FirstHand Technologies Announces 2007 Accomplishments in the Mobile Unified Communications Market
Recent Achievements Include New Partnerships, Enterprise Solution for VARs, Expanded Support for Single and Dual-Mode Devices
OTTAWA, Jan. 8, 2008 – FirstHand Technologies, an innovator in transforming smart phones and PDAs into full-featured business telephones, today announced continued momentum and key achievements for 2007.
Recent successes include:
• Products Go GA: Based on successful beta-site implementations, leading OEM partners of FirstHand Technologies announced general availability (GA) of the FirstHand mobile unified communications (UC) products.
• New Partnerships, Open Source Support: FirstHand Technologies partnered with NEC, Sylantro, and Bluesocket-Pingtel. The company also introduced support for open source PBXs, such as Digium (Asterisk) and sipX.
• Solution for VARs: FirstHand Technologies introduced the Enterprise Mobility Solution UC, which is designed to work with solutions from IP PBX manufacturers and VARs supporting standard SIP interfaces.
• Expanded Support for Mobile Devices and Operating Systems: FirstHand added Nokia E65, BlackBerry® Pearl, BlackBerry® 8800, BlackBerry® Curve mobile devices and devices running Windows Mobile® 6 to supported device list. This expansive list provides the company with a competitive lead in supporting single mode and dual-mode mobile devices.
• Awards: Based upon its performance the prior year, FirstHand received the 2006 Product of the Year Award from Communications Solutions and INTERNET TELEPHONY® Magazine’s 2006 Product of the Year Award in 2007.
“2007 was an exceedingly eventful, productive and exciting year for FirstHand Technologies,” said David Hattey, president and CEO of FirstHand Technologies. “Products became GA for tier one PBX vendors, new partners were signed, a new enterprise mobility solution was announced for VARs, more devices and operating systems were supported and several awards acknowledged our leadership in mobile UC.”
Hattey added, “I fully expect 2008 to continue on the same trajectory with mobile UC becoming a reality for our customers all over the world. Enterprise CIOs will gain strategic benefits from mobile UC, because it helps them leverage their existing PBX investment, enjoy secure communications over cellular and WiFi, retain all mobile call activity and voice mails internally on their enterprise PBXs and gain greater visibility into cellular costs. Mobile UC will give CIOs the ability to make more informed decisions regarding their mobility policies and budget.”
Also in 2007, FirstHand Technologies participated in many industry-level tradeshow panels, and continued to receive positive reviews in key reports and articles such as “Have Phone, Will Travel” in Information Week, “25 Most Interesting VoIP Startups” in VoIP News, “Universal, Mobile, Unified Communications from FirstHand” in VoIP Planet, and “These VoIP Players Know the Score” in Network World.
About FirstHand Technologies (www.firsthandtech.com)
FirstHand Technologies mobilizes the enterprise by extending the functionality of numerous IP PBXs to a variety of smart phones and dual-mode devices. FirstHand Technologies empowers an enterprise’s workforce to go mobile with the same functionality as their office desktop. The FirstHand Technologies advanced fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) solution delivers enterprise features and “single number” seamless connectivity over cellular networks and/or WiFi enabling organizations to achieve “enterprise communications everywhere.” The enterprise benefits from faster communication abilities, increased productivity and significant cost savings. For more information, please visit www.firsthandtech.com.
FirstHand Technologies is a registered trademark of FirstHand Technologies. All other trademarks, trade names and company names referenced herein are used for identification only and are the property of their respective companies.
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Media Contact:
Elyse Familant
George Cohen Communications
978-725-3637
[email protected]
