CanalPDA

Tetco-Voxpilot Open Media Platform Powers The 3G Video Evolution of Kirusa’s Popular Voice SMS Application

Exclusive Video SMS Previews at the 2009 Mobile World Congress

Mobile World Congress, Barcelona, Spain, February 18, 2009: Kirusa, the world’s leading vendor of Voice SMS and a leading developer of mobile value added services, in partnership with Tetco-Voxpilot, a specialist in voice/video/data convergence, today announced the world’s first ever Video SMS product. Exclusive previews of the Kirusa Video SMS solution, deployed on Tetco-Voxpilot Open Media Platform, are being demonstrated at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Video SMS is the first in a series of 3G initiatives being developed by Kirusa as a logical extension to its current flagship Voice SMS offering.

The Kirusa Video SMS application is a combination of the most popular 3G technologies available today. The application provides captivating features such as sending Video SMS messages, replying to Video SMS messages, forwarding Video SMS messages, and group Video SMS messaging, greatly enhancing the reach of video messaging to a wider population of mobile users. Kirusa Video SMS messaging is useful in a wide variety of consumer and business situations specially tailored for 3G networks. Carriers can offer the application to drive 3G revenues leveraging their existing network infrastructure.

How Video SMS works

Video SMS is a 3G service, based on video calling, and is used to send short video clips. The Video SMS application allows people to send live video via an SMS message.

A mobile subscriber sends a Video SMS message, similar to how he sends a Voice SMS message — he dials the * (star) key followed by the mobile number of recipient from a 3G phone, and chooses to make a video call. The camera then gets activated, allowing the subscriber to record a live video message. After finishing the recording, the subscriber may drop the video call, or review and re-record the video SMS message. The Video SMS message is sent to the recipient as a simple SMS notification with an embedded DirectListen™ number, which when dialed to make a video call, takes the recipient directly to the Video SMS message he has received. After viewing the message, the recipient can reply to or forward the Video SMS message.

“It is great to see Kirusa take advantage of the powerful video capabilities in our Open Media Platform. We are working with Kirusa to deliver world class value-added video solutions for mobile operators”, said Laurence Lari, International Director at Tetco-Voxpilot.

“Kirusa’s Video SMS application is easy to use, integrates seamlessly into how mobile subscribers use video calling, requires little or no learning curve, and works with the existing 3G infrastructure, and therein lies its appeal”, said Raja N. Moorthy, Vice President of Engineering at Kirusa. He further added, “The standards based video support in the Tetco-Voxpilot Open Media Platform has been key to the rapid development of a scalable Video SMS application.”

Kirusa Video SMS application will be demonstrated live at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona from Feb 16-19, 2009. To schedule a private demonstration, or to purchase, contact your sales representative, or send an email to info@kirusa.com.

www.kirusa.com.

Industry leading product focuses on enhanced Voice SMS usage experience

CTIA, Las Vegas, Thursday, April 3, 2008; Kirusa, the world’s leading vendor of Voice SMS and a leading developer of mobile value added services, today announced the release of KV.SMS 4.0, the next generation of its industry leading Voice SMS product. The new product, which will be at the core of all future Voice SMS implementations, comes with enhanced features that enrich and improve the Voice SMS usage experience, generate additional revenue for the mobile operators, and at the same time provide several industry firsts.

Kirusa Voice SMS product now supports seamless interoperability between carriers. In countries where multiple carriers have deployed Voice SMS, interoperability allows mobile subscribers to retrieve Voice SMS messages at no cost, using their familiar user interface, regardless of whether the sender is on the same network or on another network. Kirusa had earlier announced the world’s first exchange of Voice SMS messages between carriers, based on the technical specification developed by the GSM Association, the worldwide trade association for the mobile phone industry.

Some of the other advanced features that simplify and enrich the user experience include: International Voice SMS, allowing subscribers to send a voice message abroad, when convenient, without having to worry about time zone differences or the high cost of international voice calling, with the recipient able to retrieve and reply easily; Speed Codes, a fast and convenient way to compose or forward a Voice SMS message; Outbound message delivery, an ability to deliver Voice SMS messages using outbound calls; Background Music, allowing users to enrich and personalize the content in a simple way.

KVSMS 4.0 incorporates many technical advancements and performance enhancements. The product provides support for additional charging interfaces, variable length Voice SMS messages, and allows third party applications to send and receive Voice SMS messages, thereby enabling a new class of mobile applications from partners.

Commenting on the release, Mr. Sunzay Passari, VP-VAS and Devices at BPL Mobile, said, “Seamless connectivity across mobile networks is the key to increasing usage of Voice SMS. The interoperability provided by Kirusa Voice SMS has the capacity to change the landscape of Voice SMS, and is a significant step forward in addressing the constantly evolving communication needs of our mobile subscribers.”

“The Kirusa Voice SMS solution has been used by millions of mobile subscribers around the world, and their experiences and feedback helped give shape to KV.SMS Version 4.0,” said Dr. Inderpal Singh Mumick, CEO of Kirusa. “This approach to fostering innovation in the mobile industry is helping create a new environment that will change the way people share emotions in the future.”

“Version 4.0 of the Voice SMS product has been engineered to scale to thousands of concurrent calls, while providing telecom grade reliability,” said Mr. Raja Moorthy, VP Engineering of Kirusa.

Kirusa www.kirusa.com.

Historic Voice SMS Interoperability trial across Networks to Revolutionize Mobile Messaging

New Providence, New Jersey and Barcelona, Spain, Thursday, February 14, 2008; Kirusa, the world’s leading vendor of Voice SMS and a leading developer of mobile value added services, today announced that it has demonstrated the world’s first exchange of Voice SMS messages between diverse carriers using different Voice SMS systems. This is the first ever demonstration of Voice SMS interoperability anywhere in the world. The trials were based on the technical specification developed by the GSM Association, the worldwide trade association for the mobile phone industry.

Ufone and Telenor Pakistan, with support from Kirusa and Mobile Arts, successfully exchanged Voice SMS messages between their networks. As part of the trial, when a Ufone subscriber sent a message to a Telenor Pakistan subscriber, the message went from the Kirusa Voice SMS solution in Ufone to the Mobile Arts solution in Telenor Pakistan. The Telenor Pakistan subscriber got an SMS from the Ufone subscriber, and listened and replied to the message with the same user interface and pricing as if the message had been sent by a Telenor Pakistan subscriber. The reply was sent back to the Kirusa Voice SMS solution in Ufone network. Kirusa and Mobile Arts developed the software that allowed this interoperability between Ufone and Telenor Pakistan.

Telenor Pakistan and Ufone Pakistan are set to launch the world’s first interoperable voice messaging, or voice SMS, services in 2008 following successful voice messaging trials towards the end of last year.

The GSMA initiative allows mobile subscribers to receive and reply to Voice SMS messages from their contacts using an easy and consistent user interface, irrespective of the mobile carrier of the sender. The vendors would need to adhere to the GSMA standard to provide the interoperability, which is expected to help augment potential revenues to mobile carriers.

“Ufone is very pleased to be a part of the world’s first trial for developing new operator inter-working specifications,” said Ali Ikram, Head of VAS, Ufone. “We believe in maintaining a strong focus on innovation and high quality of service, and the interoperability of Voice SMS helps us provide a better service to our subscribers. Kirusa has provided tremendous support to help achieve this significant milestone in a short timeframe.”

Mr. Inder Singh, Senior Vice President, Lehman, said, “Over the last couple of years it has become quite apparent to the mobile community that seamless connectivity across networks is the key to increasing usage of mobile applications. The Voice SMS interoperability initiative undertaken by GSMA portends a good future for Voice SMS as a pervasive form of mobile messaging and the support for interoperability in the solution from Kirusa means that it will be brought to market quickly.”

Ewald Anderl, CTO, Kirusa, leads Kirusa’s standards strategy and activities. Speaking on the occasion, he stated, “I am delighted that Kirusa has enabled the world’s first ever demonstration of Voice SMS interoperability. This represents a landmark development for Voice SMS, and a validation of Kirusa’s vision of providing Voice SMS services to subscribers around the world.” He further added, “Interoperability between carriers will lead to increase usage and acceptability of Voice SMS worldwide. Kirusa is a firm believer in standards to help promote the interoperability.”

Kirusa www.kirusa.com