To expedite access to tailored apps for environments such as homes, offices, museums and shopping centers, the Small Cell Forum, an independent industry and operator association for small cell deployment worldwide, has inked a cooperation deal with international specifications setting body Open Mobile (News - Alert) Alliance (OMA). As a result of this cooperative agreement, OMA will develop API standards for small cells on a global scale.

According to Small Cell Forum, formerly known as Femto Forum (News - Alert), the ultimate impact of this cooperation will be shorter time to market for new or enhanced applications using small cell technology. The Small Cell Forum’s members include all the major telecommunications equipment manufacturers who will be able to ensure the resulting APIs are compatible with their products. OMA allows developers to reach a wider audience by exposing unique operator network capabilities in an open and programmable way, said the Forum.

Per Forum’s explanation, the small cell technology allows application developers to incorporate enhanced presence, context and location-sensitive features into new and existing apps. By extending existing network capabilities, it also allows operators and their customers to take advantage of faster data connections. For example, a small cell can efficiently provide location information to within a few meters (both indoors and outdoors), making location-based apps vastly more consistent and effective.

The Forum said that in March 2011, it published the first APIs that define how to create and write new mobile applications based on small cell technologies. The APIs have been deployed by Telecom Italia, in collaboration with Alcatel-Lucent (News - Alert), in small cells’ for improved geo-location capabilities. Thus, creating a museum application that provides multimedia information about specific exhibits in closest proximity to visitors, the Forum said.

In a statement, said Mark Cataldo, chairman of the board, OMA, “OMA sees this cooperation as an important step in harnessing the broad technical strengths of OMA’s API program with the keen market insight of the Small Cell Forum.” He added, “This collaboration is squarely in the center of OMA’s goals for cooperation with other bodies. OMA is extremely proud of this cooperation with the Small Cell Forum as well as other market-specific associations who bring their unique requirements to our API program and across our working groups.”

Likewise, stated Andy Germano (News - Alert), The Small Cell Forum’s vice-chairman and head of the Services Special Interest Group, “Small cell powered applications are looking like they could be big business. From pioneering operators like NTT DoCoMo (News - Alert) who are commercial with an application that tells you when your kid’s at home, to new players such as Telecom Italia whose museum app tells you about the exhibit in front of you. . . By offering fine grained information on where a user is, the potential of location-based services is dramatically improved. The result is apps with enormous commercial potential such as targeted offers in shops or highly useful information services at stations and museums. Providing these applications leveraging mobile network operator managed networks delivers a more consistent experience using standard mobile devices,” noted Germano.