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Computer Industry Leaders Join The Wireless Application Protocol Forum
Hewlett-Packard, Oracle and Toshiba Are Among Seven New Members Adopting WAP Standard

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. - (January 20, 1999) - The Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) Forum today announced that seven international technology companies have joined as members, further demonstrating the industry's support of the wireless application protocol standard for Internet communications on wireless devices. New members include computer industry leaders Hewlett-Packard Company, Oracle Corporation and Toshiba Corporation, as well as telecom innovators Bussan Systems Integration Company, Tokyo Digital Phone, Glenayre Technologies Inc. and One 2 One. These companies joined the 71 other WAP Forum members at the Forum's meeting held last month in Kyoto, Japan, to specify industry-wide plans for releasing WAP-enabled services and applications during 1999.

The Forum also announced that its next meeting will be held Feb. 1-5 in Fort Worth, Texas, where the WAP roadmap for 1999 and beyond will be unveiled. The week following the Fort Worth meeting, various WAP Forum members will demonstrate their support of the WAP standard in their booths at WIRELESS '99, the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association's (CTIA) 14th annual convention and exposition in New Orleans, Louisiana.

"Gaining the support from computer industry leaders such as HP, Oracle and Toshiba and receiving key endorsements from innovative companies such as Bussan, Tokyo Digital Phone, Glenayre and One 2 One have strengthened the momentum behind the WAP specification," said Chuck Parrish, WAP Forum board chairman and executive vice president of Unwired Planet (now Phone.com), Inc., a founding Forum member. "With the Forum's membership at 78 and growing, the industry has cast its vote for WAP as the single, de-facto standard for accessing the Internet - anytime, anywhere - on all wireless networks and devices." Opened to general membership in January 1998, the WAP Forum today has widespread representation and support from all sectors of the telecommunications industry, including the leading infrastructure manufacturers, handset manufacturers, wireless network operators and software providers. With active industry participation, the Forum has delivered Wireless Application Protocol V1.0, a set of standard protocols designed to run on top of the Internet IP protocol and other wireless network bearers. Announced in April 1998, this vendor-neutral and network-independent open specification is the unified worldwide standard for providing Internet communications and advanced telephony services on digital mobile phones, pagers, personal digital assistants and other wireless terminals.

"WAP V1.0 is a major step in building the wireless Internet, where people-on-the-go can access the Internet through their wireless devices to get information such as e-mails, news headlines, stock reports, map directions and sports scores when they need it and where they need," added Parrish. "The WAP Forum has accomplished a lot in just one year, but we still have much work to do. As new handset technologies, network protocols and Internet standards are developed, the Forum will take an active role in shaping them for compatibility with the wireless market."

WAP provides a single industry-standard mechanism for wireless application interoperability and a standard XML-compliant markup language called WML (Wireless Markup Language). WML, which is being implemented industry-wide, will accelerate market growth by providing a clear path for application developers. WML's user-interface components map well onto existing mobile phone interfaces, capitalizing on the extremely large market penetration of mobile devices. People who use mobile phones today will immediately be able to use WAP-enabled phones and services without re-education.

New Members Support WAP Standard

"HP supports the WAP Forum's fast-paced, multi-vendor approach to delivering Internet access to mobile phone users," said Bernard Guidon, vice president and general manager of HP's Communications Industry Business Unit. "Integrating WAP's capabilities with HP's OpenCall telecom-grade service development platforms will foster new market opportunities for our customers, enabling them to introduce timely and innovative applications that combine data and voice access from mobile phones." "Oracle views the Wireless Access Protocol as an extension to Internet computing," said Andy Felong, vice president of the Internet Applications Division at Oracle Corporation. "We have already delivered Oracle Internet Messaging with wireless Unified Messaging, and have prototyped TTML and HDML solutions to support mobile computing on cellular phones. The next step is to standardize this capability, and WAP provides an ideal solution."

"Glenayre sees a tremendous opportunity in the convergence of fixed and wireless networks," said Sonny Bettis, vice president of engineering for Glenayre Electronics ING Division. "To capitalize on this convergence, we intend to roll out our Unified Messaging Solution (UMS) to wireless carriers and their subscribers in 1999. An important aspect of the UMS product is the support of the WAP standard for enhanced data and e-mail messaging - anytime, anywhere, anyway. Glenayre joined the WAP Forum because it provides us with both the vendor and customer perspective for unified messaging to the end device."

"Having pioneered personal communications networks, One 2 One views WAP as a key technology for maintaining its high levels of service innovation into the era of personal, mobile multimedia," said Professor Peter Ramsdale, chief engineer at One 2 One.

The WAP Forum Membership includes these 78 companies:

Acer Peripherals, Inc. NORTEL / Northern Telecom Limited
Alcatel NTT Mobile Communications Network, Inc.
Apion Ltd. Omnitel
AT&T Wireless Services, Inc. New - One 2 One
Bell Atlantic Mobile New - Oracle Corporation
BellSouth Cellular Corp. Philips Consumer Communications LP
Bosch Telecom Danmark A/S Puma Technology, Inc.
Bouygues Telecom QUALCOMM Incorporated
New - Bussan Systems Integration Company Ltd. Rogers Cantel Mobile Communications, Inc.
CCL (Computer & Communications Research Laboratories, ITRI) RSA Data Security, Inc.
CEGETEL/SFR Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
Cellnet SBC Communications, Inc.
Certicom Corp. Schlumberger Industries S.A.
CMG Telecommunications and Utilities Sema Group Limited
Comverse Network Systems, Inc. Sendit AB
CTC (Itochu Techno-Science Corporation) Siemens AG
DDI Corporation SOFTLINE / Scandinavian Softline Technology Oy
DeLaRue Card Systems Sonera Corporation (formerly Telecom Finland Ltd.)
Dolphin Telecommunications Ltd. Sony International (Europe) GmbH
Dr. Materna GmbH Sprint PCS
Ericsson Mobile Communications AB Spyglass, Inc.
France Telecom Starfish Software, Inc.
Fujitsu Software Corporation SWISSCOM Ltd.
Gemplus Symbian Ltd. (formerly Psion Software plc)
Geoworks Corporation Tecnomen Oy
New - Glenayre Technologies Inc. Tegic Communications, Inc.
GSM Information Network b.v. Telecom Italia Mobile S.p.A.
New - Hewlett-Packard Company Telenor Mobil Group
Hongkong Telecom-Mobile Services Telia Mobile AB
IBM Corporation Telital S.p.A.
IDO Corporation Telstra Corporation Ltd.
Intel Corporation T-MOBIL / Deutsche Telekom Mobilnet GmbH
Logica Aldiscon New - Tokyo Digital Phone
Matsushita Communication Industrial Co., Ltd. New - Toshiba Corporation
MD-Co Uniden Corporation
Mitsubishi Wireless Communications Inc. Unisys Corporation
Motorola Limited Unwired Planet (now Phone.com) Inc.
NEC Technologies (UK) Ltd. Vodafone Group plc
Nokia Mobile Phones VTT Information Technology

URL addresses for each member company's Web sites may be found at http://www.wapforum.org/who/members.htm

WAP Forum New Member Profiles - January 1999

HEWLETT-PACKARD COMPANY supplies communications IT infrastructure to every Fortune 500 telecommunications company in the world today. HP and its partners deliver management, network intelligence, billing and customer-care solutions for UNIX and Windows NT system platforms, enabling service providers to migrate from network, to customer focused business models as the Internet and telephony worlds converge. Visit www.hp.com for more information.
Press Contact: Mike Hulme, Copithorne & Bellows PR, [email protected] (email), +1 415 975 2267 (tel.)

ORACLE CORPORATION is the world's leading supplier of software for information management, and the world's second largest independent software company. With annual revenues of more than $8.0 billion, the company offers its database, application server, tools and application products, along with related consulting, education and support services in more than 145 countries around the world. For more information about Oracle, please call +1 650 506 7000. Oracle's World Wide Web address is (URL) http://www.oracle.com/.
Press Contact: Paige O'Neill, Oracle Corporation, [email protected] (email), +1 650 506 3429 (tel.)

GLENAYRE TECHNOLOGIES INC. (Nasdaq: GEMS) has been developing and providing leading edge personal telecommunication systems for over 30 years. The Glenayre Integrated Network Group's Intelligis products enable mobile and fixed network operators to increase revenues, reduce subscriber churn and improve network reliability and efficiency with enhanced services, network management and operational support systems. With over 2,000 employees and with products installed in over 100 countries, Glenayre's net sales exceeded $451 million in 1997. Visit www.glenayre.com for more information.
Press Contact: Sonny Bettis, Glenayre Technologies Inc., [email protected] (email), +1 770 283 1000 (tel.)

ONE 2 ONE became the world's first personal communications network (GSM1800) operator when it commenced service in 1993. Its total customer base as of September 30, 1998, was 1,482,000, representing a 14 percent U.K. cellular market share. One 2 One is the trading name of Mercury Personal Communications, a joint venture partnership equally owned by Cable and Wireless plc and MediaOne International (NYSE: UMG). Mercury Personal Communications Limited is licensed as a public telecommunications operator, providing switched voice and data communications services to users of mobile telephones. Mercury Personal Communications Limited is a partner in Mercury Personal Communications. Visit www.one2one.co.uk for more information. Press Contact: One 2 One Press Office +44 7956 700 121 (tel.)

TOSHIBA CORPORATION is a leader in information and communications systems, electronic components, consumer products and power systems. The company's integration of these wide-ranging capabilities assures its position as an innovator in multimedia components, products and systems. Toshiba has 188,000 employees worldwide and annual sales of over US$40 billion. Visit http://www.toshiba.co.jp/index.htm for more information. Press Contact: Kenichi Sugiyama, Toshiba Corporation, [email protected] (email), +81 3 3457 2105 (tel.)

BUSSAN SYSTEMS INTEGRATION COMPANY specializes in marketing and servicing of software for trading and risk management, development of application software packages for telecommunications and satellite-broadcast operations, and systems integration and outsourcing. Visit www.bsi.co.jp for more information. Press Contact: Keiji Harada, Bussan Systems Integration Co. Ltd., [email protected] (email), +81 3 5354 1668 (tel.)

TOKYO DIGITAL PHONE has been offering high-quality, dependable mobile communications services for the Tokyo metropolitan area since 1994. With a wide variety of convenient services for both businesses and consumers, Tokyo Digital Phone allows people to communicate with whomever they want, whenever they want. Tokyo Digital Phone is also part of the international ICO Project, which will use communications satellites to create a worldwide cellular phone system, scheduled to be fully operational in 2000. Visit http://www.tdp.co.jp for more information. Press Contact: Masaaki Kondo, Tokyo Digital Phone Co. Ltd., [email protected] (email), +81 3 5360 2221 (tel.)

About the WAP Forum

The WAP Forum is an industry association that has developed the de-facto world standard for wireless information and telephony services on digital mobile phones and other wireless terminals. Handset manu-facturers representing more than 75 percent of the world market across all technologies have committed to shipping WAP-enabled devices. Carriers representing nearly 100 million subscribers worldwide have joined WAP. These commitments will put 10's of millions of WAP-browser-enabled prod-ucts in consumer hands by the end of 2000. WAP Forum membership is open to all industry participants.

All company, brand and product names may be trademarks that are the sole property of their respective owners. All Rights Reserved.

For further information contact:

Jody Venturoni
BSMG Worldwide
Voice: +1 972 830 2244
Fax: +1 972 830 1244
[email protected]
David Nieland
BSMG Worldwide
Voice: +1 972 830 2663
Fax: +1 972 830 1663
[email protected]