MILPITAS, Calif., Dec. 6, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- Kineto Wireless, a key innovator and leading supplier of UMA-compliant Fixed-Mobile Convergence solutions, today announced Scott Blaine has joined the company as vice president and chief financial officer and Michael Hickerson joined as vice president of worldwide sales.
Hickerson brings more than 20 years of telecommunications experience to Kineto, most recently from 2Wire where he grew the company from an early stage start-up to over $160M in annual revenues. Prior to 2Wire, Michael served as the western region vice president for Aspect Communication, the world's leading provider of CRM solutions. Prior to Aspect, he was a business development consultant to several Fortune 500 companies. Prior to this he was the vice president of sales and service for PictureTel Corporation. Hickerson has also held executive positions with Mitel Corporation.
Blaine previously served as the General Manager for Nokia's Network Integrity line of business, and has held positions of Vice President and Divisional CFO as well as Head of Business and Strategy Development for Nokia Internet Communications. Prior to Nokia, he was Finance Director for DSC Denmark, a Danish subsidiary of DSC Communications, a digital switching company. Prior to DSC Communication, Mr. Blaine held several financial management positions within General Electric following the completion of GE's Financial Management Program.
"The fixed and mobile operator interest in Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) technology and Kineto's solution for converging mobile devices over a wireless LAN has escalated dramatically and continues to grow by the day," said John O'Connell, CEO of Kineto. "The addition of Scott and Michael to the team is critical to ensure Kineto can meet this increasing demand. We are excited to have them driving this market forward."
About Kineto Wireless
Kineto Wireless delivers fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) solutions... today. With Kineto's UMA-compliant system, operators can provide a seamless, high-performance mobile voice, data and IMS experience on both cellular and Wi-Fi networks. With Kineto, operators can reduce costs by leveraging low cost IP-based Wi-Fi access technology in the home, office or public hotspot, and reduce churn by providing subscribers a single converged service across multiple networks. Kineto's solution conforms to the open UMA specification, endorsed by major fixed line and mobile operators worldwide. For more information, please visit www.kineto.com.
About UMA
Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) technology enables access to mobile voice, data and IMS services over IP broadband access and unlicensed spectrum technologies. By deploying UMA technology, service providers can enable subscribers to roam and handover between cellular networks and public and private unlicensed wireless networks using dual-mode mobile handsets. With UMA, subscribers receive a consistent user experience for their mobile voice, data and IMS services as they transition between networks.
The UMA specifications were created by Alcatel, ATT Wireless, British Telecom, Cingular, Ericsson, Kineto Wireless, Motorola, Nokia, Nortel, O2, Rogers Wireless, Siemens, Sony-Ericsson and T-Mobile US. The specifications are available for download at www.umatechnology.org.