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InnoPath's Comprehensive Firmware Over-the-Air (FOTA) Solution Will Provide Fast, Seamless Service Updates for Mobile Phone Users

March 2 2006

InnoPath Software, the industry leader in over-the-air (OTA) mobile device management, today announced that Vodafone K.K., a leading wireless operator in Japan, has selected InnoPath's Firmware Manager (formerly DeltaUpgrade Plus(TM)) end-to-end firmware over-the-air (FOTA) device management solution to provide fast, efficient OTA delivery of advanced features and services for Vodafone K.K. handset users.

As part of the agreement, InnoPath will serve as the exclusive vendor to provide Vodafone K.K. with an OTA-based mobile device management update solution on its mobile handsets. Deploying InnoPath's proven end-to-end mobile device management (MDM) solution will accelerate time-to-market for Vodafone K.K.'s new products and services, as well as drive customer satisfaction and loyalty, enabling the delivery of fast, seamless service updates to customers.


Strategy Analytics estimates that the cost of recalling 500,000 handsets varies between $36m and $21m excluding the cost of resulting churn (Source Strategy Analytics Insight Report -- Wireless Internet Applications).

The quantity of handsets impacted will only grow given the complexity of feature rich handsets that are available today. Armed with these alarming statistics and in light of the demand for mobile devices with advanced services and applications, carriers and handset manufacturers require a complete mobile device management (MDM) solution that addresses customer satisfaction needs, such as increasing the speed of software downloads and decreasing the delay of in-device software updates.

"With the growing popularity of sophisticated handsets, a total solution dedicated to fast, seamless software update delivery is a very critical component of what carriers have to offer cell phone users," said Hiroshi Ohta, Head of Product and Service Development at Vodafone K.K. "An OTA-based software update solution will ensure our subscribers' needs are met to fix handsets remotely and increase customer satisfaction."

"One way companies can differentiate themselves in the highly competitive handset market is with field-proven experience, market leadership and top-of-the-line customer service," said John Fazio, president and CEO of InnoPath Software. "Vodafone K.K. is embracing the complexities of its next-generation handsets and is reassured that they are providing the ultimate customer service experience for their end users by offering InnoPath's complete, end-to-end OTA solution, Firmware Manager."

InnoPath's iMDM mobile device management solution has filled this niche in the market by delivering the industry's first commercially available end-to-end OTA solution. By using Firmware Manager, Vodafone K.K. will continue delivering unmatched customer service by dramatically reducing the time it takes for handset manufacturers to deploy firmware updates in a modular and flexible architecture.

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 (FOTA) solutions enabling reliable and secure upgrades to device firmware and software. InnoPath's integrated iMDM Solutions Suites offer the most trusted and market tested MDM solutions today and 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, and Sprint, and device manufacturers LG, NEC, 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/.