Birdstep Announces Intelligent Mobile IP Beta client on Symbian OS





Birdstep announces the availability of its leading seamless mobility and ease-of-connectivity product on Symbian OS

Oslo/Stockholm -/20 May, 2005 - Wi-Fi Technology Forum/- To tap into the growing SmartPhone market and to fulfill the requirements received from the operator market, Birdstep Technology announced the release of a beta version of the Birdstep Intelligent Mobile IP client on Symbian OS.

The growth of the SmartPhone market represents an exciting opportunity for Birdstep Technology?s connectivity client software. The SmartPhone market is forecasted to be 240 million devices in 2006 with manufacturers such as Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericsson already providing handsets with both cellular and WLAN capability.

The Birdstep Intelligent Mobile IP client is the first seamless mobility solution based on Mobile IP developed on Symbian OS. The client running on Symbian OS opens the perfect channel for operators to launch new services that take advantage of ease of connectivity and seamless mobility. It solves the requirement of allowing applications running on SmartPhones to seamlessly switch between cellular and WiFi networks without interruption, finding automatically always the best available network at any time.

"In the emerging markets, it is a key requirement for many operators to offer a complete mobile solution that simplifies the user experience when attempting to connect to operator?s multitude of own and partner networks," said J?rgen Bredesen, CEO for Birdstep. "By offering our leading solution from the Windows market on truly mobile platforms such as Symbian OS, we enable operators to capture customers, reduce churn and provide new traffic-generating services in a highly competitive mobile operator market."

About Birdstep Technology

Birdstep Technology ASA is a public company listed in the Oslo Stock Exchange (OSE) under ticker ?BIRD? with head quarters in Oslo, Norway in addition to offices in the USA in Seattle, San Francisco and Boston, as well as offices in Stockholm, Frankfurt, Cambridge (UK) and Shanghai. Birdstep Technology ASA?s two wholly owned subsidiaries, Birdstep Technology, Inc. and Birdstep Technology Ltd., are organized under the laws of Delaware, USA, and the United Kingdom, respectively.

In December 2004 Birdstep acquired 100% of the shares in Alice Systems. The purpose of the acquisition was to complement both companies? offerings to be able to deliver best-in-class client-based solutions that enable operators to improve their customer experience as they move between available networks, e.g. fixed, cellular and wireless connections. The company today employs around 100 people dedicated to development of advanced seamless mobility solutions and small footprint, high performance database technologies. Birdstep has the intellectual property rights to software developed, and inventions made, by its employees. Birdstep?s global customers and partners include Cisco (CSCO), 3Com (COMS), Alcatel (EPA), Ericsson (ERICY), Nortel Networks (NT), HP (HPQ), Fujitsu Siemens Computers, PCTel (PCTI), and 32 network operators worldwide including T-Mobile Group, Vodafone Group and Telenor (TELN). For more information, visit http://www.birdstep.com.