Now Wireless Breaks the MMS Barrier

NowMMS.com provides free international cross-operator multimedia messaging services

London, UK - December 3, 2002 – Now Wireless today announced the launch of NowMMS.com, a free service providing international cross-operator MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) capabilities. Available to mobile subscribers across Europe and to subscribers of select US GSM operators, mobile phone subscribers can exchange MMS picture messages with other subscribers, even when they are subscribers of different mobile networks, based in different countries.

While NowMMS.com subscribers are subject to operator charges for data transmission, the service is provided free of any operator surcharges for multimedia messages.

The NowMMS.com service represents the first time that users in the UK and Europe are able to send MMS messages between subscribers of different mobile network operators within the same country or in different countries. The service also supports the bi-directional exchange of MMS messages between mobile phones and internet e-mail recipients.

“Cross carrier interoperability for SMS was a key enabler behind the explosive growth of SMS in the past several years. It is beyond belief that the initial MMS services launched by network operators lack cross carrier interoperability,” declared Brian Jackson, Managing Director of Now Wireless. “To promote growth in the MMS market, we decided to launch NowMMS.com to once again break through the mobile operators’ walled gardens, as we did three years ago when we brought the first enterprise WAP gateway to the market.”

Available immediately, sign-up information is available at http://www.nowmms.com.

The free service is advertiser supported, which means that in exchange for free services, subscribers agree to receive a limited number of advertisements. “As advertising is currently some of the coolest MMS content being developed, this is a reasonable compromise,” stated Bryce Norwood, Director of Technology for Now Wireless.

The NowMMS.com service is built on top of the Now SMS/MMS gateway and Now MMSC (Multimedia Messaging Service Centre), affordable SMS and MMS solutions that can be deployed independent of mobile network operators. Free trial versions of the Now SMS/MMS gateway and built-in MMSC are available at http://www.nowsms.com.

Additional connectivity services for the NowMMS.com service are provided through the WAP3GX public WAP gateway service. The WAP3GX Gateway is built for speed. With WAP providing the underlying protocol support for object delivery to MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) clients, the explosive growth of MMS services is placing heavy demands on conventional WAP gateways. The WAP3GX Gateway was designed to meet the needs of new MMS services, as well as legacy WAP applications.

For additional information, contact Now Wireless at +44 208 286 8080, or send email to nowmms@now.co.uk.

About Now Wireless

Founded in 1988 as Now International, the Now Wireless division of Now International is widely associated with enterprise and carrier class wireless solutions. Now Wireless has worked on major projects with O2/ Manx Telecom on the first 3G service in Europe and is a leader in MMS solutions with some of the most downloaded MMS tools on the internet. With wide ranging expertise in wireless technology, Now Wireless also consults for Local Governments and Large Enterprises.

Press inquiries may contact Beril Sener at Now Wireless UK, +44 208 286 8080, or e-mail beril@now.co.uk.