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BackResearch and development in 2001
In the rapidly changing operating environment and tightening competitive situation, research and development is a strategic success factor. Elisa Communications Corporation made heavy investments in R&D in Elisa Research Center, business units and the R&D units of independent Group companies.
The primary focus areas of the R&D activities in the Elisa Research Center were service platform technology, data security of information technology, new IP-based network technologies and services, wireless and broadband technologies, and customer-oriented research.
Important research areas were 3G mobile communication, access and home networks, optical solutions, IP multi-service networks, broadband wireless networks, data security solutions, multichannel solutions, usability, positioning technologies, digital TV, ubiquitous computing and its applications, as well as future user interfaces such as speech recognition.
International R&D cooperation
The versatile network of international research organizations and partners complemented the Group's R&D activities.
The Research Center participated in the projects of the fifth framework program of the European Union in the IST program and actively prepared the sixth framework program.
The focus areas of Elisa's R&D cooperation with EURESCOM, the European Institute for Research and Strategic Studies in Telecommunications, were data security, software technologies, active networks, mobile and wireless technology, customer retention, new-generation service concepts and IPv6.
Moreover, Elisa participated in the research and development of internet technologies in the World Wide Web consortium at MIT, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Finnish R&D cooperation
Elisa Communications participated as a corporate partner in research projects of the Helsinki Institute for Information Technology HIIT, an institution operating under the University of Helsinki and Helsinki University of Technology.
Elisa Communications were involved in several projects by the National Technology Agency TEKES with companies from various sectors and actively participated in research programs of other institutions of higher education.
Incorporeal rights
The focus of innovation protection in industrial proprietary rights has clearly shifted to mobile and value added services. Since copyrights have become a central issue in R&D projects, particular investments were made in this area.
Main events in 2001
Elisa Future Club, serving as a facility for piloting and visualizing the results of the Group's R&D activities with customers and interest groups, was opened in the Research Center.
The NGN (Next Generation Network) research and development program, covering the entire Group, proceeded to a stage during the last months of 2001 where the objective is to create joint service platform solutions based on IP networks. Through these solutions, voice and new communication services can be offered for network and service operators regardless of access technology.
Based on long-term cooperation, R&D Elisa initiated a sizeable project related to electronic learning, Opitpalvelu, in collaboration with the WSOY publishing house. Elearning business, including the network-based learning environment Efodi, was assigned to Datatie at the end of the year. Development of Elearning continues with Datatie in Elisa Innovation unit's New Business Development Center.
The development of Emma.fm, a network store for digital music opened in January 2001, continued in cooperation with music producers. Emma.fm won awards in many new media and multimedia competitions. For example, it was the in the category eBusiness in the international Europrix 2001 contest. Cooperation with Nokia and Elisa directed at the development of the mobile features of Emma.fm was published during the last months of the year.
The Elisa Research Center actively participated in international and national standardization with other business units.
Radiolinja developed positioning technologies and spatial data services
In 2001, Oy Radiolinja Ab's research focused on positioning technologies and spatial data services, license-free wireless technologies and system development of mobile services.
The network positioning system, developed in cooperation between Radiolinja and Elisa Research Center, was further developed and piloted with success in Radiolinja Eesti's (Estonia) network. The positioning method enables the positioning of all mobile phones in use more accurately than before. The successful pilot resulted in the commercialization of the method, and the interface expertise related to positioning services was successfully exported into international cooperation forums.
Radiolinja's m-Commerce development program with its partners of cooperation started an experiment enabling easy-to-use and secure card payments through a new wireless application.
Kolumbus focused on data security
The focus areas of Kolumbus's research projects were PKI technologies and products based on them, data secure WLAN, digital TV, XML and the Next Generation Network.
In addition to own research and development, R&D projects were implemented in collaboration with close interest groups.
In order to enhance product development, Kolumbus adopted at end-year a new product construction process with the related instruments. Additionally, January 2002 saw the construction of deployable invention process, which will assist in refining employee inventions to patents.
Comptel invested in the further development of mediator products
Comptel developed, in addition to the mediation solutions directed at network operators, solutions that support and enable business activities based on the mobile internet within the framework of the Comptel PASSAGe concept.
The focus areas of product development have been the continued development of mediation products for GPRS and 3G networks as well as for new services in the IP network.
R&D focal points were the provision, use and charge of new mobile services, development of and active monitoring of the standardization of data security services and Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) plus other IP-based information networks.