Sasken adds weight to Configurable Phone Initiative

Sophia Antipolis, France, 1 February 2005 - Sasken, a world-class embedded telecommunications technology solution provider today announced that it has joined Open- Plug’s Configurable Phone Initiative, a cross- industry venture to promote software flexibility in mobile phones.

Unveiled at 3GSM, the ‘Configurable Phone Initiative’ supports the development of mobile phones with modular software architectures that are easy to adapt with new applications and user interface features during the life of the design – even while the phone is in the field. Leading networks, phone makers, IC vendors and application developers supporting the initiative.

The two companies will demonstrate the joint offering during the 3GSM congress on the Sasken booth.

Eric Baissus, CEO, Open-Plug said, “We are delighted to welcome Sasken, one of the world’s leading integrators and provider of telecommunications software solutions, into the Configurable Phone Initiative. Sasken partners with some of the world’s top Terminal Device Manufacturers, Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) ,Original Device Manufacturers (ODMs), Semiconductor Companies and Operators, and their endorsement of this Initiative is a sign of the momentum that the concept of configurable phones has achieved in the industry.”

Sirisha Voruganri, Head of Product Management at Sasken’s Terminal Business Unit from Sasken added, “In order to make multimedia services based on 3G, 2.5G and EDGE attractive to networks and users alike, a completely new and more flexible approach to mobile phone software development is required. Armed with Open Plug’s platform, our development teams have the capacity to excite the industry with innovative terminal and applications concepts, that will enable new services and business concepts”.

Through the Configurable Phone Initiative, Sasken’s development teams have access to a complete development and deployment framework from Open Plug, including the ELIPS Studio tool chain, providing a complete Software Development Environment to develop, integrate and download software applications on ELIPS enabled phones. They also have available to them complimentary Configurable phones, and access to the ELIPS Mobile Edition and Component data base, providing a complete application framework and pre integrated applications, including the latest MMI, Messaging, Gaming, Email, Browsers, and other applications from Open-Plug’s application software partners.

Based around the Open-Plug ELIPS component based Linux framework, field proven mass market phone devices can be configured on demand at production or in the field with new services and applications. This is the first time operators have been offered the opportunity to deploy new applications or user interfaces to phones in this way.

About Sasken

Sasken is a world class telecom software solutions provider offering a unique combination of complementary IP software components, research and development consultancy as well as software services to many of the leading semiconductor manufacturers, network equipment companies, and global wireless handset developers. Established in 1989, Sasken employs over 1900 staff, operating from a state of the art research and development center in Bangalore, India with offices in Canada, China, Germany, Japan, Sweden, UK and US.

About OpenPlug:

Open-Plug was founded in the summer of 2002 by a team of developers with a strong background in embedded mobile software development, and familiar with the quickly expanding challenges associated with it. The company’s aim is to provide to the mobile phone industry a tool framework, providing a unique Software design flow, which supports seamlessly and efficiently the value chain of embedded software development for Mobile terminals.

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