Kodiak to deploy Push-to-Talk technology for Jiangsu MobilE

Interfax
November 13, 2007

SHANGHAI, CHINA – November 13, 2007 – U.S.-headquartered Kodiak Networks announced today that China Mobile's subsidiary Jiangsu Mobile Communications Corp. (Jiangsu Mobile) has selected it to supply Push-to-Talk (PTT) technology for its customers in Jiangsu Province.

"We will help Jiangsu Mobile to roll out PTT services, the first commercial launch of such services in China," Kodiak's co-founder, Kris Patel, told Interfax.

If the partnership with Jiangsu Mobile goes well, Kodiak expects to expand the PTT deployment to other China Mobile service regions, such as the cities of Beijing and Shanghai, Patel said.

PTT is a two-way communication service that works like a "walkie-talkie" and is provided over a cellular network.

Initial PTT implementation activities will begin immediately, and will build upon a successful commercial pilot that served 20,000 users in Jiangsu Province earlier this year.

Jiangsu Mobile intends to market PTT services to Chinese enterprises, Kodiak said.

Kodiak, which has supplied its PTT solution to AT&T in the United States, said that Jiangsu Mobile selected the company's PTT application after evaluating competing technologies from global vendors.

Jiangsu Mobile's selection of Kodiak for its PTT deployment shows that the carrier desires to differentiate itself as well as seek new growth and killer applications, XJ Wang, the vice president of Asia-Pacific research at Yankee Group, a technology research and consulting firm, said in the announcement.

"As China Mobile has been evaluating PTT technology for a while now, the commercial launch [of PTT services] by Jiangsu Mobile will set a new benchmark for the Chinese mobile PTT market," Wang said.

Kodiak provides various mobile applications, including conferencing, messaging, presence and contact management, and PTT, to wireless operators. Its solutions have been deployed in North America, the Caribbean and Latin America, Europe, India, and in the Asia-Pacific region. The company has had a local office in Beijing since 2005.