Gordon Smith talks to Cibenix about its recent deal with Bharti Airtel – one of Asia’s leading integrated telecom services providers with operations in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

As deals go, it might not rank with selling ice in the Antarctic or sand in the Sahara but Cibenix’s recent €2 million contract with Bharti Airtel still counts as a coup. Airtel’s home market of India is one of the primary global centres for low-cost, high-quality software development and the country’s biggest mobile provider could have had its pick of indigenous firms to build the software it needed. Instead, it chose a 2 5-man Dublin-based firm to provide a strategic piece of technology.

The significance of the deal is not lost on Cibenix chief executive Mike Brady, but his feeling is “an enormous sense of relief” at landing a deal that took 18 months to complete. The key to doing business in India is what was described to me as the ice cream effect. “It should be a simple transaction: ‘Here’s your ice cream’, but in India they ask you to explain the chemical composition of the ice cream. They want to know everything,” says Brady. He believes this may be related to India’s strong outsourcing business culture, where the success of such deals often lies in the fine details of a contract.

NEGOTIATIONS

The lengthy duration of contract negotiations were unusual and probably unique to Airtel, he believes. “The company are masters of outsourcing – they more or less wrote the book on it.” During the negotiations, Cibenix worked with three different systems integration firms and Infosys was the one that finally won the contract to provide the Dublin firm’s software. Unsurprisingly, Brady says good partner management is an essential part of doing business in India. “The partner was almost as important as the Cibenix product and technology,” he says.

The technology, in this case, is called on-device services (ODS) software. It runs directly on mobile phones, providing users with a portal for accessing services. Airtel is using the ODS to promote its music, apps and internet access services.

It’s a strategic technology for Airtel, because it offers the company the chance to gain extra revenue from customers. “Mobile operators are stuck between internet brands and device vendors. They are terrified of becoming a ‘bit pipe’ just like a broadband provider. Customers are asking what value is the operator adding, and that’s where we become strategic. They need to have a presence on the device, which is what we deliver,” Brady explains.

In India’s mobile market, people buy a phone in one shop and then visit another to buy the SIM card. Airtel provides the latter, and it gave Cibenix a list of the top 200 phones on its network. Of that number, Cibenix’s ODS could run on 160. This gave the Dublin company a vital edge. “Writing software for phones is bloody hard,” says Brady. “In India, the competition on the vendor side is so tough. Whatever the customer wants, they give it to him.”

Cibenix deliberately pursued a strategy aimed at gaining support for the project at the level where it would be implemented, rather than just concentrating on winning over Airtel’s senior management. “We did the reverse of what you’re supposed to do -1 put in all my effort at the ground level, although I also met the CFO, CTO and CMO during the talks,” says Brady. “We’re a technical organisation. Of our 25 people, there are only two of us who sell part-time. When we come to a customer, we can talk to them at all levels. That’s the benefit of being a small, focused company.”

In the early talks, Cibenix was keen to establish its credentials as a provider that could meet the demands of very large operators. Brady recalls a meeting with the chief technology officer’s team. “Someone hurled the question at me: ‘Can your software scale?’ I feigned insult and said we had deals with the likes of Vodafone in the UK, Germany, Spain and Italy, with more than 15 million customers. The guy just smiled at me and said: ‘In India, we don’t call that scale’.”

Airtel boasts more than 120 million customers and it is adding around three million more every month. The company is currently ranked as the third largest operator anywhere in the world. According to Brady, Cibenix made one adjustment to the ODS database to accommodate that extra scale but otherwise the product sold to Airtel was unchanged.

REVENUE MODEL

The Cibenix-Airtel deal is not based on a revenue-sharing model, whereby the operator pays no upfront fee and the software provider earns a percentage of the income generated through its product. This is unusual in India, says Brady, but it works to Cibenix’s advantage. The Dublin company received a significant upfront project fee and the overall value is expected to be more than €2 million over two years. The final amount could be higher still depending on how many customers use the on-device software. Brady says this is the type of deal he will try to negotiate with other firms, because upfront product licence fees are better suited to meet the company’s cash-flow requirements.

Airtel’s size is what makes Brady believe the deal was worth it – even though he isn’t sure he would have the stomach for such a drawn-out process again. Like many Irish software companies, over the years Cibenix has had to supplement income from product licensing with professional services, which offer the chance to make some recurring revenue. In a business where partners are key, it’s better for a company not to get involved in both, Brady says. “If you go to the market with partners, you’ve got to be prepared to give up your services work,” he reasons.

There will be other deals in Asia – of that Brady is certain. Airtel’s high profile has given Cibenix added credibility there, and, at press time, the Dublin firm was in the latter stages of negotiations with another Indian mobile provider. And this time, it knows all about the ice cream effect.

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The Market is a bi-monthly magazine from Enterprise Ireland providing a briefing on overseas markets, opportunities and strategies for selling internationally.

http://www.enterprise-ireland.com/The+Market/

]]> http://www.cibenix.com/?feed=rss2&p=1404 0 http://www.cibenix.com/?p=1391 http://www.cibenix.com/?p=1391#comments Thu, 03 Jun 2010 09:19:52 +0000 andrew http://www.cibenix.com/?p=1391

Mobile operator 3 UK has revealed that its Favourites application has driven 26,000 views of the new Iron Man 2 trailer in just 10 days.

Paramount Pictures’ decision to use the Favourites app, which is present on all new 3 UK phones, as part of an integrated campaign to promote the new film, resulted in 28,686 clicks, and more than 26,000 trailer views. The sponsored Iron Man link was engaged 481,572 times, representing a clickthrough rate of 1.55 per cent, and exposing 86,413 users to over 1.8m page impressions.

The Favourites app comes preloaded to appear on the homescreen and provides the user with easy access to their most used mobile services. Users are guided towards download sites and mobile web pages for tools such as Facebook, Google, Skype, Yahoo!, YouTube and Windows Live Messenger. 3 UK’s mobile agency YOC inserts sponsored links into the app, providing brands with access to 3’s user base.

“The Paramount team wanted to drive trailer views in their target demographic for the release of Iron Man 2,” says Neil Andrews, head of medias and content services at 3 UK. “Favourites provided the reach and targeting they needed to get results. To ensure the best user experience, YOC built and hosted a landing page which automatically detected the most suitable video format for each handset. The response from users was astounding. Favourites quickly became the most successful mobile element of the Iron Man 2 campaign.”

In addition to the Iron Man 2 campaign, 3 UK and YOC are working with other major brands, including Walkers and BBC Radio 1.

Mobile Marketing Magazine

]]> http://www.cibenix.com/?feed=rss2&p=1391 0 http://www.cibenix.com/?p=793 http://www.cibenix.com/?p=793#comments Thu, 29 Apr 2010 07:30:18 +0000 andrew http://www.creamgraphics.ie/cibenix/?p=793 Dublin, 22nd April 2010 – Cibenix, the leading provider of On-Device Services (ODS)  solutions for mobile operators, today announced the global availability of their ODS solution as a fully managed service for their customers.

The Cibenix solution, which gives the operator a strategic presence on their subscribers’ devices, and allows them to  massively improve the discovery and usability of mobile internet content and services, is already being managed on a hosted basis for three operator customers. Cibenix plans to extend this offering to multiple new customers in 2010, in conjunction with our global technology and integration partners.

The move aims to address one of the key issues facing operators currently planning an ODS rollout. As they plan their strategic roadmaps for the next 18 months, operators find themselves increasingly resource constrained due to the difficult economic conditions. Where in the past they have been in a position to launch multiple new service initiatives in each calendar year, they now find it increasingly difficult to resource such initiatives. In some cases, operators are postponing any new product launches completely while they utilise their scarce resources to address existing network and service issues.

The Cibenix Managed ODS Service removes these obstacles by providing a full ODS solution on a fully-hosted, fully-managed basis. The operator need not worry about resourcing project management, hardware support, network connectivity planning, and ongoing solution support and maintenance – all of these are included in the Cibenix offering. Cibenix currently has a number of customer solutions being hosted and managed from their state of the art Dublin service centre, and have also deployed customer solutions from partner centres in the Middle East and Asia.

In addition, the technology and operational aspects of the new Cibenix service is being backed up by a hugely flexible business model, which allows operators to select the most suitable balance of upfront and ongoing operational expenditure.

“We have always had huge interest from operators in our solution – they absolutely get the short-term tactical benefits and longer-term strategic importance of ODS.” said Michael Brady, Cibenix CEO, “with this new managed service initiative, we are removing all of the remaining obstacles to a successful, rapid and efficient ODS deployment. Our operator customers can now immediately benefit from having a strategic presence on their susbcribers’ devices, while not having to invest large numbers of technical and operational resources in getting such a deployment off the ground. We see this approach has being central to the ongoing adoption of our ODS solutions by mobile operators worldwide”.

 

About Cibenix

Cibenix is an On-Device Services (ODS) vendor.

ODS is what we do, it’s all we do, it’s our core business and it’s our only business.

We give the operator a strategic presence on the device, and allow them to  massively improve the discovery and usability of mobile internet content and services for their subscribers. Our solutions support on-device storefronts, mobile widgets, social networking, application management, customer care and advertising.

We have successfully deployed ODS solutions all over the world – with tier one, multi-country mobile operators who have all had difficult requirements, very short timelines and incredibly high expectations.  These customers include Vodafone Global, Hutchinson 3G (H3G) Global, Orascom Global, Bharti Airtel in India, and Mobilink in Pakistan.

We are privately held, and were founded in 2002. We are headquartered in Dublin, Ireland.

For further information, please contact press AT cibenix.com

Cibenix has debuted at number 10 in The Irish Times Tech 50.

The Irish Times Tech 50 is open to Irish-registered companies in the technology and web sector which have been in operation for less than 10 years and have not been acquired or floated on a stock exchange.

“The Internationl recovery in the technology sector, as shown by strong corporate results from Intel, Google and Apple, is reflected in the latest update to The Irish Times Tech50. The constituents of our ranking of Irish technology firms are largely export focused and so have benefited from the upturn in global technology spending, even if the local economy remains in the doldrums”.

External Links

• The Irish Times Tech 50
• Cibenix at younoodle.com

CIBENIX, A Dublin-based mobile software developer, has won a deal worth more than €2 million to supply its on-device service to Bharti Airtel, India’s largest mobile phone company with more than 120 million subscribers.

The mobile operator, which trades as Airtel in India, is said to be adding more than 3 million new customers every month, and is now the third largest mobile network in the world.

Airtel will use the Cibenix ODS software app as a portal to promote its music, apps and internet-access services to customers directly on their phones.

Cibenix won the deal ahead of competition from multinational IT services firms and Indian software providers.

CEO Mike Brady said it was significant that a small Irish company had successfully sold to a customer in India, one of the global centres for software development.

The Dublin-based company has been paid close to €440,000 up front, and will earn a minimum of €2 million over the next two years.

The total value of the deal will rise based on how many Airtel subscribers use the Cibenix ODS portal.

Mr Brady said the deal was unusual because it does not involve a traditional revenue-sharing model, whereby the operator pays no up-front fee and the provider earns a percentage of the income generated through its software.

“It’s a measure of how important Airtel sees Cibenix that it has paid in advance for software licences. This is highly unusual in India,” said Mr Brady.

Part of the reason for this is the strategic value that on-device software platforms now have for mobile networks. The operators used to have relationships with customers largely to themselves, but they are now coming under direct competition from devices like the iPhone, Android and high-end Nokia handsets that all have their own dedicated app stores.

Pressure is also coming from internet services such as Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare that are encroaching on mobile operators’ turf. As a result, many providers are looking for ways to make their own services more compelling for consumers and ultimately to earn more revenue from them.

In the Indian mobile market customers buy the phone handset separately from the network operator’s SIM card. According to Mr Brady, what helped to clinch the deal for Cibenix was that its software was compatible with 160 of the 200 most popular phones that are used on Airtel’s network.

Cibenix sells its software internationally through partners, and the Airtel deal was won with the business and technology consultancy Infosys.

The deal has helped to boost Cibenix’s credibility in the Asian market, Mr Brady said.

“Airtel is number one in India so as a result we’re talking to the top six operators there. We’ll get more business out of India. Plus, Airtel is well known in Asia, so it’s a great calling card.”

The privately-held company was founded in 2002, and employs 25 people at the Digital Hub in Dublin. Its customers include Vodafone Group, 3 Group and Orascom Group, a mobile provider based in the Middle East.

The Irish Times – Dublin mobile software developer wins Indian deal

Airtel launched the Cibenix ODS client across their subscriber base in April 2010.

Airtel Vision

Our vision is to create a brand loved by more customers. All our efforts are directed towards providing a uniform, consistent and delightful service experience to our customers.

Key Requirements

• Thin, graphically rich,  visually appealing client
  • Easy to use, intuitive, idle-screen, storefront

• Extremely Flexible
  • Multiple delivery channels, hosting scenarios,
  • Multiple content types and billing mechanisms

• Maximum Handset Compatibility
  • Best fit experience across the Airtel base

Infosys were selected by Bharti Airtel in India to deliver the Cibenix On-Device Services (ODS) solution across Airtel’s subscriber base.

NSN and Cibenix are working closely together on multiple ODS opportunities across Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

Acision offers the Cibenix ODS solution as a fully integrated component within their Open Data Services Architecture.

That is Wipro for you. Every initiative, every partnership and above all their project execution levels are built around being the best. Their best has been achieved from the start – a beginning from where continuous evolution has made them the technology partner of choice for growing, established and nascent businesses.

Wipro are offering the Cibenix ODS solution as a central component of their Service Enablement proposition to operators.

The Cibenix ODS solution provides an integrated on-device channel for Jinny’s mobile advertising platform.

Ericsson were selected by Vodafone Global to deliver the Cibenix ODS solution across all Vodafone operating countries.

Pictures below from Michael’s meeting with Shireesh Mukund Joshi, Bharti Airtel CMO, at the Irish ambassador’s residence in Delhi. Also attending were Eamon Ryan, Irish Minister for Communications, and Kenneth Thompson, Ambassador of Ireland to India.

Cibenix CEO, Michael Brady, was a guest this morning on Today FM’s Sunday Business Show.

Michael Joined Matt Norton, Sentry Wireless CEO, in discussing the importance of the 3GSM Mobile World Congress to both companies.

Click here for audio (Michael’s segment begins at 42:00).

“We think the operator needs to have a much bigger, better and more strategic presence on the subscriber’s device. By doing so, the operator can play a much more meaningful and influential role in the delivery of mobile internet content and services to their subscribers. The Cibenix On-Device Services (ODS) solution is currently helping our operator customers do just that – successfully launching a range of storefront, service launching, social networking, widget and self care services directly from the device itself.”

View full story at Showstoppers.

Cibenix will be exhibiting their latest live customer demos on stand 1F17 in Hall 1.

To book a meeting with Cibenix at the show, please contact info AT cibenix.com

“The one event where the wireless industry, mobile leaders, innovators, award winners, visionaries, startups, upstarts and studios make new connections, promote brand, take leadership and open new business markets.”

Come and see Cibenix @ Showstoppers. The Hilton Hotel, Barcelona. 14th February 2010

Cibenix CEO, Michael Brady, talks about some of the problems faced by mobile operators in driving mobile internet adoption, and describes how the Cibenix ODS solution can address these issues.

“Favourites is a list of the best applications and mobile websites that you can quickly access from your home screen. Free applications like Skype and Windows Live Messenger are here, along with the most popular mobile internet sites like Facebook, BBC and YouTube. Exclusive 3 services like My3 and our 3MusicStore are also in Favourites.”

Favourites was launched across all 3 devices in late 2009.

Links:

• Internet On Your Mobile (3 UK Services Page)
• The fastest growing mobile internet service across the whole of 3 UK (Cibenix)

Mobile operator 3 UK is to allow brands to advertise on its highly used pre-loaded Favourites application. Ad space on the application, which is soon to be present on every handset used by 3 UK’s customer base of more than 3 million users, will be sold by mobile advertising agency YOC.

““This is a great opportunity for brands to be involved in our fastest growing mobile Internet access point,” says Neil Andrews, Head of Mobile Portal Advertising at 3 UK. “Having a presence in the Favourites application reduces the number of clicks needed to access branded content, as well as placing the advertiser alongside well-recognised and recommended Internet destinations. This drives traffic, at the same time as increasing brand presence with a highly-engaged audience.”

Full Story - Mobile Marketing Magazine

Favourites?

Favourites is the fastest growing mobile Internet service in terms of usage across the whole of 3 UK. The application comes installed on the left soft-key of all handsets and acts as a gateway to highly trafficked websites and internet communications services. Subscribers are guided towards download sites and mobile web pages for services such as Facebook, Google, Skype, Yahoo!, YouTube and Windows Live Messenger.

What we think?

UK is going for it in terms of opening up its space for mobile advertising. This is a strong and vital move that will make earn money from all content at all times. With a CTR of 16 clicks per user for the Favourites service and 5 million impressions – advertisers are going to relish in this opportunity.

Full Story - GoMo News

Come and meet Cibenix at CTIA Wireless 2009 in Las Vegas, 7th – 9th October.

To book a meeting with Cibenix at the show, please contact info AT cibenix.com

“Cibenix’s track record (ODP deals with operators across more than 30 countries) is commendable … The company prides itself on the technology edge and the substantial in-house expertise on cross-device software development”

Vision Mobile – Who will own the screen? an analysis of the Active Idle Screen market 2009-2011

The Cibenix ODS Widget solution is covered in the latest report from Research And Markets.

“The way people use the Internet is changing. Users expect to interact with the Internet from any place, any time and in a user friendly way. Mobile widgets will play an important role in this changing landscape by providing iPhone-like access to the cloud with portable applications that users can share and which developers can easily produce in order to serve niche markets on the Internet.”

Mobile Widget Platforms: Reaching the Long Tail with Disposable Applications

Meet with Cibenix at CommunicAsia 2009 – Singapore Expo, 16th – 19th June.

To book a meeting with Cibenix at the show, please contact info AT cibenix.com

Cibenix is proud to be part of Visionmobile’s Mobile Industry Atlas – “spanning all major players involved from handset design through retailing including development and delivery of hardware, software, SIM cards, services and content.”

Cibenix is proud to be a stakeholder in the IMS ARCS program – an industrial and academic cooperative program conducting research in the area of IMS technology with a view to creating a body of intellectual property for the use of the project partners, and serving as a case study on how to develop IMS Applications software.

Further information on IMS ARCS program can be found here.

Many thanks to Colm and Norbert from Mobile Monday Belfast for inviting Cibenix to present at last night’s monthly event in Belfast. Andrew Robertson (VP Product Management, Cibenix) and Christian Sejersen (Mozilla Mobile) presented on mobile user experience.

“User experience. It is a broad and sometimes ambiguous term. To-date, the mobile industry has typically employed it to describe the graphical user interface (UI) of an application or device. However, despite the increasing frequency with which it is cited by the mobile business, user experience is something rather more complex than the way a product looks.” - Usability News

Event details here.

Pakistan mobile operator Mobilink has supported the launch of the Cibenix ODS solution – branded Fun Factory – with a range of print and billboard collateral.

First of a series of Mobilink Pakistan TV adverts promoting Fun Factory – Mobilink’s brand name for their Cibenix ODS deployment.

“The Cibenix On-Device Services (ODS) solution for mobile operators massively improves the usability of mobile content, applications and services, and allows the operator to launch immediately revenue generating services such as On-Device Portals, Mobile Widgets, Application Management, Social Networking, Customer Care and Advertising.

At Showstoppers, Cibenix will be showcasing live ODS applications from their deployments around the world, and highlighting how their solutions are bringing mass market mobile internet to the widest possible range of devices, and delivering the operators immediate uplift in content and service consumption, network traffic and advertising revenues.”

Full Story here.

Mobilink Pakistan, with a subscriber base of over 30 million, have launched ‘Fun Factory’, an On-Device Portal (ODP) solution providing one-click access to their portfolio of Value Added Services and content. Fun Factory is initially available on over three hundred Symbian and Java handsets, and this number will continue to grow as Mobilink rollout their solution to all subscriber segments. No operator has yet launched an ODP solution across such an extensive number of devices.

Fun Factory is available in two versions, targeting both Mobilink’s post-paid INDIGO and pre-paid JAZZ brands. Both versions offer subscribers easy and intuitive discovery of Mobilink services direct from their handset. These services include Mobile TV, Music, Chat, and a wide range of voice, messaging and web services. Mobilink expect the service to drive significant data traffic to their Mobilink World online portal.

“We are delighted to have worked so well with Mobilink in launching Fun Factory”, commented Michael Brady, Chief Executive Officer of Cibenix, “the deployment is an important one for Cibenix for two reasons; Firstly, it builds on our continuing success in driving On-Device Services such as ODP across Asia and the Middle East, and secondly, it demonstrates the unrivalled device support of the Cibenix solutions – no other vendor could possibly have delivered Fun Factory to so many subscribers”.

For further information on Fun Factory, visit http://www.mobilinkworld.com.

Cibenix will be exhibiting their latest live customer demos on stand 1F17 in Hall 1.

To book a meeting with Cibenix at the show, please contact info AT cibenix.com

“The Operator’s App Store is not a new concept; there are early adopters, for example: Verizon AppZone is built using mPortal’s ODP, and the old Three X-Series downloader was built using Cibenix, see below for their web front pages. The critical issue is not technology; operators must commit, copy Apple, and pre-load their ODP App Store only on the devices that give an excellent experience.”

Re-inventing the On Device Portal – The App Store

“Mobilink Fun Factory brings everything alive on your handset!

• • Access to your favourite Value Added Services
  • Exchange information with a snap of your fingers
  • No short codes or charges to be remembered
  • No multiple menus or pages to browse through”

Mobilink business  goals for ODS:

• Enable easy discovery of Mobilink Services
• Drive data traffic to Mobilink WAP Portal
• Convert voice-only subscribers to data subscribers
• Promote INDIGO (post-paid) and Jazz (pre-paid) brands within Pakistan

Vodafone ODP was launched across Germany, Greece, Spain, Portugal, UK, Italy, Netherlands and Austria in 2008/9.

The Vision for Vodafone ODP is that it is the launching pad for subscribers to access the Vodafone live! Portal.

The revenue drivers:

• Mobile advertising
• Storefront content
• Network data traffic stimulator
• Mobile search

Supported handsets

• Symbian
• Java
• Windows Mobile

Solution Features:

• Flexible client update – user initated, server initiated, client scheduled pull
• Rich reporting – service usage and analytics
• Fully integrated with Vodafone network
  • Roaming aware, software version check, personalised ads
• Rich, configurable layout that can be updated at any time
• Handset integration – pre-provisioned client, single-click access from idle screen
• Fully integrated mobile advertising support

“Start-ups to keep an eye-on. Cibenix (www.cibenix.com): sometimes it’s a matter of stamina, the ODP (On Device Portal) is in a renaissance with successful deployments in operators such as Three and Vodafone, and Cibenix is one of the few ODP remaining.”

The alliance of software vendors will launch the platform at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on February 11-14. The Mobile Advertising Alliance incorporates five companies – Anam, Cibenix, Mobile Cohesion, Openet and SLA Mobile – each of which provides a best-of-breed component of a mobile advertising platform to help mobile operators monetise their unique assets through the delivery of personalised and targeted advertising.

The Cibenix ODP Solution provides a crucial advertising channel direct to the device itself, allowing rich subscriber interaction and click-through with highly personalised advertising and promotional content. In addition, the Cibenix solution supports comprehensive reporting and analysis of how subscribers are interacting with this content, allowing future campaigns to be closely targeted at specific subscriber segments and/or individual subscribers.

“We are delighted to be a founding member of the MAA”, said Michael Brady, Chief Executive Officer of Cibenix, “Our operator customers are seeing ODP as an effective and highly performing channel for mobile advertising, and this channel has formed a critical component of recent Cibenix deployments. Cibenix have long recognised the need to deliver this channel as part of a comprehensive and fully integrated end-to-end solution, and we firmly believe that the five companies making up the MAA are ideally positioned to deliver best-of-breed functionality at every stage of the mobile advertising delivery chain”.

The MAA platform is on demonstration on Stand D60 in Hall 1 during the four days of the Mobile World Congress (11-14 February 2008).

For more information, please contact

Andrew Robertson
VP Product Management, Cibenix
Tel: +353-1-488-5881
Mail: press@cibenix.com

Cibenix has worked closely with Motorola in recent months to ensure that the rich client framework required for successful launch of ODP and other rich mobile applications is now fully compatible with the latest devices from Motorola. The framework can be factory installed prior to device shipment or provisioned over-the-air to devices already deployed. Also, the framework can be optionally integrated with the UIQ phone idle screen so that it is available with a single click from the idle screen.

The Cibenix solution delivers the most flexible and feature-rich user experience currently available, and also provides a more open and extensible end-to-end solution than any alternative offering. These factors have been key in driving unrivalled increases in mobile internet usage for our operator customers worldwide.

“Our work with Motorola has been hugely important in the ongoing success of our solution platform ”, said Owen Sullivan, Cibenix Chief Operating Officer, “Our operator customers are demanding rich client capabilities across a wide range of device platforms and handset types, and we see Motorola and UIQ as having prominent roles in our future deployment plans. We look forward to working closely with Motorola in continuing to provide compelling rich mobile client functionality on their devices”.

The Cibenix solution provides application lifecycle management for the range of X-Series Symbian S60 devices offered by 3. The solution allows 3 subscribers to easily discover and access a range of rich internet applications on their device, and also allows 3 to manage these applications across the device population in each country. These management capabilities include comprehensive version management, and targeted promotion and provisioning of new and updated applications.

Over the last twelve months, X-Series has been launched by 3 in Australia, Hong Kong, Italy, United Kingdom, Denmark, Austria, Sweden and Ireland. X-Series customers pay a flat access fee for access to a range of internet applications from partners including Skype, Sling, Orb, Yahoo!, Microsoft, eBay and Google.

“We congratulate 3 on the continuing success of X-Series”, commented Michael Brady, Chief Executive Officer of Cibenix, “3 are recognised as a leading edge and forward thinking 3G operator, and we are delighted that they have chosen Cibenix to support the X-Series initiative. It has been highly instructive and rewarding for Cibenix to work so closely with 3 over the last few years and we are looking forward to building on this relationship as we cooperate on what is a very exciting product roadmap”.

For more information on X-Series, please visit xseries.three.com

The SDP Alliance is a collaboration of seven software vendors each of which provides a best-of-breed component of a service delivery platform (SDP). Alliance members include Aepona, ChangingWorlds, Cibenix, MobileAware, Mobile Cohesion, Openet and Xiam.

The Cibenix ODP solution supports data service search and discovery on the mobile device itself, and has already delivered in excess of 400% increase in data services usage, with associated ARPU increases, for their mobile operator customers worldwide. The Cibenix ODP solution provides a seamless offline component to all of the services offered by the SDP Alliance platform, allowing the operator to target content and services directly to the device itself.

“The Cibenix ODP provides a critical component of the Service Delivery Platform” said Michael Brady, Chief Executive Officer of Cibenix, “The ODP places the operator’s content shop window directly onto the device, and is a proven enabler of getting much larger numbers of subscribers online. In so doing, we massively increase the effectiveness of the other best-of-breed components making up the SDP Alliance platform. Cibenix is delighted to be part of the SDP Alliance, and we believe that the vendors in the Alliance together provide a compelling and category-leading SDP solution for mobile operators worldwide”.

According to the Co-Chairman of the Alliance’s Steering Committee, Denis Murphy, “The model for implementing service delivery platforms has dramatically shifted. With the emergence of a group of mature, standards-based, software products operators no longer face the time-to-market, cost or risk associated with entirely custom built solutions. Today system integrators can create tailored solutions based on a set of proven software products. From the operators’ perspective this means faster, cheaper and lower risk projects.”

For a demonstration of the pre-integrated, convergent SDP, visit The SDP Alliance stand during the 3GSM World Congress, February 12 – 15, 2007, Booth #2J27, Hall 2.

“Mobile companies at the 3GSM technology event in Barcelona will showcase their expertise and innovative services to crack the international market.

Cibenix creates an offline portal on the subscriber’s handset. “If you can’t get subscribers to come to the portal, then why not bring the portal to the device,” says Andrew Robertson, claiming that customers have seen increases in revenues of up to 400-500 per cent by implementing their “on-device portal”.”

The partnership between the two companies combines the Volantis BuzzCast™ and Cibenix On-Device Portal (ODP) solutions, together providing consumers with dynamic mobile “home screens” for greater context, immediacy, and personalization.

GetBuzz leverages Volantis partner user interface (UI) solutions to enhance the delivery of its BuzzCast™ personalized news and entertainment application. BuzzCast pushes compelling information, such as financial news, sports and entertainment headlines, to any device – regardless of network or device type – personalized according to the unique preferences of each subscriber.

The Cibenix ODP solution supports data service search and discovery on the mobile device itself, and has already delivered in excess of 400% increase in data services usage, with associated ARPU increases, for their mobile operator customers worldwide. The Cibenix ODP solution provides a seamless offline component to the Buzzcast solution, allowing the operator to target content and services directly to the device itself.

“We are delighted to be part of the GetBuzz Partner Program,” said Michael Brady, Chief Operating Officer of Cibenix. “The powerful combination of the Cibenix On-Device Portal (ODP) solution and Volantis’ Buzzcast enables carriers to create a very compelling subscriber experience on the mobile device, and in so doing dramatically improves the process of content discovery and consumption for wireless subscribers.”

For more information, please contact

Andrew Robertson
VP Product Management, Cibenix
Tel: +353-1-488-5881
Mail: press@cibenix.com

“Several Irish companies, including ChangingWorlds, Zamano and Cibenix, are involved in content management, providing software that makes it easier for customers to access content and, hopefully, helps boost usage and turnover.

Cibenix chief executive Gary McCollum is promising to do just that. The five-year-old company’s content management software is being used in trials by six operators, including Hutchison and Vodafone … McCollum said it has been approached by several venture capitalists and large software companies eager to invest.

“The bigger guys are looking at what we’re doing and seeing that there’s an opportunity and a real future, ” he said.

“The keys to making the mobile Internet work … are making phones easy to use and keeping their operating systems and networks open so that companies can experiment with services and allow consumers to choose.

Software companies like Nellymoser in Arlington, Massachusetts, and Cibenix in Dublin are providing more efficient ways for content providers and mobile operators to deliver and sell multimedia services.”

Pre-installed on Nokia S60 devices, Instant Launcher ensures every subscriber has the most relevant and recent apps.

Features

• Quick & Easy Management of Applications on the Device
• One Click search and install of new applications
• Quick launch of any application from one place on the device
• Promotion of new applications via scrolling teaser carousel

The partnership between the two companies combines the Wmode ClearMode and Cibenix On-Device Portal (ODP) solutions, together providing the most comprehensive and sophisticated content management and delivery solution currently available in the market.

The ClearMode solution from Wmode manages all aspects of mobile content distribution, on a managed service basis, including content recruitment, provisioning, verification, delivery, billing, settlement, customer care and reporting. ClearMode provides a unified and consistent approach to distribution across SMS, WAP, xHTML and Web storefronts.

The Cibenix ODP solution supports data service search and discovery on the mobile device itself, and has already delivered in excess of 400% increase in data services usage, with associated ARPU increases, for their mobile operator customers worldwide. The Cibenix ODP solution provides a seamless offline storefront to the ClearMode solution, allowing the operator to target content directly to the on-device storefront, while leveraging the integrated content management, billing and reporting functions already offered by ClearMode.

The combined solution is slated for market trial in North American this summer, and Cibenix and Wmode anticipate announcing both further trials and full commercial deployments later this year.

“We are delighted to be working with Wmode in bringing such an exciting joint solution to market,” said Garry McCollum, Cibenix CEO. “We partnered with Wmode because they are a global leader and were one of the first to provide a complete content distribution solution, and we firmly believe that Cibenix ODP and ClearMode together provide a great opportunity for the mobile operator to drive data APRU uplift across multiple delivery channels”.

The combination of Cibenix ODP and ClearMode creates a unique proposition for the mobile operators, MVNOs and brands who deliver content services through 3 rd party storefronts”, said Emanuel Bertolin, CEO of Wmode. “For the first time, mobile content vendors will be able to effectively merchandise content across multiple storefronts, including on the device itself, in a consistent and seamless fashion. We have already seen a hugely positive response from our customers to this joint solution”.

“Real-time, simple access to personalized content, such as RSS feeds, targeted pieces of web pages, personal photo galleries and audio and video podcasts, is essential,” said Garry McCollum, CEO, Cibenix. “With the addition of the Cibenix On-Device Portal technology to mFolio, carriers will be able to deliver a rich mobile web experience from a carrier-branded UI that provides subscribers with an intuitive and engaging interface to the mFolio experience and the existing wealth of data services offered by the carrier.”

Sybase and Cibenix will deliver the combined mFolio – Cibenix solution to wireless carriers, providing them with new sources of data revenue. The combined solution will give wireless subscribers a unique and interactive content experience optimized for small screen devices. This means increased use of data services by subscribers and greater revenue for carriers. Additionally, the solution has flexible implementation options and reasonable start up costs allowing carriers to take the solution to market quickly and affordably.

“We are committed to delivering new sources of revenue to the highly competitive wireless carrier market,” said Billy Ho, senior vice president of the OEM/Telecom Group, Sybase, Inc. “The combined Sybase mFolio – Cibenix Client solution will deliver the power of fast, easy mobile browsing along with an intuitive, customizable UI, allowing operators to quickly increase their data plan revenues while building strong brand differentiation.”

The Cibenix-mFolio products are available to carriers worldwide today. To learn more about Sybase mFolio, Cibenix and Sybase’s enterprise mobile offerings for wireless carriers, device manufacturers and content distributors, please visit us at the Sybase booth #4231 in the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas at CTIA Wireless 2006.

“Operators are missing the vital link in the delivery value chain – the ability to bring their content offerings direct to the subscriber’s device, thus reducing (or eliminating completely) the need to browse the online portal. With such an approach, the operator becomes “Unplugged”, and the mobile device itself becomes the storefront for mobile content and services.”

“…we are seeing operators meeting these challenges and successfully rolling out a range of innovative and effective solutions. The results so far have been hugely encouraging, and we can expect the unplugged approach to play an increasingly pivotal role in the operator’s evolving content and services strategy.”

Andrew Robertson – VP Product Management, Cibenix

Cibenix DSD 3.0 enables the operator to make data services more visible to and more accessible by their subscribers, so increasing the usage of these services and driving ARPU and profitability for the operator. The solution provides the mobile operator with a custom environment on the device, and allows the operator to provide its subscriber base with a branded, customised interface to all of its services in an intuitive and highly usable manner.

The Cibenix solution has already delivered well in excess of 100% increase in data services usage with associated ARPU increase to mobile operators across Europe.

The release of Cibenix DSD 3.0 comes in the wake of the first significant analysis of the ODP market, published by ARCchart in December 2005. The analysis highlights the huge potential for the ODP market, which ARCchart forecasts will grow aggressively to reach $1.4 billion by 2009. However, such growth will require the adoption by the mobile operator of increasingly sophisticated and functionality-rich solutions. Cibenix DSD 3.0 is the first platform to provide the power and flexibility to support such deployments:

• The highly extensible client architecture supports operators in deploying advanced ODP solutions across a wide range of devices and multiple device operating systems – Symbian S60 and UIQ, Windows Mobile 2003 SE and 5.0, and Java MIDP2
• The solution provides unrivalled flexibility in the design of rich-media, service-centric User Interfaces (UIs) that meet very specific operator branding and functionality requirements – the Cibenix pluggable component approach allows operators to quickly build UIs from the ground up, unlike the more restrictive template-based approach of alternative solutions
• Lower cost of ownership is provided across the entire solution, with a single point of management and provisioning of the client population, sophisticated network and device management, and low-touch integration with the operator’s existing operating infrastructure

Garry McCollum, Cibenix CEO, said “We are proud of the power and capability of the next-generation Cibenix platform, and are delighted with the timeliness of its release. The ODP market is set to explode in 2006, and the growing maturity of the space will see significant demands being placed on vendor solutions. Cibenix DSD 3.0 is the most technically sophisticated platform currently available, and firmly establishes Cibenix as the vendor of choice for mobile operators wishing to drive ARPU uplift through the On-Device Portal”

“Users will only warm to mobile content if it’s easy to find, so on-handset portals that update branded content automatically could be the way forward.”

“Eirborne has been an off-portal destination since day one. The company has seen a substantial increase in content downloads since implementing Cibenix software in September 2005 to create and maintain on-handset storefronts, allowing users to access and preview content before they purchase it.”

“‘We used to count two downloads per subscriber per month; now we see seven to eight downloads,’ says Eirborne director Gerard O’Keefe. More importantly, more users are return buyers.”

“The industry is witnessing the adoption of On-Device Portals (ODPs), a new generation of products which deliver content on the mobile phone through the use of a software client application”

“The ODP market is now poised for aggressive growth and is forecast to reach a value of $1.4 billion by 2009″

“Cibenix … has been growing its technology portfolio, and in the last year has gained industry traction with several launches on Symbian and Java devices”

The setting is a Quiz show, with the heroes – Pauli and Sauli – armed only with our ODP client, up against a team of academics with multiple reference books. For those without Finnish, this is the question asked – “What is the 11th largest region in Finland?”. One guess who wins this!

The Cibenix solution provides Elisa with an Operator Specific User Interface, and was selected by Elisa to drive customer acquisition through an innovative and appealing user experience. The operator also sees the Cibenix application as being central to their objective of building the Elisa brand throughout Finland. Further details are available at www.elisa.fi/mobi.

The Cibenix solution will be pre-installed on all Nokia 3230 devices being sold by Elisa, and will also be provisioned over-the-air (OTA) to a range of other Series 60 devices.

Antti Siitonen, Head of Department, Products, at Elisa, said “We have enjoyed a very good and productive working relationship with Cibenix. We had very ambitious objectives for this project, and we quickly identified Cibenix as a company that would rapidly deliver a solution to meet these objectives”.

Garry McCollum, Cibenix CEO, said “We see Elisa as being a very progressive operator in the area of Service Discovery, and so are delighted to have the opportunity to work with them. Elisa has identified the importance of the Operator Specific User Interface, not only in driving subscriber uptake of data content and services, but in driving the Elisa brand throughout Finland. We believe that the Cibenix solution will play a crucial role in helping Elisa to meet both of these objectives”.

Austrian Mobile Operator ONE has extended their existing ONE Smile service access and delivery platform to support subscribers with Java handsets. ONE Smile is based exclusively on Cibenix technology, and was first launched for smart phones in October 2003. Cibenix’s technology allows ONE to provide their customers with an intuitive service-centric interface on the handset, providing easy access to ONE’s data services portfolio. ONE Smile has to date been hugely successful both in driving data ARPU levels for ONE, and in clearly establishing the ONE brand identity across Austria.

The Cibenix solution for Java provides unprecedented levels of accessibility and user experience to subscribers, and allows sophisticated service discovery capabilities to be offered on both Smart and Java devices for the very first time.

Christian Riener, Marketing-Director of ONE, commented “We are happy to continue our long standing association with Cibenix. The success to date of our ONE Smile service has been due in no small part to the state-of-the-art Cibenix platform. In looking to extend the One Smile offering to Java devices, we quickly realised that Cibenix could deliver the high-levels of flexibility, reliability and usability that we required”

Garry McCollum, Cibenix CEO, said “The Cibenix service discovery solution has a proven track record in delivering significant increases in data services usage and associated APRU increases from smartphone users. The rollout of ONE Smile Java will extend this success across a much wider range of devices, and provides further evidence of our ongoing technology lead in the service discovery space”.

“Cibenix’s software acts as a kind of shop window on mobile phones, making it quicker and easier for phone users to find services. It is a very valuable piece of real estate for mobile operators … There are a lot of very useful data services on phones, but most people don’t know how to access them.”

Cibenix nominated for prestigious Handango Champions Award.

“It is always a pleasure to honor and reward these extraordinary software development companies and their exceptional applications,” said Randy Eisenman, president and chief executive officer of Handango. “Our customers hand-selected these finalists as the best-of-the-best from Handango’s catalog of more than 50,000 applications. These finalists should be proud of their accomplishment in such a dynamic industry.”

Elisa Objectives

• Customer Acquisition through an innovative and appealing User Interface
• Brand Building through significant advertising spend
• An Operator Specific User Interface for Series 60 Phones

Deployment

• Pre-installed on multiple Nokia S60 devices
• OTA installation  by the user on other Series 60 devices

Significant TV and Web advertising of the Cibenix application helped drive the Elisa brand across Finland and Estonia.

Instant Launcher supports 3 Promotional Teasers being delivered to the idle screen of the device, with daily updates ensuring a fresh and relevant user experience. One Click access to Content and Services ensures very high click through levels. The application is fully integrated with 3’s existing content workflow.

Deployment Metrics

• Each user clicks online twice a day from idle screen
• “Phenomenal Performance!” (3 UK)

• Providing an easy access to all Mobile Data Services
• Making it fun to play around with the mobile handset during idle moments
• Leaving the technology factor in the background
• Creating a whole new customer experience

The ONE Smile interface reflects the operator’s existing branding, with a circular top-level menu offering rapid access to over a hundred mobile data services covering communication, information, entertainment and mobile commerce, and also to applications and data available locally on the handset.

Access is provided to all service types, including WAP, SMS, MMS, Games, Email, and voice based services. The handset is dynamically configured over the air, ensuring the applications and services offered on the handset continue to reflect ONE’s active services portfolio.

Garry McCollum, Cibenix CEO, commented that these wins were highly encouraging for the company. “There is no doubt that operators are now actively seeking innovative and proven solutions on the mobile device to drive discovery, and subsequent consumption, of high-margin data services. And we believe that these latest customer wins offer further proof that Cibenix has been clearly identified, not only as a technology leader in this market, but also as a company with a superior track record in deploying and supporting service discovery solutions for mobile operators.”

The Cibenix solution complements the operator’s existing content delivery infrastructure by providing a content-centric user interface on the smartphone and feature-phone. This interface allows operators make data services more visible and more accessible by the subscriber, and has proven highly successful in driving subscribers to the operators existing mobile and internet storefronts and/or portals. The Cibenix solution has already delivered well in excess of 100% increase in data services usage with associated ARPU increase to our operator customers.

We will be exhibiting on Stand 1F17 in Hall 1. See below for a taste of what to expect.

Although details of the customer could not be revealed under the non-disclosure agreement in place, Mike Brady, Cibenix COO, acknowledged that the customer was a significant one. “Our latest customer is important to us as they are one of the big 3G success stories in Western Europe. They see rich media data services as a key contributor to ARPU and they have a highly innovative approach to service discovery.”

ONE turned to Cibenix and the company’s Service Management Platform to develop a new service offering that would leapfrog those on offer from industry rivals. Cibenix’s innovative platform provides a managed environment through which the mobile operator can dramatically increase its presence on the mobile handset through a customised, branded interface to the device. The solution delivers an intuitive user interface and provides easy access to both network services and applications and data available locally on the handset. Access is provided to all service types, including MMS, SMS, games, email, multimedia, WAP and voice based services. The mobile phone is dynamically configured via a secure management protocol thus ensuring the applications and services offered on the device continue to reflect the operator’s active portfolio.

“We are very excited to be part of this new offering from ONE”, said Garry McCollum, CEO of Cibenix. “We believe that service offerings such as the ONE SMILE will drive the future of the mobile communications industry. The ability of our software platform to power this category of service creates a huge opportunity for Cibenix. The industry is now at a point where handset technology and network and service capabilities are delivering the features and value promised over the last few years. Our software solutions help operators and other service providers to realise the full potential of these new opportunities.”

“The ONE SMILE service is a cornerstone of ONE’s ongoing data strategy”, said Peter Pedersen, CIO of ONE. “As an innovation leader in our market it was important for ONE to choose a technology partner who could deliver a platform which was state of the art with proven reliability, satisfying our needs today and into the future. Cibenix has provided us with the desired flexibility in a cost-effective solution, with implementation times meeting our demanding schedule.