Appium Technologies and Mobifon signs global contract for an OSA/Parlay product suite to deliver rich, value added services to customers

OSA/Parlay technology will cut costs, speed and simplify advanced service creation and allow closer integration of enterprise applications with the telecommunications networks

MALMÖ, Sweden, (PRWEB) January 21, 2004 --Appium today announced that it has signed a comprehensive agreement with Mobifon -- part of the Vodafone Group, Romanias leading telecommunications company, to supply its market leading OSA/Parlay telecom application server -- Appium-TAS together with a suite of OSA/Parlay enabled applications.

OSA (Open Service Access) is a key part of 2G, 2.5G and 3G networks - fully specified by ETSI and the 3GPP - and gives mobile service providers the ability to dramatically simplify the creation and management of many different services, features and functions. By providing standard interfaces to other systems and applications, such as billing, or advanced voice, location, messaging and gaming services, OSA has a major role to play in simplifying what is currently a complex technical environment.

Typically, operators have developed their own IN (Intelligent Networks) applications using proprietary software developed by their platform vendor. This can be expensive and time consuming. The Appium-TAS platform solution enables wireless carriers to strengthen and differentiate their services. By providing Mobifon with a comprehensive and carrier-grade platform, Mobifon can use several flexible business models and target different customer types with one technical solution.

Quote from Florin Geanta, Director of Technology and Services Department of Mobifon. Our prime reason for selecting Appium was the vast experience of Appium in OSA/Parlay field and the proven working experience with Ericsson SDP platform. Appium Telecom Application Server is Java based, easy to use and it offers us and third parties and excellent development environment."

Appium is delighted to have won this contract with Mobifon. The fact that Appium has won this contract further strengthens Appiums leading position as a vendor of telecom application servers. Appiums industry-leading OSA/Parlay-based service creation and deployment platform in combination with a suite of ready-to-run applications creates a scalable, robust solution for wireless service delivery now and for the future," said Kristofer Kimbler, CEO, Appium Technologies. It also underpins the importance of OSA/Parlay and demonstrates that it is now fast becoming operational reality on an international basis."

Parlay
Parlay is primarily a bridging technology between the network and application layers. At the simplest level, it links telecommunication networks with the Internet and allows operators to provide secure and controlled access to application developers in order to create new revenue generating services.

Parlay defines a set of APIs to run over a secure interface between the IN or switching platforms and the application-hosting platform. Parlay specifications are recognised and adopted by the European Telecommunication Standards Institute (ETSI). The Parlay Group includes key suppliers and operators involved in the development of the market for Parlay based services. For more information, please visit: www.parlay.org.

About Appium:
Appium Technologies is a leading vendor of next generation Telecom Application Servers based on the OSA/Parlay, Parlay X and Web Services standards. By effectively bridging the Internet with any type of Telecom network, Appium's Telecom Application Server, Appium-TAS can be used to 'telecom-enable' IT applications. Appium's products include Appium-TAS, a carrier-grade service deployment environment, Appium-GBox, a CORBA/J2EE-based service creation environment, including a feature-rich application framework enabling rapid creation and integration of a wide range of communication apps. Appium also provides a suite of advanced personal communication application known as Appium-Fuzion together with a range of other applications. For more information, please contact: www.appium.com.

About Mobifon:
Mobifon is the GSM market leader in Romania with 3.457.000 customers, at December 31 2003. Mobifon operates the network under the brand name Connex being the first mobile operator to launch GSM service in Romania, in April 1997. The main shareholders are Telesystem International Wireless (TIW), Canada and Vodafone, UK.

For further information contact:
Ola Larsén
VP Marketing
Appium Technologies
Adelgatan 5
SE-211 22 Malmö
Sweden
Tel: + 46 40 664 26 80
Email: ola.larsen@appium.com
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