REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (June 22, 1999) Phone.com, Inc. (Nasdaq: PHCM) and Italian GSM operator Omnitel, today announced that Omnitel has licensed the Phone.com™ Wireless Application Protocol (WAP)-compatible UP.Link™ Server Suite for use in its new Internet portal called Omnitel 2000. Omnitel's Internet portal is a service designed to combine and leverage the power of the Internet and Omnitel's mobile network; integrating voice and data while extending value-added information services, Internet email, and customer service applications to all customers via voice, wireless Internet and PC Internet access. Omnitel 2000 service is set to launch commercially on June 28, 1999 and will be available without an additional fixed monthly charge to Omnitel's more than 7 million subscribers and to all the customers of other fixed and mobile operators.
Omnitel will use Phone.com's UP.Link Server Suite as part of Omnitel 2000, a comprehensive Internet information portal. Phone.com's software will enable WAP-capable mobile phones access to the full range of information services and resources of Omnitel 2000. The first available GSM phone will be the One Touch™ POCKET from Alcatel. The initial set of applications includes dozens of information services such as city online, travel, news, and a variety of entertainment services, Internet email, electronic banking, as well as Omnitel's own pre-paid service and customer service applications. These services can be accessed via PC Internet browser, through WAP-microbrowser equipped mobile phones or via voicež confirming Omnitel's strategy for mobile phones to be innovative personal communication tools.
"Phone.com's expertise in WAP has allowed us to build a unique offering which redefines the European value-added services market," said Clint Cooper, chief technical officer for Omnitel. "Giving everyone the ability to access Internet- and intranet-based email and information services further extends our leadership in the Italian market."
Omnitel will be deploying an innovative distributed configuration of Phone.com's UP.Link Server Suite. Phone.com's product is in its third generation, providing a scalable and robust implementation of the WAP protocol suite. Omnitel will deploy an UP.Link Server in each of its four geographic regions. Each UP.Link Server will be able to support local as well as roaming customers. Each of the four UP.Link servers will provide operational redundancy to the others yielding a high-availability service.
"We see Omnitel's innovation leading the way for advanced use of our WAP-based software infrastructure," commented Malcolm Bird, managing director of Phone.com (Europe) Limited. "Bringing valuable services to subscribers, as well as incremental revenues and cost savings to carriers is Phone.com's mission."
Phone.com has licensed its UP.Browser™ WAP microbrowser to more than 24 mobile phone manufacturers including Alcatel, Mitsubishi, Motorola, Panasonic, Sagem, Samsung, and Siemens. Nokia and Ericsson have also announced they have begun interoperability testing of their WAP-capable mobile handsets with Phone.com's UP.Link Server Suite. The addition of Phone.com's WAP-compatible UP.Browser to Omnitel's mobile phones will enable those handsets to deliver standards-based, secure and scalable interactive applications, without adding to the cost or size of handsets.
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