Framingham, MA and Sunnyvale,
CA – May 15, 2006 – Innopath
Software, the industry leader in over-the-air
mobile device management (MDM), and Red Bend
Software, the leading provider of mobile
software management solutions, announced
today a proposed new format standard for
the packaging and distribution of firmware
over-the-air (FOTA) updates between companies
within the mobile phone industry. Implementing
the proposed format will make the task of
distributing FOTA updates from mobile handset
manufacturers to mobile network operators,
and between other parties, easier and less
expensive.
Mobile device management (MDM) and FOTA solutions
are being widely deployed by mobile network
operators to provision, diagnose, update and
repair mobile phones. Interoperability standards
are one of the key drivers responsible for
the successful growth of the MDM market. This
initiative is an example of leading companies
in the industry working together to accelerate
adoption of open standards to support this
rapidly expanding market.
Red Bend and InnoPath have agreed to collaborate
to obtain approval on the new format, Package
Ingest Container (PIC), as part of the Open
Mobile Alliance (OMA) Device Management (DM)
standard specification, where it is currently
in the proposal stage. OMA, a standard setting
organization for developing market driven,
interoperable mobile service enablers is closely
involved with MDM issues. Its membership includes
the world’s leading mobile operators,
device and network suppliers, information technology
companies and content and service providers.
The PIC is a comprehensive, secure and easy-to-use
format for packaging multiple FOTA updates
with the relevant meta-data required by operators
or other third parties to manage and deploy
these updates. Implementing PIC will
provide the mobile handset manufacturers, mobile
network operators and MDM system vendors with
a uniform information exchange format for the
distribution of FOTA updates as well as mobile
applications. More information about the PIC
format for firmware package ingest can be found
on OMA website under http://member.openmobilealliance.org/ftp/Public_documents/DM/2005 and
in a related white paper on Red Bend and InnoPath
websites.
About Innopath
InnoPath Software, the leader in Mobile Device
Management (MDM) solutions, enables wireless
carriers and mobile device manufacturers to
transparently deliver and support current and
future revenue producing services. InnoPath
was the first company to commercially deploy
firmware over-the-air mobile device management,
and its integrated iMDM Solutions Suites are
built upon standards based technologies for
rapid, high quality delivery of services. Tens
of millions of active subscribers are experiencing
the value of InnoPath patented solutions through
leading carriers including Cingular, KDDI,
NTT DoCoMo (NEC), VodafoneKK and Sprint, and
device manufacturers LG, Kyocera, NEC, Pantech & Curitel,
Panasonic, Sanyo, Sharp and Toshiba. Headquartered
in Sunnyvale, California, InnoPath is privately
held with offices in China, Japan, Korea and
the UK. For more information, visit http://www.innopath.com/.
About Red Bend Software
Red Bend Software helps mobile phone manufacturers
and network operators accelerate the adoption
of new services and features, respond rapidly
to customer problems and reduce support costs
through mobile software management solutions.
BenQ Mobile, LG Electronics, Sharp, Sony Ericsson,
and other large handset manufacturers use Red
Bend’s firmware over-the-air (FOTA) technology
to quickly and reliably deliver compact firmware
updates to mobile phones already in the hands
of users. Founded in 1999, Red Bend Software
is a privately held, venture capital-financed
company with corporate headquarters near Boston,
Mass., and offices in China, Israel, Japan,
Korea, and the U.K. More information about
Red Bend Software is available at www.redbend.com.
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