Ulticom (ULCM) is opening an office in Shanghai to focus on marketing the company's Signalware software to telecommunications network equipment providers in the Chinese market.

In addition to the opening of the Shanghai office, Ulticom has received certification from China's Ministry of Information Industry (MII) of its high capacity signaling interface board, the Signalware PH0301.

Signalware is now certified by the MII for SS7 ISUP, SCCP, and TCAP applications over both 64-Kbps (Narrow Band) and 2-Mbps (High Speed Link, or HSL) SS7 signaling links. The MII certification of the PH0301 board, along with certifications obtained in 2003 for the rest of the Signalware product line, expand Ulticom's ability to provide innovative signaling solutions to the Chinese market.

The rapid expansion of mobile communication services in China is creating a dramatic increase in traffic from roaming subscribers and SMS. According to the MII, 217 billion SMS text messages were sent last year in China, representing a 59% increase from the previous year. The HSL feature provided by the Signalware PH0301 board enables Chinese equipment vendors to deliver solutions that increase the signaling capacity for revenue-generating services like SMS while reducing the complexity and cost of operating the network.