Red Oxygen Helps UNICEF Help Tanzania

SMS lowers the cost of operations for UNICEF - to help feed the children of Africa"

(PRWEB) July 26, 2003 --SMS messaging has become an important communication tool for many of the most successful businesses in the world. Thanks to collaboration between the United Nations UNICEF and Australian software company Red Oxygen, SMS has also become an essential tool for helping some of the poorest people in Africa.

Tauhidur Rashid, the director of UNICEFs operation in the African nation of Tanzania, says that Red Oxygens two-way email to SMS software has become an indispensable part of UNICEFs operations. Weve found that SMS is the best way for us to reach the wide variety of people all over the country that we need to keep in contact with. Red Oxygens software has made that SMS communication easy and practical."

UNICEF is a worldwide agency of the United Nations specializing in human rights, education, public health and development issues, primarily for children and women. With such a broad mission, the UNICEF team has a wide range of communications needs. SMS is the best communications option to meet those needs in Tanzania, according to Mr. Rashid.

The traditional PSTN phone system in Tanzania is very poor," says Rashid. It is linked by microwave and really only operates in two major cities. Mobiles, on the other hand, have pretty much total coverage. Mobile calls are expensive, but SMS messages only cost 5 cents apiece. That makes a big difference in a country where 90% of the population earns less than $70 per month."

Red Oxygen began working with UNICEF several months ago and their software has quickly become a central part of UNICEFs work. Mr. Rashid reports that the organization uses Red Oxygens software for Lotus Notes to send SMS messages for a wide variety of purposes.

Because Red Oxygen makes it possible to easily send and receive SMS from within our email application, we use it for everything -- scheduling meetings, communicating with staff in the field, telling people to read an email and just tracking people down all over the country. Its easy to type messages and straightforward to keep track of responses when they come back into my inbox. In our circumstances, SMS is a must."

In order to help UNICEF with their important work, Red Oxygen is sponsoring their operations in Tanzania with free software and messages. Red Oxygen CEO Tom Sheahan says that UNICEFs work is an exciting example of the effectiveness of SMS.

Red Oxygen is really proud to be supporting UNICEFs work. Weve seen through our own customers how SMS can become an essential part of business, but its gratifying to see that it has a role to play in improving peoples lives. SMS is truly a global form of communication and I think that were still discovering what it can do."

ENDS

About UNICEF

UNICEF is worlds leading advocate for childrens rights, active in 158 countries and territories around the world. UNICEF focuses on community involvement in its work and partners with local and national governments to improve the lives of people around the world.

About Red Oxygen

Established in Australia in 2001, Red Oxygen is one of the worlds leading developers and distributors of email to SMS software applications and related desktop messaging software. Red Oxygen combines the power of todays email applications with the ease, convenience and mobility of SMS messaging. Their seamlessly integrated products allow users to utilise the full capabilities of their existing contacts address book to send SMS messages to specific individuals or entire lists, all as easily as sending an email.

Users can also have their calendar reminders automatically sent to their mobile, send broadcast SMS messages to large lists and even receive replies straight into their inbox from message recipients. Red Oxygen software is available for Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express as well as Lotus Notes. www.redoxygen.com

Red Oxygen has clients across a broad array of industries and geographies. Their current customer list includes clients such as BMW, Pfizer, Qantas, Microsoft, Panasonic, Readers Digest, Billabong, 3M and others. These customers span Australia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and North America.

For More Information

Matt Ware
Red Oxygen
400 George St., Level 16
Sydney, NSW 2000
Australia
Matt.Ware@redoxygen.com
www.redoxygen.com
+61-2-9657-1816