Telcordia Makes the Grade

By Cindy Waxer

TMCnet Contributing Editor

 

For today’s high school teachers, the only thing more irritating than ‘the dog ate my homework’ excuses is a cacophony of ringing student cell phones. It’s a modern-day reality that has convinced many school boards, including New York and its 1.1-million student school system, to ban all communication devices such as mobile phones. What’s more, city officials have begun using portable metal detectors to confiscate hundreds of communication devices.

 

Not everyone, however, views cell phone-wielding teenagers as a menace to society. After all, mobile devices have helped students stay connected with their parents throughout dangerous situations including child abductions, hostage-takings and tragedies such as September 11.

 

Helping students stay connected via wireless access without disrupting the learning process is Telcordia Technologies. Says Cathy McMahon, Telcordia’s executive director of hosted solutions: “With Telcordia Real Time Charging, carriers can help parents set up parameters for their child’s phone that will eliminate interruption in class while still allowing for communication with their children at critical times.  For example, one Web-based feature within the Telcordia Hosted Solution lets a parent establish a schedule for when the mobile phone can be used. By restricting a phone so that it is unable to make or receive calls during class hours, a parent can work with students and teachers to virtually eliminate class interruptions and cheating.  As a backup safeguard for this technology, a parent can include a list of ‘always on’ numbers so a child can reach a parent or other family member at all times in case of emergencies.”

 

But that’s not all. Telcordia’s Converged Application Server “makes it easy for carriers to provide valuable solutions to parents to help keep children safe, while at the same time partnering with teachers and schools to ensure integrity,” according to McMahon. The Converged Application Server is a high performance, versatile and reliable service delivery platform that enables operators to create and deliver innovative new services rapidly and cost effectively.  It allows carriers to create and launch IP, converged, fixed, mobile, and network-based services with low ongoing operational costs.

 

Technology that scores high when it comes to making school-hour cell phone-use bearable for students, teachers and parents? An unlikely scenario, if not for the technological advances being made in today’s telco arena. Says McMahon: “The telecommunications industry has given birth to significant, life-changing innovation for people all over the world. Just five years ago, the concept of a working camera in a mobile phone seemed out of reach. Now, text and picture messaging, video downloads, IPTV, convergence, VoIP and others are making bounds in delivering solutions that were only concepts not that long ago.”

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