
NTT DoCoMo announced that, in collaboration with
Intel Corporation, has developed new terminal specifications that have the purpose of enabling mobile phones to be customized with additional operating systems or applications.
The specifications provide an open domain, which is separate from the
phone's
default domain that contains the preinstalled operating system and applications. A controller enables switching between the domains.
The open domain can be used by a company, for example, to install an original browser and scheduler, and set an internal security policy for the terminal. Individuals will be able to install their own personalized game
software.
The domain controller ensures that switching between domains is always possible, so the user can access the phone's default domain even if a technical problem causes the open domain to freeze. The controller also ensures that call functions are always available, regardless of which domain is active. If a
call is received while the open domain is active, the user can easily switch to the default domain to take the call.
DoCoMo and Intel terminal architecture teams worked together on various elements of next generation cellular terminal requirements to come up with this specification document. The specifications are available at http://www.nttdocomo.co.jp/english/corporate/technology/osti/index.html .