that planning has started for the next version of the SCOMO standard, so certain features will be promoted to enable the FOTA-SCOTA merger. To read more, download the Position Paper>> Labels: FOTA, FUMO, OMA DM, Red Bend Software, SCOMO, SCOTA
When GAAP and MSM Intersect: Business Catches up to Demand for Software UpdatingBy Lori SylviaEVP Marketing, Red Bend Software We envision a world where software updates occur every second of the day, improving the mobile user experience while generating additional value for mobile providers. The technology is here today to enable this vision, with OMA DM servers adopted widely by tier-1 and tier-2 operators globally and with about half of handsets already supporting over-the-air software updating. Now, the business environment is catching up to market demand for software updates, as reflected by some recent changes to GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles). In the old days when hardware ruled, consumer electronics manufacturers would sell a device and recognize the sale of that device in that month. Then, software got more sophisticated and more essential to the functionality of a product. If OEMs delivered software updates to the device after it was sold, it meant OEMs had to spread the revenue recognition throughout the device’s lifetime. Years ago, we heard more than one OEM cite the accounting implications if they were to deliver FOTA updates. FOTA technology was used primarily as an insurance policy to prevent a product recall. But soon the leading OEMs and operators realized the strategic value of delivering continuous software updates. Today, FOTA is much more than fixing defects. It’s used to deliver new features as well as to improve a device’s performance. New advancements in the technology enable updating individual software components over the air (SCOTA) on-demand to support consumers personalizing their device with new applications and services. Software updating has become an important way to keep consumers satisfied with their mobile service and loyal to the experience they get from their handset maker. Changes to the GAAP rules now allow manufacturers that are delivering software updates to recognize more revenue sooner, even if they are offering those updates free of charge (otherwise bundled in the original price), and even if the contents of the software updates are unspecified at the time the original device is sold. One of the most vocal advocates of this change has been Apple. The company provides free software updates to iPhone users. Because some of the value of the iPhone is delivered after the product’s initial sale and because the software updates are not sold separately, the former GAAP rules forced Apple to bundle the value of the iPhone with the software updates and spread the revenue over the 24 month AT&T subscription term. Now, Apple and other manufacturers will be able to separate the value of the device from any future software updates. The product’s sales can be recognized in that quarter, while only the value of the device’s future software updates will be deferred. Software updating is becoming increasingly commonplace in mobile phones and is spreading quickly to other wirelessly connected devices. New business models will emerge that capitalize on this powerful capability to meet the increasing demands of mobile consumers. Mobile devices are no longer static products whose functionality is set when the device ships. Mobile Software Management is the key enabler that allows mobile providers to deliver more value to their consumers throughout the entire mobile user experience. Labels: accounting, Apple, ATT, FOTA, GAAP, iPhone, Red Bend Software, SCOTA
Device Management Is Essential for Managing a Range of Wirelessly Connected DevicesBy Yoram BerholtzSenior Product Manager, Red Bend Software The demand for constant connectivity is at an all-time high. Consumers want mobile phones that work wherever they are and whenever they need them–at home, in the office, on the road and across geographies. These demands create a big challenge for mobile operators, which want to manage all the devices in their network in a unified way, regardless of the type of device or software platform. As a result, operators globally are harnessing the Open Mobile Alliance Device Management (OMA DM) standard to meet the demands of this increasingly diverse environment and ensure a consistent and satisfying mobile user experience. Ovum recently reported that 36% of global handset shipments support OMA DM. Device management has become especially crucial to open platforms like Android, Brew Mobile Platform, Symbian and LiMo, as these platforms are feature-rich and geared to support rapidly evolving applications. Typical capabilities of DM include subscriber provisioning, connectivity configuration, firmware updating, diagnostics and monitoring, and software installation—all of which can be performed over the air (OTA). These capabilities result in lower support and maintenance costs for OEMs and operators while providing increased consumer satisfaction with their mobile device and service. With DM, operators and handset manufacturers can activate new subscribers on the network, configure parameters including preferred roaming lists, retrieve data such as billing and inventory as well as conduct “lock and wipe”—remotely shutting down the mobile phone and deleting its memory in case it’s lost or stolen. It’s not just mobile phones that require DM. Recent WiMAX deployments in the United States (Clearwire) and Japan (UQ Communications) adopted OMA DM as the main provisioning and management standard. These service providers are actively equipping their mobile devices, such as WiMAX modems and chipsets, with DM client software. By embracing the OMA DM standards, companies can ensure out-of-the-box interoperability in all the major WiMAX networks. As important as OMA DM is to the current phase of WiMAX deployment, it will be even more important as these networks evolve by being able to deliver more advanced applications and services to WiMAX consumers in the future. The prospects for WiMAX are merely up to the imaginations of the operators and their ability to offer attractive services, regardless of the device. The bandwidth capabilities anticipated in WiMAX will likely bring unprecedented access to video, movies and more, driving additional revenue streams to operators, manufacturers and ISVs as new services and applications become available. Machine-to-machine (M2M) is another wireless segment that has adopted OMA DM for two reasons: 1) the nomadic nature of some M2M segments (e.g., automotive and telematics) force the module to engage with several networks and even roam to other countries; thus, the module must be able to work in a multi-server environment, and (2) the cost of adopting standards-based DM is much less expensive than a proprietary environment because the integration with devices and the certification with networks can be quicker. With the inherent functionality that exists in OMA DM, such as provisioning, managing security and the ability to work globally, operators can benefit from lower cost of ownership by using their already deployed OMA DM infrastructure and utilizing it for M2M. Red Bend Software’s vDirect Mobile™ is the leading independent DM client. vDirect Mobile has been adopted by more than 30 manufacturers of wirelessly connected devices in the mobile, WiMAX and M2M markets, and is interoperable with any DM server supporting OMA DM standards. It also uniquely supports the WiMAX Management Object (MO) for managing mobile WiMAX devices according to specifications from the WiMAX Forum. During the next five years, mobile devices will become more advanced and have many integrated features and connectivity standards. Device management is essential for enabling manufacturers and operators to manage such a diverse installed base in a unified way. Labels: device management, FOTA, M2M, machine to machine, OMA DM, Ovum, Red Bend Software, WiMAX
Rise of the Machines in EuropeFOTA Software Is a Must-Have Feature for Managing Remotely Connected M2M DevicesBy Calogero (Lillo) Licata Director of Technology and New Business for Europe, Red Bend Software The machine-to-machine (M2M) market is a fast-growing area in the wireless sector. M2M applications can be found in a range of industries and used in a number of ways, including automotive telematics and transportation, environmental and energy control, physical surveillance and security, retail vending and even remote patient monitoring. In Europe, a number of drivers promise M2M market expansion. In April 2009, the U.K. passed new legislation to encourage energy efficiency. The legislation requires all profile-class type meters to upgrade to new “smart meters” by 2014. Smart metering, which affects hundreds of thousands of electricity and gas meters, will automate the reading of consumed energy and provide more frequent and accurate data to help save energy and meet the European Union directive to cut greenhouse gases. On the automotive front, analyst firm Berg Insight recently forecast that 3.5 million passenger cars in Europe will have on-board telematics by year’s end. Stolen vehicle tracking is the main application, followed by motor insurance telematics, connected navigation, automatic emergency call and driver assistance. In France, even M2M use for toll collection is expanding. With M2M embedded systems growing in complexity, there is an inherent need to life-cycle manage the module modem and application software in these devices in order to enable new features and applications. Both OEMs and solution providers greatly benefit from the ability to update and maintain M2M devices by remotely performing software improvements over the air. After all, some of these devices are intended to have a 20-plus year lifespan. The M2M market in Europe recognizes the importance of firmware over-the-air (FOTA) updating for managing software and applications remotely. By keeping these devices up-to-date with the latest features and improvements, M2M manufacturers and service providers can ensure quality, avoid product recalls, reduce support costs and improve customer satisfaction. With FOTA support integrated into the M2M device, only hardware-related failures, which happen less often, need to be repaired manually in the field. According to ABI Research’s Senior Analyst Sam Lucero, FOTA is becoming more important in the M2M market: “For M2M, the benefits are operational efficiency and cost reduction. With M2M modules growing in complexity, FOTA enables manufacturers to perform software improvements over the air, without needing to send a technician on-site.” Four of the top five M2M module manufacturers, including Motorola’s Wireless Modules division and SIMCom Wireless Solutions Ltd., have adopted FOTA for use in their modules. Telit Wireless Solutions SpA., an international provider of cellular M2M technology, licensed Red Bend’s FOTA client software for use in its M2M product portfolio and now offers a FOTA service to its customers. In September, France-based Sagem Communications also selected Red Bend’s vRapid Mobile® FOTA solution in order to offer its customers software improvements and new functionality for Sagem’s M2M modules and devices. By the end of 2010, Red Bend estimates that approximately 40% of new M2M modules will be FOTA capable. Besides having the extensive experience, Red Bend has the products and solutions to allow OTA delivery and updating of embedded devices/systems comprising compressed firmware image structures, applications, read-only file systems and distributed CPU architectures, which are becoming pervasive in M2M. Red Bend is actively supporting M2M market expansion in Europe. Soon, M2M will help us all use energy more wisely, keep our cars running more efficiently and enable us to purchase goods and services on the go. Long live the machines! Labels: automotive, DM, EMEA, energy, Europe, FOTA, M2M, machine to machine, telematics
Independence Is Coming to the Mobile Industry By Lori Sylvia EVP, Marketing Red Bend Software Summer is almost over, but I have been thinking lately about Will Smith’s blockbuster movie from the summer of 1996 - remember Independence Day? In the mobile industry, our own version of this movie is playing out before our eyes. I’m referring to the independence of software from hardware. Consumer demand for new applications and services is “opening up” the mobile phone and creating a separation between the software that drives the user experience and the hardware it runs on. Software has become more important than it used to be, driven by consumer interest in downloading applications. But we know that software is much more than just apps. It’s also responsible for the core functions of the phone like browsing and messaging, and for the key enablers that power mobile services like navigation and music. Consumers are forcing us in the mobile industry to think differently and act differently if we are to meet their needs for a personalized user experience. And software is at the core. For the mobile phone to truly be personalized, the software must become independent of the hardware, so that it can continuously evolve to meet consumers’ changing needs. In the current model, there are multiple software creators that make up a phone, and the OEM serves as the systems integrator. All too often though, the OEM as systems integrator has the unintended consequence of serving as a bottleneck for new innovation and enhancements that come from the software creators and service providers. Once the phone has shipped, the OEM uses firmware over-the-air (FOTA) updating to deliver a new version of software. To do this, the OEM must aggregate software updates from all of the software creators that contributed to the phone. Most OEMs will use FOTA to update the phone’s software from 1-3 times during the phone’s lifetime. This usually happens within the first year of launching the phone. After that, the OEM reassigns the engineering team to develop a new device. Don’t get me wrong--I’m the first to tout the benefits of FOTA. Red Bend is the leader in FOTA with more than half a billion FOTA-enabled devices shipped. FOTA is extremely good at what it was designed to do, and that is to provide a more efficient and cost-effective way of performing software maintenance. It’s not that FOTA has become less valuable to the mobile industry. It’s that software has become more valuable than it used to be. Therefore, the need to manage the software assets both discretely and dynamically throughout the phone’s lifetime has become critical to meeting consumer demand. The paradigm must change. Mobile Software Management (MSM) changes the paradigm. With MSM, each player in the mobile industry--OEM, operator and ISV--can independently control its own software assets on the mobile device, and can break the bottleneck of the current model. The way to achieve this is for the mobile phone to have multiple software owners, not one. The OEM can own the phone’s core functionality, the operator can own the key service enablers and the ISVs can own the applications. So, while the OEM serves as the systems integrator, it can then leverage the other players to be responsible for their software assets after the phone ships. This will result in a phone that is constantly evolving and whose software features, services and applications can be personalized to the consumer’s preferences. The OEM can even delegate some or all of its responsibility for the phone’s core functionality to the individual software creators. For example, the OEM can enable the web browser provider to update and manage its browser without affecting the other software on the phone. The technology to enable this level of software independence exists today with Red Bend’s vRapid Mobile™ solution for managing software components over the air (SCOTA). Several mobile industry leaders including DOCOMO are already moving to adopt the technology. With a SCOTA-enabled phone, consumers can subscribe to new data services or download the latest applications regardless of the phone’s pre-existing capabilities. The result is that more revenue is generated per subscriber throughout the phone’s lifetime. And at the end of the phone’s lifetime, the consumer has been delighted and grown loyal to the experience she received. There is a legitimate question to be asked: Why would the OEM share or delegate its responsibility for managing the phone? The answer: to stay competitive. OEMs can leverage their supply chain (ISVs) and retail channel (MNOs) to share in the responsibility to keep the consumer satisfied, and ultimately keep their phone actively used and generating new revenues. The current status quo is a losing proposition, where OEMs generate nearly all their revenue once every two years when a new phone is purchased. If the OEM wants to stay relevant as the systems integrator, it should take a dynamic approach to this role, where software creators can update their software during the phone’s lifecycle. If not, OEMs will struggle to keep up with consumer-demanded Internet services and new applications, and will face eroding brand loyalty when the consumer grows dissatisfied and buys a new phone from a competitor. Let’s be truthful: The replacement cycle has not shortened, and in some markets it has even lengthened due to the economy or regulatory changes that have caused consumers to spread their investments over longer periods. Let’s be truthful on another point: Phone hardware doesn’t last that long. And the OEMs will always encourage new purchases with their latest designs. Today it’s the touch screen. Next year it will be something else. Independence Day is coming to the mobile industry. Consumers are driving this change with their increasing demand for software. The technologies are ready to enable a truly personalized mobile phone whose software is continuously enhanced and dynamically personalized. Those players in the mobile industry who embrace this new model will win with loyal consumers and new revenue streams. Labels: firmware, FOTA, OMA-DM, Red Bend, wireless
Moving Forward in Advanced FOTA Features With Revertible UpdatesBy Ilana BogomolnySenior Product Manager Red Bend Software Red Bend continues to pioneer new advances in managing mobile software over-the-air (OTA). In my last blog, I discussed background updates. This feature lets manufacturers and operators perform firmware updates while the consumer’s phone is online and fully operational, so that consumers have a working phone--from browsing the Web to making phone calls--a feature that is especially valuable during an emergency. In this blog, I want to discuss another Red Bend feature called revertible updates. This is a feature that enables the use of the same update file for both updating the device to the new version and for reverting to the previous version--without the need to download a “downgrade” file from the server, saving bandwidth and time. Revertible updates enable devices to roll back updates to the previous version of firmware in case the consumer cancels the update while it is in progress or in the event that a defect is detected in the new firmware version. Revertible updates support both uncompressed and compressed images. Part of Red Bend’s vRapid Mobile™ FOTA software solution, the revertible update feature is a must-have capability in several use cases:
Besides handset manufacturers, revertible updates are also valuable for machine-to-machine (M2M) manufacturers and service providers. FOTA is being used to keep the M2M module software up-to-date with changing standards and customer requirements, and to remotely perform software updates in a fast and reliable manner. With M2M modules growing in complexity, FOTA enables manufacturers to perform software improvements over the air, without needing to send a field technician on site. It is also important to mitigate risk if a defect is detected in the new firmware version. With revertible updating, the M2M manufacturer can perform a server-initiated rollback to the previous firmware version on all or select modules. In the case of the defect affecting the cellular stack, the module can initiate a self-update triggered by a watchdog to revert back to the previous version. This revertible update can occur without any contact with the server. Labels: firmware, FOTA, mobile software management, Red Bend
3G Drives China Operators to Adopt DM and FOTABy Danny Wang, Country Manager, Greater ChinaFor the last several years China has been a vibrant center of innovation and activity in the mobile industry. China remains the largest mobile phone market in the world with 657 million subscribers. Greater China is also the manufacturing center for many of the mobile devices shipped worldwide. Earlier this year, China assigned 3G mobile phone licenses to its three largest operators: China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom. In preparation for the rollout of 3G services, the operators have begun mandating support for device management (DM) and firmware over the air (FOTA) on all mobile handsets and devices manufactured for their networks. By standardizing on DM and FOTA, the operators in China will be able to more effectively manage and support the data services and Internet applications enabled by 3G. The feature-packed phones that flourish in 3G-enabled networks contain greater amounts of software and sophisticated functionality. With DM and FOTA-capable devices, the operators will be ready to commercialize their update services and provide mobile consumers with the latest software improvements and features to stay competitive. With DM and FOTA rolling out in China, Red Bend has increased its local support in China. Leading mobile companies throughout the region have recognized Red Bend's mobile software management (MSM) solutions for being easy to integrate on any mobile platform and for providing built-in compliance for Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) standards. These features enable our customers to accelerate time to market for new mobile devices. In addition, DM and FOTA solutions from Red Bend empowers operators and OEMs alike to deliver a more enriching experience to mobile users, while minimizing support costs. The push for DM and FOTA in China has enabled Red Bend to sign deals with a number of high-profile companies. Most recently, Borqs International Holding Corp. chose Red Bend’s FOTA updating software and device management software for its Android software platform, called Open Mobile System (OMS). Haier (Qing Dao) Telecom Co., Ltd. also licensed both FOTA and DM for its HG-V70 mobile phone. By adopting Red Bend’s software, these new customers join other leading OEMs in China, including Lenovo Mobile, ZTE and Benny Wave, maker of the K-Touch brand of mobile phones. Red Bend’s expansion in China has also reached the machine-to-machine (M2M) industry. FOTA enables manufacturers to protect their investments by deploying maintenance releases and new software features over the air rather than sending a technician on-site. Recently, SIMCom Wireless Solutions (Shanghai) licensed Red Bend’s FOTA for its M2M product portfolio to increase its competitive advantage by enabling over-the-air software updating. In the last year, the number of Red Bend-Enabled devices in China has grown to more than 20, and is expected to continue to rise, especially as Android-based phones with Red Bend inside hit the market this year. Stay tuned to Red Bend to follow how the mobile software management market develops in China. Labels: device management, DM, firmware, FOTA, Red Bend
Nifty Way to Get an Upgrade By Yair Noam, System Architect Red Bend Software ("Nifty Way to Get an Upgrade" is inspired by the original lyrics and music from Paul Simon's "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover") "The software inside your phone is broke," she said to me The answer is FOTA, you’ll be happy, I Guarantee Please, let me help you in your struggle to fix it That must be, the nifty way to get an upgrade She said "the upgrade takes a very short interlude" Software is sent over the air, believe me it’s all true Don’t worry, it won’t brick your phone, I promise you Cause FOTA is, the nifty way to get an upgrade Nifty way to get an upgrade Don’t take the phone back, Jack Don’t get a new plan, Stan Don't need a decoy, Roy Just set yourself free Don’t throw it under the bus, Gus You don't need to wait too much Don’t use your PC, Lee FOTA will set you free Ooo don’t take the phone back, Jack Don’t get a new plan, Stan Don't need a decoy, Roy Just listen to me Don’t throw it under the bus, Gus You don't need to wait too much Don’t use your PC, Lee FOTA will set you free She said it grieves me so to see you in such pain I’ve got something new for you that’ll make you dial again I said I appreciate that and would you please explain About that nifty way She said FOTA will resolve your software plight No need to cable the phone and pray to the light And after a few minutes, I realized she was right That must be, the nifty way to get an upgrade Nifty way to get an upgrade Don’t take the phone back, Jack Don’t get a new plan, Stan Don't need a decoy, Roy Just set yourself free Don’t throw it under the bus, Gus You don't need to wait too much Don’t use your PC, Lee FOTA will set you free Ooo don’t take the phone back, Jack Don’t get a new plan, Stan Don't need a decoy, Roy Just listen to me Don’t throw it under the bus, Gus You don't need to wait too much Don’t use your PC, Lee FOTA will set you free Labels: firmware, FOTA, mobile, OMA, wireless
Reflecting on Mobile World Congress 2009Below are some highlights from Red Bend Software members who participated in the four-day Mobile World Congress 2009 event in Barcelona.Lori Sylvia, EVP of Marketing, and Morten Grauballe, EVP of MSM Platforms App stores created a lot of noise at Mobile World Congress. Every OEM and platform provider is getting into the app store game. But the pundits are debating the wrong points. It’s not whether app stores should be closed systems from the OEMs or run by operators for the mass market. It’s not which runtime environment should win, in order help developers reduce costs and gain scale. We’ve learned by now that the mobile industry is not one size fits all, not one business model fits all. I think this highly competitive market over the next three years at least will continue to see all of the above: platform-specific app stores, OEM closed systems, operator branded storefronts and myriad development environments. The real issue is how to let ISVs build and deploy applications that can generate new revenue streams for OEMs as well as operators from the nearly 3 billion mobile phones in use. To truly unlock this potential, ISVs need to break the dependency that applications have to be developed for specific devices. By enabling mobile phone software to be customized on demand over the air throughout the handset lifecycle, developers can innovate and consumers can choose handsets, services and applications. Gang Shen, Director of Sales, China Some operators announced plans to take on mobile widgets to help improve app stores. China Mobile, for example, showed a demo of a widget at Mobile World Congress. I expect this kind of service engine will become more popular and welcomed by both operators and customers. Another interesting highlight at Mobile World Congress is that more small brands than I expected showed some amazing phones, which use the Chinese ODM/DH solution. John Pratt, Director of Sales, Europe Control seems to be the big issue on everyone’s mind at Mobile World Congress. As handset manufactures and operators begin to launch app stores to generate incremental revenue from software sales, everyone wants control over this service and to either directly receive revenue or be compensated for their role in the value chain. The race for even cooler handsets packed with more features and capabilities continued, but the real story is who will win the race to control app stores. It appears that handset manufactures and software vendors have an early lead, with the likes of Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Microsoft and Google all promoting their stores, but the sleepy giant who owns the end customer (i.e., operators) might have the last say. Companies are also in a constant battle for control over what platform developers choose to develop their apps on as all the major app store companies have SDKs and are aggressively trying to attract application developers. Developers are no longer seen as someone in the backroom, but rather someone who can create that one app that generates significant interest and eyeballs that will ultimately help generate revenue and promote brand awareness. Mobile World Congress demonstrated that the industry is once again going through quite a transition, and it will be interesting to see who will win the race for control over attracting developers and delivering app stores to maintain and grow brand loyalty. Labels: device management, DM, firmware, FOTA, Google, OMA-DM, Red Bend, standards
SCOMO Goes Beyond FOTA and Focuses on Managing Individual Software ComponentsBy Elad GanotDirector of Standards and Alliances Red Bend Software Last month I enthusiastically purchased an advanced home entertainment system. I paid a lot of money to enjoy its high sound and picture quality, which were enabled by the cutting-edge technology that’s available in today’s market. It took me about seven years to upgrade my system even though I am a gadget fan and have a technical background. My new system is composed of an HDTV, an advanced receiver (which includes an image enhancer), a media streamer and a DVD player. You might wonder why isn’t Blu-ray part of my system—especially if I want to enjoy high definition movies. The DVD won’t help me so much as it cannot store the capacity required for HD quality. Well, as you may know, there is still doubt on whether Blu-ray will indeed become the next mainstream format for movies, so I’ve decided to wait and see. I can always upgrade separately my existing DVD to a Blu-ray (or whatever other format wins the market). Upgrading my DVD will not force me to upgrade the whole system because it is a stand-alone part with well-defined interfaces to the rest of the system. This makes it a “component.” When the time comes, I will receive an email telling me about this cool new device and for the right price I would click the “buy it now” button, and a delivery package will be on its way to my home. Going from the hardware world to the software world, things look even cooler. Here not only do components are upgradable, but also they even do so almost instantly and quite frequently. I change software components on my computer at least 100 times a year (not just once every few years). I install software, update existing software and uninstall software that I don’t use. Sometimes I just disable software for a while and re-enable it later. Yeah, I like tweaking the software on my computer, and recently I started playing with my mobile phone in the same way. My mobile phone has so many software components available for it that I even abandoned my stand-alone PDA, which had served me loyally for several years. Most users are not even aware of the fact that their mobile phone could actually be used as a personal computing platform. They probably know they can customize it in terms of a fashionable look (with wallpapers, sounds and colorful covers), but will they know how to discover a useful software component? Then be able to download it? Install it? Disable it if needed and re-enable it? Remove it? It was back in 2005 when the mobile industry saw an opportunity to improve the user experience with regard to software management and offered a service of managing the “life cycle” of software components on remote devices. To be able to realize this concept, you have to achieve a mass market, and the industry must agree on some common methods of communication—to allow for every device on every network to connect to the service, regardless of the manufacturer of the equipment (be it a managed client device or a managed server). The good news is that we NOW have a consensus with the Candidate Release of SCOMO 1.0 that was ratified by the OMA on Nov. 17. Now let us componentize the last sentence in a reversed order:
But a Candidate state also means a lot from a business perspective. Interoperability testing period typically happens in parallel to commercial deployments of the enabler. This means that Candidate Release of an enabler is a signal for businesses to start implementing commercial deployments, since the enabler is stable.
Labels: design, device management, DM, firmware, FOTA, mobile, mobile software management, Red Bend, standards
Background Updating Comes to the ForegroundBy Ilana BogomolnySenior Product Manager Red Bend Software Whether we’re using a PC or a Mac, we all receive those popup windows alerting us that a software update is available. We don’t think twice about those popups because they’re common practice today in the world of computers. We know we must execute those updates in order to keep our machines healthy. The updating process is exceptionally simple. We activate the update and continue using our email or other applications, letting the update perform in the background. But we know that the more applications we are running, the slower the software updates will take to install. Periodically, we may check the progress bar and see how much time there is left to the update. Once the update is completed, we may be asked to reboot our system. All very simple! There is a similar process for updating the firmware on your mobile phone—but with a BIG difference. The update does not happen in the background—in fact, the phone is unusable until the update completes. For those of us specializing in FOTA, we understand that the time to complete the update process is dependent on several factors, including how many changes are taking place to the firmware. In some cases, it may take 15 minutes or more. With mobile phones serving as the lifeline for so many users around the world, any amount of downtime can be unacceptable, especially during emergencies. Red Bend has changed the FOTA paradigm with a new innovation called Background Updating. With Background Updating, the phone is only down for as long as it takes to reboot. The actual update happens in the background while the phone is fully operational. Since the updating process requires memory and processor resources, and these are not as abundant on the phones as they probably are on your PC, running resource-hungry applications, such as watching video or playing some games, would not be advisable during an update, as they might work somewhat sluggishly. But there is nothing to stop you from making and receiving calls, browsing the Web and generally using the phone as you normally would. There are several ways how the mobile user can interact with the Background Updating process.
With Background Updating, update time becomes irrelevant because 1) the user is still able to fully use the device and 2) the user decides when to reboot. Rebooting does not have to be executed immediately after the FOTA update. For instance, it could occur when the user shuts off the phone for its daily recharging. Because of the simplicity and ease of Background Updating—and how it mirrors software updates on computers—it is quickly coming into the foreground of operator requirements for FOTA. And with good reason. Many have service level agreements covering availability of the phone and the network. Others have legal considerations for access to emergency services, such as E911 in the United States. In addition, operators are responding to the customer needs of establishing a familiar software updating process, regardless of the type of device: PC, Mac, feature phone or smartphone. To see Background Updating in action, watch this video. Labels: firmware, FOTA, mobile software management
305 Million Mobile Phones, 29 Licensees and $10 Million in Funding to Fuel What’s NextBy Yoram SalingerCEO Red Bend Software There are many exciting developments happening here at Red Bend. Our vCurrent® Mobile FOTA software has shipped in more than 300 million mobile phones. This milestone has been reached thanks to your continued support. Over the past year and a half, we have seen our business grow rapidly as firmware updating and device management achieve mass market adoption. According to Ovum, more than half of all new mobile phones are coming to market with FOTA software, and this number is projected to increase to 84% by the end of next year. With FOTA-enabled phones now widely available, we are working closely with our customers and partners to increase usage of over-the-air software updating. Our innovative Background Updating feature, we believe, sets the new standard in FOTA and significantly improves the mobile user experience by performing the firmware update in the background while the consumer continues to use the phone, without taking the device offline. As of Q1, we now have 29 licensees of our software products. Red Bend has amassed a wealth of experience and knowledge about best practices in OTA software updating. We recently launched an effort to document best practices in creating “FOTA-friendly firmware.” I encourage you to contact us to learn more and see how we can assist you in efficiently provisioning firmware updates. Lastly, I am pleased to inform you that Red Bend has closed a funding round of $10 million. The new funds will be used for sales and marketing to grow our position in the mobile market as well as seize new opportunities in licensing our software for other connected wireless devices. In addition, the funds will be used to accelerate investment in research and development to bring you new innovations in mobile software management. Stay tuned to see what’s next. Labels: FOTA, mobile software management, Red Bend
Software on the Edge: MSM Reaches New FrontiersBy Yoram SalingerCEO Red Bend Software Having experienced the benefits of MSM for mobile phones, operators are beginning to require software management for all edge devices in the network. Mobile broadband PC cards are some the latest devices to benefit from FOTA and OMA-DM capability. With MSM, operators can provision settings over-the-air, reduce customer support costs and keep consumers satisfied with their mobile services—whether they are talking on their mobile phones or video conferencing from their PCs. The fact that operators are extending MSM to mobile PC cards shows the increasing importance that operators are placing on having full management control over their networks. Red Bend is in a unique position to give operators a consistent level of control in a world of heterogeneous terminals. We are the only company totally focused on remotely managing software inside mobile devices. Our experience working with 15 manufacturers across a dozen different mobile platforms (both open and proprietary) enables Red Bend to intimately appreciate the complexities of mobile software architectures. We recently celebrated shipping our market-leading vCurrent® Mobile solution in 200 million mobile phones worldwide. Soon, mobile broadband PC cards will come to market that are Red Bend-enabled. And after that, well… stay tuned. As operators and manufacturers become more advanced in their use of MSM, Red Bend will continue to innovate and deliver new solutions that enable our customers to derive even greater value from software on the edge. Labels: FOTA, mobile software management, OMA-DM
Best Practices in Creating Firmware for Over-the-Air Update DeploymentBy Ilana BogomolnySenior Product Manager Red Bend Software In the mobile phone market, increasing numbers of devices now support FOTA—Firmware Over-the-Air (FOTA) updating. FOTA is the most cost-effective way to maintain the device firmware and to provide new features remotely. It is already common practice for operators in Japan and the US, and is gaining momentum with OEMs and operators in Europe. However, even with wide support for FOTA capability across feature phones and smartphones, the actual deployment of firmware updates varies by operator, OEM and even by region. Updating mobile firmware over-the-air is new territory and a subtle paradigm shift for device software developers and integrators. Raising the level of awareness about best practices in creating and deploying new firmware versions using FOTA can significantly accelerate market adoption as well as improve the consumer experience and level of trust in this new technology. To optimize the FOTA user experience, the updates need to be as small as possible, and the update process should be as fast as possible. From the device manufacturer perspective, updates should be easy to create and test. For the past five years, Red Bend Software has been providing its market-leading vCurrent® Mobile FOTA solution to the industry’s top device manufacturers on more than 100 device models, implementing a wide variety of device architectures, chipset platforms and operating systems. Red Bend's Field Application Engineers have accumulated a wealth of hands-on experience in supporting our customers through successful integration, adoption and deployment of FOTA. At Red Bend, we have learned that although using vCurrent Mobile for FOTA updating does not require any changes to the manufacturer’s tool-chain, the awareness of the factors affecting firmware updates can have a significant effect on update size and speed and ultimately the consumer's experience. So what are these factors? FOTA updates are created by calculating the difference between old and new firmware versions. This means that OEM software developers and integrators should not consider each software release only as a standalone project, but should also be aware of the amount and nature of the changes introduced since previous versions. As many teams contribute components to a software release, it is often difficult for the configuration manager to figure out who is contributing most changes – Red Bend provides a set of tools which allows the configuration manager to understand who is contributing what kind of changes. The updating experience for the consumer should be as easy and brief as possible. To this end, creating and sending a single file that updates the firmware version is always preferable to sending a series of updates incrementing one version at a time. In addition to improving the user's experience, single-step, single-session updates provide less opportunity for the phone users to cancel the download process, and thus will increase the rate of successfully completed update sessions. Other factors that affect FOTA are the optimization of the FOTA Update Agent during the integration onto the device, and the optimal usage of update generation tools when FOTA updates are created and deployed. In addition, standard engineering practices for software updating involving data formats and API compatibility should be observed. In order to help industry-wide FOTA adoption, we at Red Bend are here to assist our customers in making their FOTA updates smaller and faster, ensuring FOTA-friendliness of each new firmware version, and tracking the type and quantity of changes between firmware versions. For more information, please contact your Red Bend account team or email us at inquiry@redbend.com. Labels: firmware, FOTA, mobile software management
The “Short Blanket” Effect – Engineering Challenges in Implementing FOTABy Sharon Peleg Founder and CTO Red Bend Software Updating mobile firmware is not a simple task. Some have compared it to updating software on a PC, but there are in fact many engineering challenges that make updating mobile firmware much more difficult. While the generator running on a PC in the office can practically enjoy no resource limitations, the design of the update process on mobile devices must take into account the lack of any auxiliary data, lack of extra storage to be used as temporary buffers, lack of RAM in some cases and a much weaker CPU. Ineffective approaches could easily lead to conflicts between the various resources, and result in the “short blanket” effect – if you pull it from one side, the other side is left uncovered. When evaluating, testing and integrating FOTA on mobile devices, manufacturers and operators should consider the following: · Speed, accuracy and predictability of update generation · No spare flash memory on the device · Fault tolerance · Size of the delta file and update package · Positive user experience · Updating compressed firmware · Type of flash memory In this blog entry, I will address the first three. Speed, Accuracy and Predictability of Update Generation The update algorithm must be fast enough to generate updates at a reasonable speed and should provide sufficient feedback to allow proper understanding of the behavior of the update process on the device. Another equally important requirement is the need for the update generation to be predictable. It is not only sufficient that the generator will produce a small update when few changes are introduced to the source, it must do so consistently. No Spare Flash Memory on the Device The fact that there is no spare flash memory for building two side-by-side alternating versions when updating the new version (as some embedded devices can afford to have) leaves no option but to perform an update in-place. In-place delta-updating is challenged by limited spare flash and RAM resources to hold the new version. Fault Tolerance When updating firmware on mobile devices, it is crucial to assume that the process could be interrupted at any point in time due to a power failure. Power failure during flash re-programming not only can corrupt the written flash sector but also leave the device in a useless state. In addition to having to be both in-place and fault-tolerant, the process must run at maximum speed to minimize downtime. Fault tolerance requires writing additional data when updating in order to maintain the integrity of the persistent data at any point in time. The challenge here is to minimize writing data in order to minimize the number of re-flash operations. Learn more about implementing FOTA in our new white paper, “Principles of Updating Mobile Firmware Over-the-Air”. Labels: FOTA, mobile, software
Standards Acceleration Is Sign of Growing Market Adoption for Device ManagementBy Elad GranotDirector of Standards and Alliances Red Bend Software Standards play a critical role in emerging technologies in their path towards technical maturity and in their quest for widespread market adoption. Recently I have been reviewing the OMA Device Management enablers with a focus on how the older deliverables of the OMA-DM Working Group differ from the upcoming deliverables being worked today. When examining the evolution of OMA DM papers and working procedures over the past years, I have noticed several positive signs in the development of device management enablers which show the growing market adoption of over-the-air software update services. A number of signs bring me to this conclusion, and the rest of this post will point out these factors. As a background, let’s look briefly at the DM historical milestones: · April 2002 – SyncML Specifications V1.1 are approved by SyncML Initiative. · November 2002 – The SyncML Initiative is merged into OMA · May 2003 – SyncML specs converted to OMA format, creating SyncML Common 1.1.2, Data Synchronization 1.1.2 (DS) and Device Management 1.1.2 (DM) · December 2003 – SyncML-DM 1.1.2 is approved by OMA · November 2004 – SyncML-DM renamed to OMA-DM · Jun 2005 – OMA-DM 1.2 spec reaches Candidate state · July 2006 – OMA-DS 1.2 release is approved by OMA · February 2007 – OMA-DM 1.2 release is approved by OMA Sign #1 – Established Organizational Processes Speed Time to Market In the beginning, the work was relatively slow, mainly because the establishment of OMA organizational processes was happening in parallel with the standardization of DM and Firmware Update Management Object (FUMO). This fact, along with the work that was needed to adapt the outputs of the SyncML Initiative to the overall ‘look and feel’ of OMA outputs, created a challenge for the DM Working Group that resulted in some unavoidable compromise in terms of work quality and timely delivery of the standard. The good news is that these historical constraints no longer affect the current DM Enablers (also known as Management Objects, or MO’s) being worked today in the OMA-DM Working Group. OMA process issues that were not clear in the early days of the organization have been clarified and significantly improved since, allowing faster progress. For example, recently a new type of document template (named Data Specification) was created in OMA to be used for all OMA deliverables for which there are no behavior associated. Some MO’s are perfect candidates for using this template, which will facilitate easier and quicker release of these MO’s by relaxing some of the ‘classic’ time-consuming production steps used for other standard documents which are totally redundant in the context of these Management Objects. OMA is further working on shortening the time to market for new device management technologies and has recently created an ad-hoc group dedicated to investigating and proposing further improvements. Sign #2 – The Success of FUMO 1.0 FUMO 1.0 was the first separate standard MO on top of the DM protocol. It became candidate in mid 2006 and released as an approved enabler, after a successful period of interoperability testing in February 2007. FUMO, which has been proven by extremely high success scores in interoperability fests, is the first DM application that expands OMA-DM beyond simple parameter configuration. This DM enabler is being deployed by leading vendors in the mobile industry, and provides a concrete and live environment from which the DM community can learn which design principles are working best and which concepts can be improved. Sign #3 – More Vendors Participating Leads to More Robust Technology that is More Widely Adopted Players from across the mobile value chain (and recently not only mobile, with the proliferation of OMA into the fixed environment) constantly show high interest and involvement in the DM Working Group, which implies high commitment and strong belief in that work. It also means greater motivation for companies to propose and push their initiatives, which is a vital factor in a contribution-based organization such as OMA. With the formal release of DM 1.2 (and FUMO 1.0) this level of interest is expected to sustain, if not grow. In fact, some ideas have been raised about taking DM beyond the mobile environment, in order to address some of the challenges emerging in the fixed telecom environment. Sign #4 – Expanding Use of the Technology Leads to New Requirements With this increased momentum, it should come as no surprise that there are multiple DM enablers showing nice progress: DiagMon, Scheduling, ConnMO, and DCMO. For example, the Software Component Management Object (SCOMO) Requirements reached Candidate and the Architecture is now being reviewed, while the technical specification also showed significant progress. On top of that, the recent creation of new enablers (such as Lock and Wipe MO) validates the momentum of DM being an acceptable framework for management in the mobile industry. Sign #5 – Care for High Quality, Consistency and Clarity In addition to this progress, the quality of the deliverables also improves as the DM Work Group improves the consistency across architectures of these various enablers. This consistency facilitates greater re-use of concepts, which results in better clarity, improved quality and shorter time for developing the specifications. But as an extra consequential bonus, it also suggests a greater potential for vendors to reuse some common components across their different MO implementations. Furthermore, many contributions proposed for the standard show great care for clarity and simplicity of the specification text, resulting in higher quality and ease of implementation. Summary In summary, the future of DM standardization appears to be positive. It builds on the strong foundation of standards created since 2002. With recent improvements to the process and organization around OMA, I believe the momentum surrounding DM and the various Management Objects will continue. Since OMA is a market-driven (and moreover, a contribution-driven) organization, the acceleration of the standards process is a strong indication that the business of DM is also taking off. Labels: device management, DM, FOTA, OMA, standards
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
Copyright ® 2010 Red Bend All Rights Reserved.
Home | Solutions | Customers | Partners | Company | Terms | Contact Us | Site Map |