In 2007, just before the dawn of the mobile internet revolution, Bytemobile and IBM formed a strategic partnership for the integration and deployment of Bytemobile’s Unison™ Mobile Internet Platform with IBM’s BladeCenter network servers.

Today, approximately 15 of Bytemobile’s largest tier-one operator customers – serving more than 350 million subscribers in North America, Europe and Asia – have deployed the Unison platform on the BladeCenter for the delivery of web and video optimization, traffic management, content adaptation, and analytics services.

The throughput capacity of these operators’ networks is estimated to range up to 2.6 petabytes (PB) of data traffic daily. The mobile internet revolution is not only in progress, but also accelerating in momentum.

Together, Bytemobile and IBM enable operators to cost-effectively manage and monetize consumer demand for mobile data services. The BladeCenter has become an industry-standard server in the networks of the world’s leading wireless telecommunications groups. Customer feedback on the performance of the Unison-BladeCenter platform has been consistently positive.

We look forward to continued joint success with IBM and to expanding our partnership in new and complementary directions.

-Lee Llevano
 

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We’ve been working with China Mobile for several years on reducing network data volume and improving the consumer experience. Recently, the Bytemobile Customer Marketing Services team was able to help Jiangsu Mobile – the second largest of China Mobile’s provincial operators, with 30.2 million subscribers – with more than mobile internet solutions.

Jiangsu Mobile had deployed its breakthrough web browsing service for handsets - called Open-Surf and powered by our content adaptation technology. The operator was looking to accelerate the expansion of the service province-wide, so subscribers could access their favorite brands and websites on their existing WAP handsets.

While promoting the service through SMS, MMS and its website – www.js.chinamobile.com – Jiangsu Mobile was seeking alternative methods to illustrate the value of the new, innovative service, while demonstrating key features to entice younger consumers to use the service.

We worked closely with the Jiangsu Mobile marketing team to understand the local market, subscriber behavior and the operator’s core brand values. Following a thorough information exchange, we internalized these fundamentals to develop compelling promotional ideas while leveraging Bytemobile’s experience in deploying mobile internet services around the globe.

Once the market landscape was fully understood, we went to work, evaluating alternative media for the challenge. We chose video due to the ease of viral propagation through social media. After Jiangsu Mobile agreed, we quickly drafted a video script and storyboard, secured customer approval, and proceeded to manage production from start to finish.

Following the completion and acceptance of the video, the Jiangsu Mobile team has utilized it in a number of promotional campaigns across the province. The result? A satisfied customer with increased consumer awareness and a measurable rise in Open-Surf subscribers.

- Dan Fisher

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Chris Koopmans, Bytemobile vice president of Product Development, was recently a featured company speaker at a workshop on ‘Entrepreneurship in Greece and Synergies with Silicon Valley’ at Stanford University. The purpose was to promote innovation and growth in Greece through international investment and collaboration in emerging technology ventures. Bytemobile was profiled as a unique success story – a global market leader, incorporated in the U.S., with a large development center located in Patras, Greece.

Chris presented the Bytemobile story – born at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign – and the story-within-a-story of the European Development Center – born at the University of Patras and growing steadily since 2004. He recounted the company’s strategic decision to build a breakthrough mobile internet product – the Web Fidelity™ Suite of content adaptation software – in Patras. He also cited the innovation and dedication of the Greek engineering team as a key factor in Bytemobile’s growth.

Chris shared with the audience his unique perspective as both a founding employee of Bytemobile in the U.S. and a resident of Greece for the last 2.5 years, working out of the Patras center and directing a worldwide R&D team. Through examples and anecdotes, he made the point that cultural differences among engineers in different locations actually foster rather than inhibit innovation. Also, living and working close to customers in key geographic markets – rather than centralized in a headquarters location – enables engineers to think globally while delivering local solutions. This advantage is critical for Bytemobile, which today serves 107 customers in 54 countries.

The all-day workshop, held on May 2, was attended by approximately 200 executives, entrepreneurs, investors, professors, students, and U.S. and Greek government officials. The event was organized by the Hellenic Association of Stanford in conjunction with the Hellenic Semiconductor Industry Association (HSIA) and other economic development organizations in Greece. The HSIA administers government funding to match investments in Greek operations by Bytemobile and other foreign companies.

The workshop was covered in the Greek news media (English translation). ERT, a major satellite television channel in Greece, plans to interview Chris, Bytemobile founder and Chief Technology Officer Constantine Polychronopoulos, and other participants on the event and the progress of Greek entrepreneurship.

All materials presented at the workshop will be available on the Hellenic Association’s website.

-Tod Bottari

Image use courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/eusebius

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I am proud to announce that Bytemobile and Alcatel Shanghai Bell (ASB), our reseller partner in China, have been awarded Phase 1 of the China Mobile Communications Corporation (CMCC) Web Gateway project. Our Web Fidelity Suite content adaptation solution will be deployed at the national Web Gateway center in Nanjing to enable open web browsing from mobile handsets on CMCC’s 3G TD-SCDMA network.

CMCC is the world’s largest wireless network operator, with more than 470 million subscribers. The group’s operating companies cover 31 provinces in China and command a nearly 70% share of the mainland China mobile market. On January 7, 2009, the Chinese government issued 3G network licenses to CMCC as well as China Unicom and China Telecom.

Stepping Up the Competition
Adrian Hall’s blog post of April 10 – State of the Company – framed the significance of the CMCC win to Bytemobile in general terms:

Our global sales pipeline is significantly larger today than it has been in the company’s history – a formidable fact considering our 104 network deployments in 54 countries. The pipeline consists of a number of sizable deals that include multi-year commitments and leverage our entire product portfolio.

…we are competing more and more with traditional telecommunications industry giants such as Comverse, Ericsson and Nokia Siemens Networks. We are winning against them because of our agility, our laser focus on customer needs, and the strength of our technological innovation, execution and support.

Our competition for the CMCC Phase 1 bid included Ericsson, Nokia Siemens Networks, Huawei, and ZTE. Huawei and ZTE are both Chinese infrastructure equipment providers with a strong presence in the China market.

As a trusted advisor to CMCC, we were able to build positive relationships with key decision-makers. Visits to China by Hatim Tyabji and other Bytemobile executives have been instrumental in securing the confidence of CMCC senior management.

Successful Trials
With our partner, ASB, we completed successful commercial trials of the Web Fidelity Suite at Jiangsu Mobile and Hubei Mobile, two of CMCC’s provincial operating companies. We then closed Jiangsu Mobile for the implementation of its 3G Web Gateway solution. This deal led to the formal inclusion of Bytemobile in CMCC’s approved vendor list for the nationwide roll-out.

An additional 5-10 CMCC provincial operators are expected to deploy 3G Web Gateway services in 2009. Phase 2 of the roll-out will target CMCC’s GPRS and EDGE network subscribers. Phase 3, scheduled for 2010 and beyond, will proceed to the remainder of the 31 CMCC operators.

Given our initial success, complacency is not an option. CMCC has selected the Ericsson and Huawei proposals as potential back-up solutions to ours. We must continue to execute and deliver results in order to remain the preferred supplier and realize the full potential of this opportunity.

Teamwork Across the Organization
Our winning bid at CMCC culminated a cross-functional team effort that exemplified the Bytemobile culture in action. Key contributors included:

The Beijing office of the Asia-Pacific team

• Li Xiaohe (Michael Li), Bytemobile China general manager
• Ada Hang
• Louisa Liu
• Kane Qiao
• Frank Su
• Johnson Wang
• Wayne Wang
• Anna Zeng
• Jerry Zhang

The Mountain View and Patras engineering and product management teams

• Chris Koopmans
• Joel Brand
• Kannan Parthasarathy
• Nick Stavrakos
• Konstantinos Tsolakas
• George Tsolis
• Paris Zafiris

Worldwide Customer Support

• Warren Simpson
• Tony Gambacorta
• Bill Hamlin

I would like to extend my sincere personal thanks to all of these individuals for their efforts.

Sharing the Excitement
In closing, I would like to share my feedback to the China team:

Michael,

Congratulations to you and the entire Bytemobile China team and to ASB. This was indeed a very challenging and hard fought win and the effort put forth by all of you was tremendous. I am confident that this win marks the launch of many great successes for Bytemobile in China. Now we must work even harder to ensure that we capitalize on this opportunity and move quickly to keep our competitive advantage. You know that the support of the entire company is behind you, your team, and our partner.

I would like to offer my personal thanks to Chris [Koopmans] and his team as well. Their support has been exemplary.

John

The China Mobile Web Gateway win is an exciting milestone for Bytemobile and for the Asia-Pacific Region.

-John Cole

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