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February 9, 2005
SMARTNER REPORTS RECORD GROWTH FOR 2004
Europe’s leading mobile office provider ends the year with 24 push-email licensing partners and over 120,000 customers
Cambridge, UK – Smartner Information Systems today announced that it exceeded growth targets for 2004.
In the twelve months to December 31, it more than tripled the number of licensing deals it had with mobile operators across Europe, the Middle-East, and Asia-Pacific. As a result, Smartner started 2005 with a total of 24 partners including 02 and Vodafone. This number is more than the combined customer base of Smartner’s closest competitors.
During 2004 Smartner also extended its strategic partnerships with device manufacturers including Nokia and Sony Ericsson. Smartner Always-On Mail, which provides an easy and scalable system for businesses using Microsoft Exchange or Lotus Domino, is now available as a standard add-on feature on Nokia 9300 smartphones, 9500 communicators, and multimedia devices and Sony Ericsson P910 handsets, in addition to the 02 XDA IIs and other mobile devices based on Windows Mobile software.
“As operators seek to further diversify their mobile email solutions to provide additional choice for their corporate customers, mobile email solution vendors face a race against time to ensure that they make it onto ‘preferred partner’ lists. Although product diversification is a current aim, operators will not want to confuse customers and dilute offerings with too great a variety of email products. Partnering potential is therefore finite. The number of operator partners that Smartner boasts places it in a strong position entering 2005,” says Nick Greenway, Lead Analyst at Datamonitor.
In addition, industry analyst firm, Gartner Group, evaluated Smartner as the only push email provider in Europe and according to IDC, a top global mobile middleware vendor in the ability to gain market share.
Building on the success of its enterprise product, in February Smartner launched its Professional Edition for individual enterprise users, and in June it launched consumer version of Always-On Mail which enables customers with ISP hosted mail accounts to receive mail in true push fashion. This is also available as a feature on the Nokia and Sony Ericsson handsets.
“2004 was a great year for Smartner in every dimension. We have seen steady growth in the number of operators and end users looking for push email solutions, and we have met that demand with the right product, price point and availability,” said Paul Hedman, CEO, Smartner Information Systems. “We will build on this success in 2005 and extend our reach beyond Europe into the US, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa, and to keep expanding the choice of mobile devices and features for Always-on Mail, for the benefit of the people in the move.”
About Smartner Always-On Mail
Smartner Always-on Mail is an award winning solution that extends the access of Microsoft Outlook, Lotus Notes and Internet mailboxes to mobile devices. Without any user interaction, it provides mobile professionals with complete control over their desktop functions while on the road. Users can enjoy the Short Message (SMS) like immediacy with complete email functionalities, such as attachments, and full integration to their personal, corporate, and global email infrastructure without compromising any aspect of corporate or personal security.
Giving users the choice for selecting their preferred mobile device, Always-On Mail can be implemented in a wide range of mobile devices such as Pocket PC, Smartphone and Symbian.
In addition, Always-On Mail can be installed and deployed by an enterprise in a few hours without the need to change corporate systems, networks, or firewalls. Therefore, the total costs of ownership are kept to a minimum and the customers can start reaping the benefits of always-on mail right away.
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