Let’s imagine we would like to communicate with various friends at the same time, speaking and exchanging images without the use of a PC. It can be done: Push-to-talk over cellular (PoC) enables communication between a group of friends, but only via audio messages in walkie-talkie style. Telecom Italia Lab is currently studying an evolution of this model.

Push-to-X: what it is, how it works

IPoC is a type of technology that enables communication despite the absence of personal computers. Granted, this is only via audio, but you can communicate with friends or with anyone you like in the same way we use a walkie-talkie. Currently, however, studies are being conducted on a new technology which might surpass this limitation. This is called Push-to-X (PtX). PtX is a multimedial evolution of PoC and, along with audio streaming, also includes the support of other media, for example video streaming and transfer of files in various formats, such as images, text, video and audio clips. It is based on the concept that, in-group communications, in order to be able to speak/film etc., you need to obtain the right to speak/video, typically by pressing a key, for example the PoC key. Like PoC, PtX is a service which, on the server side, is based on the IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) infrastructure, exploiting base functionalities such as authentication. Moreover, it has the support of the OMA (Open Mobile Alliance), which is the main standardisation body for services. The greatest advantage is that an OMA standard has a high likelihood of being accepted by all the main mobile phone manufacturing companies, thus enabling interoperability of service independent of the terminal type.

Services & applications

Many services are enabled by PtX technology: those linked with interpersonal and group communication (P2P - Person-to-Person), and those focused on receiving/sending value contents (A2P2A - Application-to-Person-to-Application).
Among the main ones for the first segment (P2P) the following are worthy of mention: Push-to-View (transfer of images), Push-to-Show (audio/video streaming), Push-to-Watch (use of and audio commentary on a live video flow, for example Mobile TV), Push-to-browse (use of and commentary on web contents/pages). As regards the second segment (A2P2A), we can list, again among the main services, Push-to-Content (sending of audio/video value contents in real time from a server, such as Push-to-goal or Push-to-traffic) and Push-to-Share (to upload contents to sharing servers such as YouTube or Flickr or simply for FTP type transfers – i.e without size limits – of generic files between users). The Push-to-X services offer a series of remarkable opportunities for customers, for the mobile operator and for the Service/Content Provider.

PtX and Telecom Italia

For a mobile operator such as TIM, PtX might form the launching pad for an offer of numerous interpersonal services and services connected to the transfer of contents, which might easily be interoperable and independent of the user’s terminal, and in any case always mediated by the operator’s central server. For the Service/Content Provider, the technology enables a new means of supplying contents to the customer which can be added to text messaging and MMSs, adding the possibility of achieving both “group communication” in the streaming of videos and audio files and the transfer of generic files in FTP. The technology exists and has already been standardised. Researchers are working hard in the Telecom Italia laboratories and hope to develop it in such a way that it will be available in a suitable form by 2008.