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Mobile Software Management Promises New Revenue Opportunities for Mobile Ecosystem

Posted on: Wednesday, 7 January 2009, 07:31 CST

Analysts Say MSM Solutions, Including Red Bend Software's vRapid Mobile(TM), Can Create New Revenue Streams in Services and Applications

WALTHAM, Mass., Jan. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- With the growing need for mobile operators to rapidly launch new services and applications, and with increasing pressure for device manufacturers to speed time to market of their latest handsets, Mobile Software Management (MSM) promises new opportunities for the mobile ecosystem to increase revenue, create brand loyalty and improve the mobile user experience.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080828/REDBENDLOGO )

A new white paper published by global market intelligence and advisory firm IDC and sponsored by Red Bend Software finds that Mobile Software Management can create new revenue opportunities for mobile operators, device manufacturers and software developers. Titled "Beyond FOTA: Advancing Mobile Software Management to Next-Generation Services(1)," the white paper describes how the mobile ecosystem can remotely manage software assets on mobile devices by adopting new standards and deploying new technologies, such as Red Bend's vRapid Mobile(TM) for managing software components over the air (SCOTA).

IDC found that MSM provides the following benefits for:

• Operators: The ability to create new revenue opportunities in services and applications and to improve consumer satisfaction without having to rely on the release cycles of device OEMs, ISVs and standards bodies.
• OEMs: The means to improve brand loyalty through support for new, innovative and consumer-demanded Internet services and applications after the devices ship.
• ISVs: The ability to manage applications on mobile devices independent of hardware maintenance release schedules as well as to reach new consumer markets and operators.
• Consumers: MSM-enabled devices can be easily customized and personalized with software, services and features, allowing consumers to download the latest applications and subscribe to new mobile services.

"MSM can offer compelling advantages for the mobile ecosystem with the benefit of additional revenue streams in selling applications, software and services as well as improvements in the user experience of mobile devices. These factors, along with giving consumers greater control over personalizing their mobile phones, can all translate into higher consumer satisfaction, resulting in a more dedicated following in the highly competitive mobile market," states IDC analyst Stephen D. Drake, who co-authored the white paper with IDC analyst Sean Ryan.

Red Bend's vRapid Mobile is the industry's first cross-platform, standards-based MSM solution to give the mobile value chain complete flexibility over updating, adding, changing and removing individual software components over-the-air on any mobile phone or device at any point during the device lifetime. vRapid Mobile is a standalone MSM client that leverages existing DM server solutions, supports the new Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) Software Component Management Object (SCOMO) standard, and uses its own agent to install/uninstall, activate/deactivate, update, and deliver applications and/or their dependencies. vRapid Mobile also identifies software inventory and manages dependencies between applications and software components regardless of memory location.

The new SCOMO standard, which is central to Mobile Software Management, is designed to manage individual software components over the air. Software components can range from mobile applications and middleware to browser plug-ins and UI elements. Firmware over-the-air (FOTA) updating, which is based on OMA's Firmware Update Management Object (FUMO) standard, is used to update the entire image at one time.

For more information about SCOMO, visit: http://www.redbend.com/resources/scomo.asp.

To download the IDC white paper, visit: www.redbend.com/resources/research-reports.asp.

About Red Bend Software

Red Bend Software, the leader in Mobile Software Management (MSM), provides client software for managing firmware, applications and devices over the air. The company's award-winning MSM products enable device manufacturers, mobile operators and software developers to increase revenues, reduce support costs and achieve faster time to market by remotely managing their software assets on mobile devices. Red Bend's software has been deployed in 410 million mobile devices by seven of the top 10 handset manufacturers, including LG Electronics, Motorola, Sharp, Sony Ericsson and ZTE, as well as 30 other leading companies in the mobile, M2M and WiMAX markets. Unlike device management vendors with proprietary end-to-end systems and manufacturers' internally developed solutions that are platform specific, Red Bend is the only company offering independent client software that is interoperable with any standards-based server and that works with any platform on any type of mobile device. Founded in 1999, Red Bend is a privately held, venture capital-financed company with offices in China, Israel, Japan, Korea, the U.K. and the U.S. To learn how Red Bend is bending rules and breaking boundaries with mobile software management, visit www.redbend.com.

(1) IDC White Paper sponsored by Red Bend, "Beyond FOTA: Advancing Mobile Software Management to Next Generation Services," Doc # 215299, December 2008

SOURCE Red Bend Software

Source: PR Newswire

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