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About Mobile VCE
Mobile VCE is the operating name of the Virtual Centre of Excellence in Mobile and Personal Communications Ltd, a collaborative partnership of around 15 of the world's most prominent Mobile Communications companies and 12 UK Universities each having long standing specialist expertise in relevant areas. Mobile VCE began life as a national initiative in 1996 but today operates very much as an international organisation, reflecting the global nature of the industry and our industrial member companies. New industrial members are welcome - please contact us for information.
What do we do?Mobile VCE is a collaborative partnership engaged in industrially-led, long term, research in Mobile and Personal Communications. The company has pioneered highly effective collaborative processes whereby our industrial members take a pro-active lead in defining and steering the research, which is undertaken by pan-university teams drawn from our academic members.
Our main activities are embraced in our Core Research Programmes in which all Members participate, sharing in the results. The first such programme, the Core 1 Programme, concluded in Spring 2000 and was a three year programme of advanced research overseen by nominated experts drawn from our Industrial Members and comprised four Work Areas: Networks, Services, Terminals and Radio Environment.
The follow-on Core 2 Programme began in autumn 1999, building upon the earlier research outputs but at an increased level of manpower - 100 manyears, compared with 50 manyears - extending the work into new areas, "Beyond 3G". Its three Work Areas are Software Based Systems, Networks & Services and Wireless Access.
The Core 3 Programme extended the scope of the Core 2 Vision and targeted service convergence and interworking of broadcast, mobile, WLAN and PAN networks, creating the concept of the Personal Distributed Environment, identifying and specifying the functionalities for an Interworking Gateway and creating a number of innovations to support efficient future multiple-air-interface terminals. Programme outcomes have fed into IEEE 802.15, DVB and other international activities.
The Core 4 programme addressed key business requirements of ubiquity, delivery efficiency and knowledge access, endeavouring to remove the barriers to the commercialisation of ubiquitous services, reducing the 'cost-per-bit' of delivering data over the wireless channel, and enabling easier and secure access to information within an organisation.
The three streams of the Core 5 programme address major industry challenges:
Click here for information on our Core 1, Core 2, Core 3, Core 4 and Core 5 Programmes.
Mobile VCE also commissions and manages Elective Research Programmes on behalf of one or more of our Industrial Members. Such research is typically shorter-term than the Core Research, eg commercialisation of innovations from the Core Research activities. We offer Members the advantage that the same Collaborative and IPR agreements as are used for the Core Research may also be employed for Elective Research, which affords a significant saving in time and expense in initiating such work. Sharing the costs of such research is a further benefit, enabling long-term research topics to be funded which might otherwise be postponed in the current climate.
Mobile VCE's list of members reads like a who's who of the Mobile and Personal Communications Industry. We currently have 15 Industrial Members, 6 Academic Members and 6 Academic Associate Members. Mobile VCE has a category of Associate Members - a class of membership especially tailored for Small and Medium sized companies.
Mobile VCE delivers value to our industry members in many ways, with different companies associating different priorities to these, depending upon their size, their strategy and their role in the industry value chain:
Mobile VCE is a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee. Its legal name is Virtual Centre of Excellence in Mobile and Personal Communications Ltd (so it's easy to see why we use the abbreviated name!). The full text of the company's Articles of Association are available by clicking on the link.
The governing body is the General Meeting, which takes place at least annually (the AGM). Industrial Members pay an annual subscription consisting of one or more 'units', each unit conferring a single vote at the General Meeting. Academic Members do not pay subscriptions but are entitled to vote at General Meetings. Industrial Associate Members (SMEs) pay a reduced subscription, related to their size, and secure lesser benefits. Current subscription rates can be seen here.
An Executive Committee is delegated by the General Meeting to undertake statutory control of the business, members of the Executive serving as legally responsible Directors of the company. Academic Members nominate three Directors to the Executive Committee, while another five Directors represent Industrial Members. One of the Directors is appointed to serve as Chairman.
Day to day management of the company is performed by a full-time Executive Director, Dr Walter Tuttlebee, who is also the company's designated Chief Executive. Walter has worked in mobile communications since the mid-1980's. During the 1990s, he led pioneering research teams in 2nd and 3rd generation mobile communications, as well as establishing new technology initiatives in digital broadcasting and satellite communications. He is also well known for his work in software radio, where he is recognised as one of Europe's pioneers. He is supported by the Programme Manager, Jerry Horton, and by the company's Administration Manager, Jenny Johnson.
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Walter Tuttlebee Executive Director |
Jenny Johnson Administration Manager |
Jerry Horton Programme Manager |
Management of the Core Research is entrusted to a number of Steering Groups, each led by an Industrial Chairman, who himself is supported by an Academic Co-ordinator, a leading academic - lecturer, reader or professor - from among the project teams. The Steering Groups consist of individuals from our Industrial Members who play a proactive role in monitoring and directing the research. This approach to management of the technical research ensures that it is highly relevant to industry, whilst in no way compromising its academic integrity. A strong emphasis is placed on the generation of industrially relevant IPR, with Mobile VCE pursuing worldwide patent filings.
Click here to view or download an introductory slideshow. This will give you much of the information included in the public areas of this site, and you are free to view and print it for your own use, though copyright remains with Mobile VCE.
Detailed BackgroundIf you would like details on the background to the formation of Mobile VCE, please click on this Detailed Background link.
To find out more about Mobile VCE, please browse the remaining areas of this site where you will find answers to most commonly-asked questions. If you would like to receive a copy of our current brochure and a paper describing our Modus Operandi, or have any specific queries please Contact Mobile VCE .
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Virtual Centre of Excellence in Mobile & Personal Communications Limited. |
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| Revised: 2nd January 2010 | MobileVCE Home | Copyright © 2010 Mobile VCE. |