Microsoft has renamed a business unit that develops products for delivering content to mobile devices, reflecting a wider focus that now includes media and entertainment companies.
The newly named Communications and Mobile Solutions unit will sell to fixed and mobile phone operators, Web hosting providers and entertainment and media companies, said Maria Martinez, a new Microsoft hire who heads up the unit as corporate vice president.
The group was originally called the Network Service Provider Solutions business unit, and in the past has dealt primarily with service providers. Microsoft sees a lot of similarities between what is happening in the entertainment space and the communications space when it comes to delivering services, Martinez said.
Content on the Run
Microsoft plans to combine its products with partner products and services and offer a bundle that will enable customers to be up and running with content delivery services in a couple of months, Martinez says.
A new Microsoft bundle, for example, could allow a mobile phone operator to quickly set up a service to deliver music to cell phones, Martinez says. The bundle would include Microsoft products, such as its server software, products from partners, and content from Microsoft media partners, she says.
The first results of the new business unit's work will be presented at the ITU Telecom World 2003 event in October in Geneva.
Business Shift
Martinez spent nine years at Motorola and 12 years at Lucent Technologies' Bell Laboratories. At Microsoft, the telecommunications industry veteran's job is to grow the software maker's business in the communications sector and compete with players including IBM, Martinez says.
The Communications and Mobile Solutions unit replaces the old Network Service Provider Solutions business unit. The entertainment industry was added because Microsoft sees a lot of similarities between what is happening in the entertainment space and the communications space when it comes to delivering services, Martinez says.
Ad Choices