TSSG Breaks New Ground
09-41-2004
By: Margaret Greene
September has been a landmark month for the Telecommunications Software & Systems Group (TSSG) at WIT. Having just completed a recruitment blitz it can now, for the first time, claim a staff of over fifty people. With a clear vision of its research challenge and a new management structure the TSSG is now set to claim its rightful place as the largest telecommunications research centre in the country. Still under the directorship of Dr. Willie Donnelly who is also the Institute's Head of Research and Innovation three additional directors have also been appointed. Barry Downes has been appointed as Director of Commercialisation; Tom Corcoran has been appointed Director of Resources and Mícheál Ó Foghlú is now the new Director of Research.
And some major funding awards have also been announced this month. Science Foundation Ireland funding to the tune of 3.5 million euro has been granted to the TSSG and in addition three new commercialisation research projects have also been approved for funding.
Not least among these is the Billing4Rent project, which will put forward a new commercialisation model aimed at boosting Ireland's competitive position in the communications industry The Billing4Rent project, which has recently been approved for funding from the Enterprise Ireland Innovation Partnerships scheme, will undertake the necessary research to enable an international billing solution, based on an Application Service Provider (ASP) model such as that used by Salesforce.com.
Interlinking between multiple mobile telephone operator networks is a non-trivial task. Charging for the call is even more difficult. According to Barry Downes, TSSG Commercialisation Director, "Major barriers exist for new entrants to the billing industry that would ordinarily be expected to come up with a solution for this business need. For example; there is a significant amount of intellectual property embedded in software that the incumbents in the industry already have with their traditional products. In addition there are a number of major research challenges that need to be addressed." The result is that an internationally recognised billing solution service does not currently exist even though there is clear market demand for it.
An important aspect of this project is its plans for exploitation of its results by a new company. The Billing4Rent company will draw together a team and the necessary funding to exploit the results of the project and launch the ASP billing solution internationally.
The Billing4Rent model will target the innovative builders of the new economy, the new smaller communications providers, competing in the deregulated market and the digital media companies building a market around content. At the moment a major problem for these new companies is the ability to bill for the delivery of their products and services. So Billing4Rent will not only create new value for Ireland but it will also support the development of existing Information and Communications Technology (ICT) companies.
For more information contact: Conor Ryan
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