SOURCE: Red Bend Software

November 01, 2007 14:29 ET

Red Bend Software Named Finalist in GSMA Asia Mobile Innovation Awards

GSMA Endorsement Underscores Value of Red Bend's vCurrent® Mobile FOTA Solution for Operators, Manufacturers and Consumers

WALTHAM, MA--(Marketwire - November 1, 2007) - Red Bend Software, the market leader in Mobile Software Management and Firmware Over-the-Air (FOTA) updating solutions for mobile devices, today announced that it has been named a finalist in the category of Most Innovative Wireless Device-Centric Technology for the prestigious GSM Association's Mobile Innovation Awards Asia.

Red Bend has been recognized by GSMA for its innovative and proven approach to performing remote software updates on mobile devices. Its market-leading vCurrent® Mobile solution has been adopted by 15 manufacturers and is provided in 200 million mobile phones globally. vCurrent Mobile calculates only the essential differences between a new version of software and the existing version, versus delivering the full new version over the network. This significantly saves operator bandwidth, and provides a faster update for consumers in 3-15 minutes. Previously, consumers who experienced software problems would be required to make an inconvenient trip to a retail store to have their phones manually repaired.

"Mobile phones have likely become the most important personal accessory to our daily lives. Red Bend's vCurrent Mobile makes a real difference to consumers by enabling them to receive software improvements and feature enhancements directly to their mobile phones over-the-air," said Sharon Peleg, Founder and CTO of Red Bend Software. "We have succeeded in bringing FOTA to the mass market because we've given manufacturers and operators a trusted and proven solution, and have made it reliable and easy for consumers to use."

The GSMA, the global trade association for mobile operators, established the Mobile Innovation Program to help small and medium-sized companies developing innovative mobile products and services to reach mobile operators and bring their innovations to end-users. The program is designed to stimulate and showcase innovation around mobile services and to better align innovators with the needs of the mobile industry and its customers.

"We are thrilled with the quality of innovations submitted to the Asia Mobile Innovation Awards," said Bill Gajda, Chief Commercial Officer of the GSMA. "The eight finalists, which hail from seven different countries, are truly 'best of breed.' The Mobile Innovation Program aspires to create a global environment for getting business done, by discovering and showcasing exceptional products and companies to top executives from operators, VCs and equipment vendors."

Next month, the finalists will present their products and companies to a judging panel. The winner in each category will be announced in Macau on November 12-13, 2007, at the Mobile Innovation Summit, co-located with the GSMA Mobile Asia Congress.

The innovations of Red Bend's vCurrent Mobile have helped drive consumer adoption of FOTA. vCurrent Mobile's fail-safe feature updates mobile phones with 100% reliability, even if the battery falls out. This removes consumer fears about losing stored data or rendering their phone inoperable.

In addition, vCurrent Mobile version 5, introduced in July 2007, is the first FOTA solution to perform Background Updates, enabling consumers to use the full function of their phones during the update process. Version 5 also provides another industry first called Revertible Updates, which enables devices to rollback updates to the previous version of firmware. This affords new revenue opportunities for operators by enabling them to offer time-limited features and applications for a trial period, and then automatically remove the software if the consumer does not subscribe.

About Red Bend Software

Red Bend Software helps mobile phone manufacturers and network operators to accelerate the adoption of new services and features, respond rapidly to customer needs, and reduce support costs through mobile software management solutions. LG Electronics, Motorola, NEC, Sharp, Sony Ericsson, and other large handset manufacturers use Red Bend's firmware over-the-air (FOTA) mobile client software to quickly and reliably deliver compact firmware updates to more than 200 million mobile phones in the hands of consumers. Founded in 1999, Red Bend Software is a privately held, venture capital-financed company with offices in China, Israel, Japan, Korea, the U.K and the U.S. More information is available at www.redbend.com.