Page 8 - DECT Today - Issue 1 - April 2014

DECT TODAY INTERVIEW How important is the We have also have created certification stuff - not just new voice applications - and relationship with ETSI, programmes, which bring real value to our we will support those new products and and how do you see it members in the brand awareness of a product technology with new certifications and changing? which is qualified to a standard. This also interoperability testing. CAT-iq, DECT helps us attract new members who join in technology enhanced for HD Voice in the IP We have a long-lasting partnership with ETSI, order to get involved and benefit from the backbone and ULE are examples of this. we have mutual confidence and respect for established certification programmes. We are in process of creating a three to five each other’s roles, and the boundaries are year roadmap. We are also looking at other clear. DECT Forum supports the co-financing industry organisations and what they have of ETSI special task forces where appropriate Finally, what's your done. We are reaching maturity so we need to for the future development of the DECT vision for where DECT look at how they approached that challenge. standard. This partnership may even improve technology and the We are looking at new geographies. China over time, as the DECT Forum chief technical market will be in five or still has a lot of fixed-line phones where they officer, Oliver Maiwald, has been elected chair ten years' time? are seen as the last line of support. And In of ETSI's Technical Committee so the linkage is DECT technology is successful. There are India, while mobiles are heavily used, they even closer, and will help to deepen hundreds of millions of connections enjoying have a coverage problem so DECT is used understanding and co-operation. interference-free, secure, cost-effective there to offload mobile traffic. connections, with great and reliable range Meanwhile, the ULE Alliance is excited What are the key issues within the home, and you can see the value as about the potential of DECT technology in around spectrum it took just two years to switch the US home communications. Most technologies protection right now? cordless voice market onto DECT. This work have a problem reaching everywhere in the will continue. So, for pure voice, DECT has house and DECT has inherent success, so we DECT spectrum is constantly under threat. established an indisputable place. need to get the message out that this is a There are hundreds of millions of DECT But there's pressure from mobiles as, great solution for home connectivity. connections in the world enjoying increasingly, landlines are being cut. It's our interference-free communications, and it's biggest challenge and it's irreversible. It’s our job to protect that. difficult to know what the future holds for As for the far future, I'm It’s one of our challenges, as the availability any industry, but the DECT Forum is afraid I have lost my of spectrum may be taken for granted, but it continually looking for new fields doing clever crystal ball... is an area where the DECT Forum heavily invests to maintain the status quo. Regulatory matters are complex and develop over a long time period, so we must continually analyse competing technologies to ensure we keep the DECT spectrum bands clear. It's a subtle procedure. There are so many groups and committees, so we have to develop an early warning system so as to understand what's going on across the world. There's no urgent issue right now but it's constant work and this is also why we further invested in creating a CTO position. What's the future for the DECT Forum? We need to continue to promote the standard and to expand geographically, especially into India and China, where the DECT band is still not allocated for voice communications, and develop a strategy for other applications, whether voice or non-voice, to help grow new fields of business. 8 DECT Today - The Success Story Continues · www.dect.org