LAGUNA NIGUEL, Calif., June 28, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- Bitfone Corporation (www.bitfone.com), the pioneer and patent holder of firmware over-the-air (FOTA) update technology for mobile phones, today announced new releases of their award-winning mProve and MVP solutions that enable wide-scale commercial adoption of FOTA for the global wireless market. In addition, Motorola, Inc. (NYSE:MOT) is now offering a hosted device management service for operators based on Bitfone's technology.
Bitfone's MVP 2.0 is the first server solution to manage FOTA as a business process, supporting a full spectrum of device maintenance and value-add scenarios that operators can target for individual or massive upgrade campaigns. mProve 5.0, embedded on devices, delivers the industry's best performance for firmware and file system updates. It creates the smallest updates to minimize the impact on network throughput and provide a fast, easy software update experience for end users. Both products offer rapid integration capabilities and broad device support to accelerate time to market for FOTA-enabled devices.
"Our customers want to increase their business agility, improve their operational efficiency and have greater control over device launches and maintenance, and that's what we're delivering with mProve 5.0 on the handset and MVP 2.0 for the network," said Gene Wang, CEO of Bitfone. "With our mature technology, focus on business processes and rapid deployment services, we offer a strong business case to operators to embrace over-the-air device management sooner rather than later and start capturing the significant ROI it affords."
Motorola is using MVP to deliver to operators a new hosted service for managing the software and configuration settings of Motorola devices over the air. With the service, operators can keep track of firmware updates received from Motorola and deliver them to subscribers. Bitfone's mProve is already shipping in millions of commercial Motorola phones around the world, including the E1000, C980, C975, V980, and V1050 models.
"Over-the-air management of devices is no longer a science project, but a commercial necessity for any wireless operator that cares about customer satisfaction," said Jim Eckels, senior director of strategy and business development at Motorola. "We're building our hosted service on MVP because Bitfone has a lot of experience deploying FOTA. Their new product releases demonstrate innovation, commercial readiness and attentiveness to Motorola's unique needs. Beyond the technology, Bitfone's service and support team have demonstrated strong commitment to success."
mProve is also available on several commercial phone models from Sony Ericsson in Japan, SKTelecom in Korea and LGE in North America, including the PM-325, MM-525, and VI-125 phone models available for the Sprint network. Bitfone expects mProve to ship on at least 40 additional phone models from these and other OEMs in 2005, making mProve the most widely used FOTA solution in the world.
mProve 5.0 offers the following enhancements:
-- Unmatched Performance -- Using a revolutionary differencing
algorithm, mProve 5.0 now delivers the industry's smallest update
packages, fastest update time, and fastest package generation of
any FOTA solution in the market.
-- Compressed Image Support -- mProve 5.0 can update commercial
implementations of compressed firmware images for NAND memory, and
compressed file-systems, such as Linux CRAMFS, to support the most
sophisticated handsets.
-- Rapid Deployment -- mProve 5.0 enables the industry's fastest,
easiest integration methodology for mobile devices and smart
phones through a single integration point. mProve accelerates
time to market for FOTA-enabled devices and reduces implementation
costs for manufacturers.
Bitfone's MVP 2.0 sets the standard for comprehensive functionality and ability to handle intricate device management deployments with the following new features:
-- FOTA Business Process Management -- MVP 2.0 manages FOTA
workflows, from manufacturer to subscriber, to enforce business
policies and simplify administration. MVP supports any business
model for FOTA by selectively upgrading phones based on
subscriber, device, network and billing criteria.
-- Device Adaptor Framework - MVP 2.0 can manage any FOTA-enabled
device out-of-the-box using GUI-based adaptors that accommodate
both standard and proprietary DM implementations. MVP has been
tested and certified at several OMA TestFest events to ensure
broad device and download client interoperability.
-- E2E Exception Handling -- MVP 2.0 provides detailed reporting and
error recovery mechanisms, from end-to-end, to automatically
handle interrupted transactions due to loss of network signal,
subscriber action, or other unpredictable circumstances.
-- Hosted Deployment -- In addition to direct licensing, MVP 2.0 is
offered through a hosted model, using hardware and network
services provided by SAVVIS Communications (Nasdaq:SVVS), a global
IT utility services provider.
"We aspire to provide the most flexible business models and deployment options to our customers," said Glen Kazerman, senior vice president of sales for Bitfone. "Our technology can be delivered turnkey or through plug-n-play components; installed in the operator network or accessed remotely through an ASP. This flexibility has helped us to accelerate service delivery and deepen our relationships with partners."
About Bitfone Corporation
Bitfone Corporation is the pioneer and patent holder of firmware over-the-air (FOTA) upgrade technology for mobile phones, used by the largest device and chipset manufacturers in the world, including Motorola, LGE, Sony Ericsson, QUALCOMM and UTStarcom. Bitfone's mProve, MVP and SmartCare solutions allow wireless network operators to diagnose, service and enhance mobile devices while in the subscribers' hands. Bitfone's customers gain business agility, operational efficiency, and control over device launches and maintenance, resulting in dramatic cost savings, new revenue opportunities and increased subscriber satisfaction. Bitfone is a private company headquartered in Laguna Niguel, California, with offices in Canada, China, Japan, Korea, and the U.K. For more information, please visit www.bitfone.com.