A year has passed since the new CAT-iq technology was launched at the ITU Telecom World 2006 event in Hong Kong last December. A lot has happened since that day to make the CAT-iq techno­logy ready for commercial launch. The first of the four CAT-iq profiles has been released; the wide­band audio – basic interoperability profile (or in short; the vb-profile), and furthermore, a certifica­tion process for CAT-iq devices supporting this profile has been defined and launched by the DECT Forum. Consequent­ly, the framework for commercial CAT-iq devices is ready; the work on the CAT-iq speci­fication does, however, not stop here; three additional profiles are currently being de­fined and they will be released over the next two years. CAT-iq is, in reality, the next cordless wave – a wave that has the opportunity to embrace new application areas.

CAT-iq builds upon the mature and proven DECT technology and it adds a number of new features; one of these features is wideband audio (or HD-voice), and hence, CAT-iq delivers superior voice quality. Voice is the killer application for both DECT and CAT-iq, but CAT-iq has the potential to cover other areas as well. The full power of wideband audio will, however, not be unleashed before CAT-iq is combined with VoIP technology – i.e. an important difference to DECT is that the con­nection to IP applications is essential for CAT-iq and with this a wide spectrum of new opportuni­ties are emerging. One word of caution here; CAT-iq should not be used as a pure data carrier – other technologies solve this task better than CAT-iq. The main strength of CAT-iq is the combina­tion of superior voice support and low- to mid-rate data capabilities. New application areas like ad­vanced remote controls and voice interfaces in Gateways are two very central areas for CAT-iq and our engagement within these areas is increasing. 

The CAT-iq standard is in essence divided into four profiles – it is up to the implementer of CAT-iq devices how many of the profiles their equipment will support. 

CAT-iq is not science fiction – the technology is here and at RTX we believe that we will see com­mercial CAT-iq products appearing on the market in the very near future. A number of companies already participate in the CAT-iq interoperability (IOP) events controlled by the DECT Forum and RTX is now a regular participant in these events. Recently, RTX attended the IOP event with a CAT-iq handset and a CAT-iq base station. The IOP was in many ways a success for the RTX devices. Our CAT-iq implementa­tion was successfully valida­ted against the golden devices defined by DECT Forum and the complete RTX CAT-iq platform. This platform, which is based on chipsets from our very close partner SiTel, is close to being finalised and ready for a real CAT-iq certification. This proves both the maturity of the chipset and the value in engaging in a close cooperation with one of the leading manufacturers of DECT chipsets, SiTel Semiconductor BV.