Telenor Xpress 3 - 2000

Highlights of Telenor's new technologies introduced over the past 150 years.

Talking kitchens and Satellite dishes

Telenor’s record of technological achievement has been a major factor in making Norway – and Scandinavia – the world’s most connected population. Below, some highlights of new technologies introduced by Telenor over the past 150 years.

Satellite innovation
In the early 1970s Telenor began work on what would become the world’s first satellite-based telecommunications system for the oil industry. It was driven by the need for reliable communications between the Ecofisk offshore oil platform in the North Sea and the mainland. Despite scepticism from many in the industry, Telenor’s scientists managed to develop a satellite-based telecommunications system that opened for business in May 1976. Using the NORSAT system, Telenor linked the oil industry with Norway’s main telecommunications network.

Ship-to-shore
Another example of Telenor’s resourceful approach to problem-solving can be found in the marine industry. In the 1970s, Norway’s merchant fleet was the third largest in the world. Communication was only available via short-wave radio, which meant that ships were often out of range for hours, if not days, at a time. Telenor’s solution was to develop the world’s first automatic shore station that could be used to communicate directly with ships at sea. The low-maintenance, highly-effective, shore stations were copied by countries throughout the world and until recently the original station was the busiest in the world.

Automated maintenance
Due to its geographical and climatic barriers, Norway had always been deemed to be a poor country for fixed-line telecommunications. Rising to the challenge yet again, Telenor saw the potential of using digital telecommunications technology to address those issues. Working with Alcatel, it developed the world’s first low-cost, automated network service centres. Tasks such as maintenance and repair, which would previously have been managed by teams of as many as 10 to 15 people, could now be managed automatically from a central location.

Setting mobile standards
Since the 1980s, Telenor has continued to innovate, developing new products and services that solve problems for both business and society. One of the most important has been the development of GSM. Telenor’s engineers and scientists played a leading role in the original design behind GSM, as well as building the final specification. Other leading technologies that Telenor has been heavily involved in include integrated services digital network (ISDN) and the compression software within the MPEG2 standard that makes it possible to distribute moving pictures at lower bandwidths.

Getting smart Another new development that confirms Telenor’s status as a world leader in technology is its Smartphone, developed in partnership with Samsung and Alcatel. The Smartphone terminal has a full colour 15-centimetre touch screen, an integrated keyboard and a smart-card reader. It allows users to retrieve e-mail and web pages from the Internet without having to boot up PCs. When developing the Smartphone, Telenor paid particular attention to making it future-proof. As technology changes and becomes more powerful, users of the Smartphone can download new software and programmes from the Internet, instead of upgrading or replacing their whole device.

Broad perspectives
Turning to television as a channel for Internet-based services, Telenor has established a new company called Zonavi (see article, page 23). Currently addressing the Nordic marketplace only, Zonavi will develop content and new services for interactive television based on broadband technologies. Initial services will also include home shopping, gaming and messaging. All services will be distributed via hybrid access solutions including satellite and cable TV.

One vision, one protocol
One of the outcomes of Telenor’s work in Internet Protocol (IP) technologies, will be the Full Service Network (FSN), which Telenor is piloting in partnership with Cisco Systems. Telenor’s vision is for a network based wholly on IP, where all traffic – including mobile and fixed voice and data, Internet traffic and videoconferencing – is communicated via a single IP-network. Field trials for Telenor’s FSN began in April 2000, and it’s likely that a full pilot with 100 business and private users will take place before the end of the year in Oslo.

Tomorrow’s kitchen, today
Leading the way tech-wise, for Telenor, involves a Future Home project, which is currently being developed in partnership with Sun Microsystems. A “talking kitchen” is the first step in the project, which will eventually provide a totally interactive living environment that can be controlled from inside or outside the home via a PC or mobile phone. The talking kitchen will be joined by interactive systems designed for every room and purpose, including security and surveillance, health and home care, or even entertainment.

Very high-speed communications
Telenor will be the first telecommunications company in Europe to test out VDSL (Very high-speed Digital Subscriber Line), a new broadband technology which will enable data transfer of up to 25 Mbit per second via existing telephone cables. Starting this fall, Telenor customers in Stavanger and Sandnes will have the opportunity to test up to 30 digital TV channels and high-speed Internet via the telephone network.