LAGUNA NIGUEL, Calif., Sept. 14, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- Bitfone Corporation (www.bitfone.com), the company that pioneered over-the-air (OTA) firmware update technology for mobile phones, today unveiled its new product portfolio that redefines the company and the emerging OTA device management market. Bitfone's new SmartCare, mProve 4.0 and Mobile Variance Platform (MVP) products work together to find and fix mobile device software problems while enhancing both device functionality and the mobile experience for the end user.
Bitfone has unbundled the network and handset elements of its OTA software update solution to provide a more powerful, flexible and interoperable product line. MVP is Bitfone's new standards-based device management server that enables carriers to centrally manage firmware and software updates for any OMA-compliant devices on their network. The new mProve 4.0 is the latest version of Bitfone's flagship firmware update solution for manufacturers that reflashes a phone's memory OTA. mProve 4.0 features several enhancements resulting in greater speed, efficiency and 3G software support. Bitfone's SmartCare is the premier remote diagnostics solution designed specifically to automate customer care procedures and reduce support costs for carriers. Together, the integrated products provide a flexible, end-to-end device management solution that allows both carriers and handset vendors to reduce risk of deploying 3G devices, reduce software maintenance costs, and improve customer satisfaction.
"The release of MVP and mProve 4.0, along with the recent acquisition of SmartCare, mark the beginning of a new era for Bitfone and for the rapidly growing space of mobile device software management," said Gene Wang, Bitfone's chairman and CEO. "Now wireless operators can diagnose a device problem using the SmartCare rules-engine, resolve the problem with an OTA software update performed by mProve, and proactively service all comparable devices in the field using MVP's unique Device Lookup Register (DLR). No other OTA software update solution provides this level of control, intelligence and automation to carriers."
In August of 2004, Bitfone acquired Mobile Diagnostix, Inc., obtaining their SmartCare product that allows carriers to remotely diagnose and repair data-enabled mobile devices. SmartCare is the first solution to offer real-time assistance to Tier 1 customer service representatives, allowing them to troubleshoot and resolve a larger percentage of data-related problems on the first call. SmartCare automatically gathers information from the device, analyzes the data using a sophisticated rules-engine, and then drives the appropriate resolution. SmartCare can also initiate Bitfone or third-party tools to fix problems over the air, reducing average call handling time by more than 60%. SmartCare minimizes the frequency of support escalation, freeing up expensive technical resources and maximizing productivity of front-line support staff.
mProve 4.0 Enhancements
New mProve 4.0 delivers several enhancements in speed, efficiency and 3G software support to make it the leading software update solution available on the market. Advantages include:
-- Faster Update Times - Using patent-pending Virtual Block Management technology, mProve 4.0 can reflash devices twice as fast as competitive products, yet maintain 100 percent fault tolerance during the update.
-- Smaller Update Packages - mProve 4.0 provides a unique Bitfone Optimization Tool (BOT) to unobtrusively optimize the software build process, reducing the number of changes between software versions, and thereby reducing Update Package size. BOT offers a more holistic approach to improving update efficiency, resulting in "perfect prediction" and shorter generation times for Update Packages versus compression techniques alone.
-- File-based Software Update Support - mProve 4.0 addresses the blurring line between firmware and software on 3G devices, allowing updates to individual files through the resident file system, as well as updates to operating systems and protocol stacks within the firmware image, using a single Update Package.
MVP Features
MVP is Bitfone's new standards-based, OTA software management server offering these key features:
-- Interoperable Device Maintenance - MVP centrally manages firmware and software updates to any OMA-compliant mobile device. It supports both Bitfone and third-party firmware update agents residing on the device through a standards-based interface.
-- Device-Subscriber Correlation - MVP's Device Lookup Register(tm) (DLR) database associates subscribers to the devices they use on the network. The DLR maintains device capabilities, subscriber information, and interoperability requirements, allowing carriers to target specific devices for software maintenance.
-- Subscriber Classes - MVP can segment subscribers based on geography, demographic profile, vertical industry, company name, etc. It allows carriers to proactively deliver software updates or discriminately offer premium services to Subscriber Class members.
-- Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) Standards Compliance - MVP offers broad handset support by conforming to OMA-Device Management (DM) v1.1.2 protocol for device management, OMA Download for Generic Content v1.0 protocol for download, and OMA-DM Firmware Over-The-Air (FOTA) support for firmware updates.
-- Flexible Update Triggers - MVP can initiate software updates through a number of configurable "triggers" such as a customer care "push" interface, user-initiated "pull" from the device, or SIM card change detected on the device.
Bitfone offers SmartCare, mProve and MVP as stand-alone products which can be combined to form a powerful customer care solution for improving the quality of mobile phones.
About Bitfone Corporation
Bitfone Corporation provides unparalleled expertise and innovative software solutions for customer care automation and mobile device management to wireless operators and handset providers. Bitfone's SmartCare, mProve and MVP products improve usability of mobile devices by diagnosing and repairing software problems and delivering software updates and configuration settings over the air. Bitfone's solutions allow customers to find, fix and enhance mobile devices, safely and efficiently. Bitfone's customers also benefit from significant cost savings in the areas of customer service and warranty, improved device quality and customer satisfaction, and broader adoption of advanced wireless services. Bitfone is a private company headquartered in Laguna Niguel, California, with offices in Canada, China, Japan, Korea, and the U.K. For more information, please visit www.bitfone.com.