The Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) announces the availability of OMA Push to Talk over Cellular 1.0 as an Approved Enabler Release (OMA PoC 1.0).

OMA PoC 1.0 is a multi-party form of immediate communication that allows mobile phone users to engage in walkie-talkie style group conversations. OMA PoC 1.0 cooperates mainly with two other Enabler Release specifications -- OMA XML Document Management Enabler 1.0 (OMA XDM 1.0) and OMA Presence Enabler 1.0. These enablers allow the users to group communities of friends or colleagues for one-to-many conversations, and also to see their presence for availability.

The OMA PoC 1.0 approval comes one year after the specification was introduced to the market as a Candidate Enabler Release when it entered OMA's Interoperability Testing Program (IOP). High expectations for reliability and time pressures from the market enhanced the testing voracity for this approved PoC Version 1.0. Since May 2005, the enabler has been tested in 6 IOP TestFests organized round the globe by OMA. The latest OMA TestFest in March 2006 tested 11 product implementations from OMA members, and the year’s complete testing includes Client implementations from 22 separate companies and Server implementations from 8 separate companies. Two test tool companies have also participated in the test initiatives.

The PoC 1.0 Approved Enabler release, as defined in OMA, is specified as a SIP-based service enabler utilizing IMS/MMD capabilities (defined in 3GPP and 3GPP2) as well as standard protocols defined by the IETF.

Required Capabilities

• On-demand session handling for One-to-One and One-to-Many voice communication
• Pre-defined group support for chat and instant communication
• Ad hoc group communication
• Instant personal alert for invited call backs and One-to-One Updates
• Incoming session barring
• Manual and automatic answer modes
• Media transport and control re-using existing internet protocols

Optional Features

• Group advertisement to add users to existing groups
• Pre-established sessions
• Simultaneous sessions
• Talk burst queuing and priority
• Media adaptation or transcoding