Operator/Handset Customers

Novarra drives mobile internet penetration with
two new services for 3 Italia

Planet 3 portal seamlessly extended, building on 12 months of
successful customer adoption

30 October, 2007, Chicago. IL, USA: Novarra, the leading provider of
next-generation mobile internet platforms and services, today announces that
3 Italia has launched two new services using Novarra’s Vision™ mobile web gateway platform.  The Planet 3 mobile portal is extended to include full internet access so that all 3 Italia subscribers can now seamlessly consume the breadth of portal and internet content.  Additionally, consumers with X-Series handsets can now experience major internet brands, the WWW3 internet dashboard and the Planet 3 mobile portal from a single service offering.  Novarra’s Vision platform enables both services to be immediately available to all 3 Italia users without requiring any new software on their existing handsets.

Novarra’s Vision server is built upon open standards and can therefore deliver any web site to any WAP, i-mode or HTML browser. With this product, it is now possible to provide a rich mobile experience across all phones from one central point.  Supporting 1000s of commercially deployed industry browsers it also requires no change to the handset software.

3 Italia’s mobile internet penetration has doubled across all service plans within three months of launch.  With the Vision server’s open-browser support, 3 Italia has expanded its mobile internet reach across its entire user base. Usage data suggests that 3 Italia’s existing Planet 3 subscriber base is quickly discovering the internet service due to the seamless portal and off-portal offering using existing WAP browsers.

“World wide web access should be a core application for mobile phones alongside voice calling, messaging and taking photographs,” said Tony Cripps, senior analyst, Ovum. “Proactive operators are beginning not only to understand this requirement but also the need to extend web browsing to the widest range of handsets through the use of server-based adaptation.”

“We provide quality and scalability needed for mass-market adoption of mobile internet and next-generation portals,” added Jayanthi Rangarajan, CEO and president of Novarra. “Operators like 3 Italia recognise the power of Novarra’s open server solution, to immediately internet-enable the entire subscriber base. Our Java and BREW micro-clients provide additional choices. Our customers select us because of our experience, commitment to innovation, quality and scalability.  These are the critical factors required for a successful mobile internet deployment.”

With flat rate plans ranging from €1 to €9, these new services from 3 Italia build on 12 months of successful customer uptake of its WWW3 internet offering which also uses the Vision server in combination with Novarra’s industry leading suite of Java micro-clients. 

Novarra’s Vision server is the industry’s first platform with dynamic support for industry WAP/HTML browsers as well as high performance HTML micro-clients (Java, BREW and C++) which boost consumer usability and performance. The proven, carrier-grade platform for next-generation content and services, delivers the benefits of content adaptation, content reduction, acceleration, optimization, filtering and services definition in a single platform.  Built upon open standards, with support for portals and advertising, the Vision server fits seamlessly within content, network and billing infrastructure. Novarra’s full browsers and micro-clients provide industry leading performance and mobile usability across open-OS handsets.

About Novarra
Novarra is the leading provider of high performance mobile web gateway platforms for operators and content providers to create new internet-based services and revenue streams. Novarra developed the first server-client architecture for web content transformation and network optimization designed for mass-market, high volume mobile consumer deployments. Novarra's open standards-based platforms deliver a high quality mobile user experience for services like full rich web, search, premium portals, personalization and advertising.  Global commercial deployments over 5 years on both 2.5G and 3G have proven consumer satisfaction, uptake and increased data services revenue. 

Novarra and Vision are trademarks of Novarra, Inc.

For more Information:

Europe:
Annie Woodhead / Alexis Dalrymple
Hotwire PR
annie.woodhead@hotwirepr.com / alexis.dalrymple@hotwirepr.com
+44 (0) 207 608 4664 / +44 (0) 207 608 4685

North America:
Doug Haslam
Topaz Partners
Novarra@topazpartners.com
+1 (781) 404 2419