CANNES, France, Feb. 23, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- Bitfone Corporation (www.bitfone.com), the company that pioneered over-the-air (OTA) updates for mobile phones, today announced the release of mProve 3.1, the most advanced and flexible end-to-end solution for OTA firmware updates commercially available.
"When we launched mProve 3.0 last year, Bitfone set the bar for OTA solutions in the areas of performance, robustness, ease of use, and flexibility," said Gene Wang, chairman and CEO, Bitfone Corporation. "This latest version of mProve raises the bar once again, offering even better performance, breakthrough support for the latest NAND-based handset architectures, easier integration within the carrier's network, and a localized user interface to meet the demand for our solutions in Asia."
mProve has been commercially deployed by the leading wireless operators in Korea and Japan, and selected by such industry giants as Motorola, SK Telecom and Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications Japan to remotely service their mobile phones while in the customers' hands. Bitfone will demonstrate mProve at the 3GSM World Congress from Feb. 23-26 in three locations: Nokia Venture Partners booth, Hall 2, Stand G-12; Gemplus booth, Hall 1, Stand B-19; and on the Rhodes Island Yacht, located on Jetee Albert Edouard/Yacht Row.
"Bitfone has demonstrated leadership in the space by both defining the OTA firmware update category, and by their focus on industry standards through the OTA Flash Forum and their active participation in the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA)," said Anshu Dua, senior analyst, Pyramid Research. "Today's mobile operators and manufacturers must reduce the costs associated with customer support, handset returns and recalls. OTA software upgrade is the 'disruptive technology' that is changing the way handsets and subscribers are serviced forever more."
New features in mProve 3.1 include:
-- Ability to update firmware images stored in both NOR and NAND
memory;
-- Flexible 3-tier Generator optimization, allowing users to
optimize both build time and update package size during the
firmware differencing process;
-- Advanced techniques for pre-processing and compression of update
packages, resulting in unparalleled performance without
compromising fault-tolerance, accuracy or security;
-- Version control between Update Agents and Generator, ensuring
that update packages are always backward compatible with any
deployed handset agents;
-- Graphical User Interface available in English, Japanese and
Korean.
mProve 3.1 also contains a number of user interface enhancements and new online tutorials to guide users through update package creation, integration with BUILD process, and lifecycle management of firmware update packages. mProve 3.1 is available now.
About Bitfone Corporation
Bitfone Corporation provides innovative software solutions for mobile device management. Bitfone's mProve(tm) is the wireless industry's leading technology that updates a mobile phone's core embedded software over the air, in a secure and fault-tolerant manner. mProve delivers significant cost savings in the areas of customer service and warranty, provides insurance against software-related device recalls, and accelerates adoption of wireless services. Bitfone is a global company headquartered in Laguna Niguel, California, with offices in China, Finland, Japan and Korea. Bitfone's investors include Nokia Venture Partners, St. Paul Venture Capital, 3i, Nexit Ventures, Motorola, Inc., Orange Ventures, KTB Ventures and CIR Ventures. For more information, please visit www.bitfone.com.