SK Telecom (NYSE:SKM) today kicks off its participation at the GSMA Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2011 in Barcelona, Spain. The company, as the only Korean telecom operator, will open a large exhibition area at 8A147 of Hall 8 Building to showcase its cutting-edge technology and services.

The MWC is the world’s largest exhibition and conference for the mobile industry, organized annually by the GSMA (Global System for Mobile Communication Association), an association of around 1000 mobile operators, handset manufactures and equipment providers from over 210 countries. With 1,300 participants from all across the globe, this year’s MWC is expected to attract over 60,000 visitors.

Serving as a GSMA board member, SK Telecom has driven innovations in the global telecommunications market. The company will open an exhibition area of 234m² to show 19 future technologies and state-of-the-art services.

SK Telecom will display diverse platform-related technologies and services to accelerate growth of its platform business and create new business opportunities in the global market. 

Furthermore, the company plans to demonstrate its determination to become a leader in the upcoming "smart era" by showing its smart cloud-based LTE network technology and solution, which is to be commercialized in the second half of this year.

SK Telecom will take this opportunity to secure world-class technological prowess and lay strong basis for its global business by forging R&D partnerships with overseas operators.

■ Showcasing advanced platform technology and services for the global market 

▲3D Magic Book
3D Magic Book is an educational tool that adopted augmented reality technology and image recognition technology to provide students with an enhanced learning experience, using books and a dedicated console that reads books and displays 3D graphics and video material on TV or PC screens using its camera feature. As users can also interact with books through hand gesture and tilt recognition, learning becomes more effective and interesting.

In the fourth quarter of 2010, SK Telecom conducted a multi-site study of 4th grade students from six different schools in the U.S. to evaluate the effectiveness of 3D Magic Book. Among the 326 students who participated in the study, more than 28% made significant improvement in their grades and teachers also responded that the Magic Book was highly effective in enhancing students’ reading and comprehension capability.

▲ MIV (Mobile In Vehicle)
MIV is a mobile telematics service that enables remote diagnose and control of vehicles using mobile phones to offer diverse functions like auto theft prevention, emergency rescue communication, AV system linkage and remote auto meter reading. The company aims to commercialize MIV in partnership with the global automobile companies.

SK Telecom showed MIV for the first time in the world at Auto Shanghai 2009 and launched commercial MIV service for aftermarket in China in December 2010 through its Chinese subsidiary Shenzhen E-eye High Tech (Shenzhen E-eye).

▲ Real-Time Broadcasting via Wi-Fi Networks
Real-Time Broadcasting is a service that allows users to broadcast live video and audio to the world using smartphone’s camera and microphone through Wi-Fi connection. With the spread of smartphones, SK Telecom has been actively developing special services that use Wi-Fi networks to make most out of the mobility of smartphones.

Real-Time Broadcasting via Wi-Fi networks enables businesses to build a customized in-house broadcasting system at low cost. It can also be used by discount stores and department stores to provide customers with a pleasant shopping experience by airing content including promotional video, discount information and advertisement. Moreover, a mobile broadcasting system can be set up in many means of transportation such as bus or train.

▲ Simple Sync
Simple Sync is a cross platform service that allows users to conveniently transmit content stored in smartphones to diverse digital devices, including PC, smartphone, digital photo frame and audio player, through Wi-Fi or 3G connection. 

Since its launch in the Korean market in October 2010, Simple Sync is rapidly gaining popularity as seen from the fact that more than 300,000 customers downloaded the application. Once executed, it automatically connects various devices via wireless networks to enable users to send content stored in their smartphones (e.g. photo, music, video, phonebook, etc) in just a few clicks.

▲ Hoppin
With multi-screen video service emerging as a major theme in the global ICT industry, SK Telecom shows Hoppin, Korea’s first multi-screen video service released last month, at the MWC.

Hoppin is a multi-screen video service that provides multimedia content like movie, drama and news across a variety of devices such as smartphone, TV, PC and tablet PC. It enables users to enjoy content without constraint by offering seamless connectivity between devices while offering advanced personalized service to recommend content that is most relevant to the user by analyzing his/her content usage patterns.

SK Telecom and Samsung Electronics jointly developed ‘Galaxy S hoppin,’ a smartphone dedicated for Hoppin service and released it in the Korean market last month.

▲ Conpanna
Conpanna is a mobile application runtime engine that enables any application based on HTML, CSS, JavaScript to run on any operating system or device. SK Telecom aims to display Conpanna to open new possibility for users to conveniently enjoy applications in various environments.

Well recognized for its performance optimized for handset environment, Conpanna has been selected as the standard web platform of K-WAC (Korea-Wholesale Application Community) and is expected to make a great contribution to the growth of the Korean application industry.

Conpanna is expected to boost advancement of WAC (Wholesale Application Community) and K-WAC as it supports WAC 1.0 Specification and provides a platform independent from devices and operating systems.

▲ Cloud Computing Solution for SMEs 
SK Telecom is aggressively developing core cloud computing technologies that help enhance productivity of SMEs. Cloud Computing Solution for SMEs is a hybrid IaaS (Infrastructure-as-a-service) that allows SMEs to build hosting and storage infrastructure at a low cost by combining the strength of private cloud and public cloud. The solution provides rapid access environment by utilizing office equipment and ensures data stability as SK Telecom’s cloud computing serves as a backup.

The company has plans to develop more cloud computing technologies like personal cloud and mobile cloud by fully leveraging its extensive expertise in fixed and mobile technologies and IaaS-based technologies.

■ Leading the 4G Era with LTE Network Solution based on Smart Cloud

▲ POP (Planning, Optimization and Patrol) Solution
Ever since it commercialized CDMA technology for the first time in the world, SK Telecom has secured world’s top level of expertise and knowhow in wireless network building and operation. At this year’s MWC, the company will show a total solution package that optimizes overall wireless network by offering network planning optimization and patrol solutions.

Moreover, SK Telecom will also display IAM, an intelligent platform that optimizes network operation by automatically collecting and monitoring various data (e.g. system data, field data, prediction data, etc.) in real time and FTS (Field Telemetry System), a centralized and automated real-time data collection system that remotely controls network field tests.

Building on its extensive experience in providing consulting on wireless network building and operation to over 21 telecom operators from 17 countries, SK Telecom hopes to take this exhibition as an opportunity to further increase its competitiveness in the LTE network related competition.

▲ WiMAX Network System
SK Telecom will show WiMAX Network System that can efficiently handle in-door (i.e. in-building, basement space, etc.) traffic demand at a significantly lower cost when more than 80% of data traffic occurs in doors. IBcell (In-Building cell) and Femtocell can secure 10 times greater capacity at 50% lower cost compared to the existing system while ODcell (OutDoor cell) provides outdoor WiMAX coverage at lowest cost

▲ RCS (Rich Communication Suite): HD Video Call, Open API and Social Talk
The RCS Project is a collaborative effort led by GSMA members including SK Telecom to facilitate the introduction of commercial, IMS based rich communication services. SK Telecom will demonstrate RCS-based services like HD Video Call and Social Talk. It also plans to show RCS Open API to attract creative developers to join the effort.

HD Video Call, launched in November 2010, is a service that offers high-definition image quality during video calls and Social Talk, released on 6 January, is a voice-based social networking service that provides features like Voice Blog and Voice Café. Voice Blog enables users to interact with each other through voice instead of text, while Void Café allows real-time chatting for multi-users.

▲ LTE based on SCAN (Smart Cloud Access Network)
Selecting Samsung Electronics, LG-Ericsson, Nokia Siemens as equipment providers, SK Telecom is set to commercialize LTE in July this year. At this year’s MWC, SK Telecom will show SCAN, a new, cloud-based network building solution. Here, DU (Digital Unit) and RU (Radio Unit) is separated, and DU is concentrated to create a DU cloud, thereby reducing network building and operation cost and responding flexibly to data traffic changes. The company plans to maximize network performance by applying SCAN solution to evolve LTE network that is to be commercialized in July.

▲ RF on Card
SK Telecom will demonstrate Liquor Authentication Service using smartphone equipped with RFID USIM Card and Light Control System using smartphone equipped with ZigBee USIM Card. The company will also show Electrocardiogram Service that allows users to check measurements through smartphone and PC, as well as PC Security System that enables users to remotely lock their PCs. 

Liquor Authentication Service, in particular, has been commercialized in Korea as the National Tax Service made it mandatory for major liquor companies to embed RFID tags for detection of counterfeit liquor. At present, efforts are being made to apply the technology to pharmaceutical products. SK Telecom is currently in the late stages of developing a distribution management solution for Hanmi Pharmaceuticals.

■ Gaining Global Presence with B2B solutions

SK Telecom aims to reach the global market by displaying state-of-the-art enterprise solutions including: Smart Office, an advanced mobile groupware based on smartphones that has been already adopted by many major companies including SK Group; Smart CEO, which provides CEOs of SMEs with important management-related information via tablet PC; and Mobile Heath Assistant, a solution that transmits hospitals’ medical records to smartphones.

Smart Office is a next-generation mobile office solution that significantly enhances work efficiency through smartphones. It consists of smart groupware, smart UC (Unified Communications) and smart security features. Adopted by around 600 Korean companies including SK Group, Smart Office is gaining spotlight as the solution for businesses to improve productivity.

Smart CEO is a mobile business management solution that enables CEOs to use tablet PCs to access real-time information stored in their corporate ERP system to check current status of business operation (e.g. sales, order, cash flow, etc) and make prompt decisions through unified communication feature (e.g. mail, SMS, note, messenger, etc.) while on the move.

SK Telecom will also show a mobile healthcare solution called Mobile Health Assistant, which allows users to check medical information and health examination results by linking their smarthones to the EMR system of hospitals. The company plans to develop Mobile Health Assistant into a tool that collects and manages a wide range of health-related information including lifestyle, physical activity, dietary information, blood sugar and blood pressure.