Aether Completes GPRS Testing for AIM as Part of Ericsson's Mobile Applications Initiative

Emergence of GPRS as a Global Standard for Wireless Data Communication Fuels Aether's Worldwide Expansion

Aether Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq:AETH), a leading provider of wireless data systems and services, today announced that its Aether Intelligent Messaging (AIM) software platform has successfully completed Ericsson's General Packet Radio Services (GPRS) Applications Performance Evaluation within Ericsson's Mobile Applications Initiative (MAI) and is ready to be tested on live trial GPRS networks. The MAI was formed to offer developers the opportunity to create, test, optimise, and showcase mobile Internet applications for GPRS and third generation (3G) technologies. MAI's Applications Performance Evaluation, which tests the performance of mobile Internet applications for next generation wireless networks, was conducted at Ericsson's Berkeley Wireless Center in Berkeley, California.

AIM's ability to work on GPRS networks opens a myriad of mobile and wireless development options for Aether on a global scale. The faster data throughput offered by GPRS and 3G technologies will expand mobile application development and make multimedia content - such as graphics, voice, and video - much more practical for wireless devices. GPRS will enable Internet applications found on the desktop to extend out over the mobile network. Other new applications facilitated by GPRS will include mobile commerce and home automation - the ability to remotely access and control in-house appliances and machines. This growth in demand for Internet access and services has paralleled the explosion in demand for mobile communications.

Speed, immediacy, enhanced applications development, and service access are key user benefits of GPRS and are fuelling its rapid emergence as a global standard for wireless data communications. GPRS is a standardized packet-switched data service for Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) networks that allows end users to be always connected and always online at data rates of up to 115 Kbps. In addition to the Internet Protocol (IP), GPRS supports X25, a packet-based protocol that is used mainly in Europe. GPRS is an evolutionary step toward Enhanced Data rates for Global Evolution (EDGE) and Universal Mobile Telephone Service (UMTS).

"Support for GPRS is an integral part of our strategy for expanding our products and services to a wider range of customers on a global scale", said Dale Shelton, Chief Technology Officer, Aether Systems, Inc. "Wireless solutions are expanding exponentially and we fully expect enterprise customers to embrace the additional bandwidth and coverage footprint offered by GPRS to enhance current and future services".

An integral part of Aether's ScoutWare(TM) product family, AIM improves the performance of data delivery over multiple types of wireless networks and devices. The AIM software platform takes business information--such as financial data, sales force information, or delivery scheduling information--and performs compression, encryption, data-thinning and optimization techniques that allow the data to move more quickly, securely and inexpensively over wireless networks.

Aether uses AIM as its primary wireless development platform. It is a key component of many of the wireless data services that run through Aether's network operations center in Owings Mills, Maryland. Current hosted solutions utilizing the AIM software platform include Charles Schwab & Co., Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Online, OmniSky Corp., Bear Stearns, National Discount Brokers, Reuters, and Office Depot.


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