LONDON, June 17 /PRNewswire/ --

- White Paper Highlights Mobile Unified Communications Value Added 
Services for Mobile Network Operators to Deliver Mobile Office Capabilities 
and Increased ARPU

Frost & Sullivan whitepaper highlights how a range of factors including
good client design can be fundamental to increasing value added services
through the uptake of Unified Communications (UC) by both consumer and
enterprise users and obtaining increased ARPU - average revenue per user -
for ISPs and mobile network operators in providing value added services
http://www.communigate.com .

The whitepaper on behalf of CommuniGate Systems outlines a key
determinant of the overall success of a UC service, and obtaining increased
ARPU, is the UE (User Experience) of that application, and the UI (User
Interface) is a critical component of the overall end user experience.

It is significant that British Airways is using this same technology to
connect its entire mobile workforce, connecting its 30,000 frontline ground
and air staff to mobile email http://tr.im/oEfO . These staff work in baggage
and maintenance areas, on the tarmac, or in the company's large air fleet,
rather than at a fixed PC. They needed to be able to access their emails at
all times, so that they can be kept up to date with important messages.

Key whitepaper findings include:

    - For service providers a good client design must be coupled
      with delivery features that are low impact and suitable for large 
      scale deployments where thousands of companies with potentially 
      hundreds of users each will access the UC solution as a value added 
      service following a Software as a Service (SaaS) model.

    - Installation on the desktop should be straightforward and be held at a 
      minimum, lending the requirements directly to Web 2.0 technologies
      like Adobe Flash and AJAX. A good UI must also have a mechanism to link 
      to other value added service applications the service provider offers 
      in order to increase ARPU.



Delivery of video content such as IPTV/VOD (IP Television /
Video on Demand) is an important value added service (VAS) many providers
have invested in for their triple play strategies to increase ARPU. A modular
system with open APIs is fundamental to insure the operator has the ability
to add new applications to the UI quickly.

Ronald Gruia, Principal Analyst, Emerging Telecom with Frost & Sullivan,
comments: "The UC market is poised to grow at a tremendous pace and the one
segment that still remains somewhat underserved is the SME (Small and Medium
Enterprise) space. A feature rich, high capacity and multi-tenant SaaS UC
solution such as CommuniGate Pro and its Flash based web 2.0 client Pronto!
can surely address this opportunity and help operators address the sweet spot
of the enterprise market, namely the SME segment."

"We see data ARPU growing at a 20-30% annual rate, and robust increases
in Internet access revenues and multimedia messaging volumes, which all
indicate that data will be the key catalyst for future increased ARPU,"
continues Gruia. "CommuniGate Systems Mobile Office is well positioned to
enable operators to capture some of that data growth opportunity within the
value added services (VAS) segment."

Simon Paton, managing director of CommuniGate UK explains, "We continue
to see a growing demand for tailored UC applications for specific market
verticals, such as medical, legal, and transportation that tie into business
processes. The delivery of these technologies in the SaaS model is key for
network operators to leverage volume and obtain increased ARPU in the SME
market. Adaptable SaaS platforms like CommuniGate Pro enable operators to add
significant value to their offering and build custom applications to grab SME
market share, which is especially important as more organisations look to
introduce mobility into their processes."

A recent IDC study stated that 75% of the global workforce would be
mobile by 2011. Enterprises are investing in mobile unified communications
solutions that increase worker productivity and can help shed costs from
operations. A survey by CommuniGate Systems among fixed-line and wireless
providers found that Mobile Business Subscribers have six times less churn
rates than consumer or residential subscribers and on average present an
increased ARPU of almost four times as much http://tr.im/oEge .

CommuniGate Systems' flash based Web 2.0 client Pronto! including
mobility with AirSync can be trialled for free at http://tr.im/oEgz .

About CommuniGate Systems

Based in London, CommuniGate UK is a business unit of GAP Internet
Communications - the sole distributor for CommuniGate Systems within the UK.
Founded in 1991 and based in Mill Valley, California, CommuniGate Systems
develops carrier-class Unified Communications and media delivery software for
broadband and mobile operators to deliver value-added services and SaaS
solutions. CommuniGate Systems delivers powerful mash-ups of Unified
Communications technology mixed with media and entertainment applications for
portals, social networks, enterprises and mobile communities. CommuniGate
Systems is revolutionising the Unified Communications industry with a unique
Flash-based client framework Pronto! bringing together all forms of
communication and breaking the leash to the desktop with Web 2.0 mobility.

CommuniGate Systems is the first choice in technology solutions for over
12,000 customers with over 130 million subscribers unifying e-mail,
collaboration, IM, presence and VoIP with a single identity. The Unified
Communications platform provides flexibility, performance, and scalability
with benchmark proven architecture remaining unchallenged in the industry.
Our technology powers OEM partner products ranging from embedded real time
systems to powerful unified messaging platforms at top tier global network
operators. The open development environment's simple APIs deliver extensible
flexibility with a unique clustering technology for 99.999% uptime for the
most demanding application environments

The company is a trusted and financially stable vendor, maintaining the
highest customer satisfaction levels in the Unified Communications industry
with over 175 members in its partner network worldwide.

For further information, please contact:
    Lisa Williams
    itpr
    t. +44(0)1932-57-88-00
    http://www.itpr.co.uk