Aicent Enhances MMS Delivery Capabilities with Mobile-to-Mobile Coverage

mBridge Lets Mobile Phone Operators Provide Their Subscribers with Global Multimedia Message Delivery to Any Phone across Any Network

Aicent, Inc. (www.aicent.com), announced today the launch of mBridge MMS Virtual Delivery Release 2.0, a service that lets its global carrier partners offer subscribers a way to easily send multimedia messages to any non-enabled MMS phones, including the iPhone, across any network, any time.

Multimedia messaging service (MMS) allows mobile subscribers to send messages with pictures and videos as easily as they do other text messages. As the vast majority of new mobile phones come equipped with still and video cameras, this type of rich content messaging has become increasingly popular.

According to CTIA, in North America alone, more than 5.6 billion MMS messages were sent in the first half of 2008 – almost as many as were sent in all of 2007. Worldwide MMS traffic in 2008 hit 75 billion messages with revenues of US $31 billion expected worldwide next year, according to a study released in December 2008 by Portio Research.

As MMS use continues its impressive growth into 2009, Aicent’s product positions them in the marketplace as the premier provider of a true, global MMS messaging exchange service across all networks.

The new version of the service works by allowing the recipient to download and reply to incoming MMS messages from a web URL link embedded in an SMS notification. Subscribers who send the message use their normal sending procedures. A new feature of mBridge extends this service even further by letting the subscriber browse the text parts and images on the web or a PC using the same URL, and then download the message if needed by the cell phone.

“Mobile network operators’ customers have increasingly asked for more MMS features and global coverage,” said MK Chang, vice president of product marketing at Aicent. “Through mBridge and our global, extensive coverage via the world’s largest MMS hub, operators can immediately offer MMS service to their customers, letting them stay more competitive while giving their users the ability to send MMS messages mobile-to-mobile and globally across any network.”

For Aicent customers, providing MMS to their subscribers was problematic because they had to offer one single network or have a disparate group of networks in order to send and receive an MMS message. Aicent’s mBridge solves this issue by extending MMS interoperability to their customers’ subscribers regardless of what network they are on.

“The advantages to mobile network operators are huge, including letting the operator collect additional revenue for the message delivery, improving their customers’ experience, and enabling the operator to instantly offer global reach to their customers,” said Chang.

Aicent operates one of the world’s largest GPRS Roaming eXchange (GRX) networks. As of today, Aicent’s GRX directly connects 63 mobile operators’ 2.5/3G networks, serving more than 1 billion mobile users worldwide. Included are several of the world’s largest mobile operators, such as China Mobile, DoCoMo, AT&T Mobility, Telstra and O2 UK.

About Aicent, Inc.

Serving more than one billion mobile users around the world, Aicent, Inc., is a leading provider of data network services and solutions for global mobile operators. To enable interoperability between Aicent customers and other networks, Aicent operates one of the world’s largest GPRS and 3G network exchanges, connecting to over 50 operators, including four of the world’s five largest. Through extensive peering arrangements, the Aicent network reaches nearly all GPRS/3G operators around the world. Aicent also operates integrated mobile messaging services, including one of the world’s first and largest multimedia messaging exchanges, and offers other value-added services to help carriers maximize revenue opportunities. Founded in 2000 and headquartered in San Jose, Calif., Aicent has regional offices in the Americas, Asia Pacific and Europe. For more information, please visit: www.aicent.com.

Contacts

Mobility Public Relations
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