SAN FRANCISCO and GENEVA (October 15, 2003) – Critical Path, Inc. (Nasdaq: CPTH), a global leader in digital communications software and services, today announced that it is working with Research In Motion (RIM) (Nasdaq: RIMM; TSX: RIM) to integrate BlackBerry® wireless and push capabilities with its communications platform. The solution will provide carriers and ISPs with the ability to wirelessly push-enable their existing hosted email accounts for prosumers and small businesses.
The new offering will combine leading technologies from the Critical Path Communications Platform and the BlackBerry platform to give operators an integrated, push-based mobile messaging solution. This will enable carriers and ISPs to offer their prosumer and small business subscribers fully synchronized, wireless access to email and personal information management via BlackBerry handhelds, the Web, and Microsoft Outlook.
Critical Path and RIM are integrating Critical Path’s highly scalable mobile messaging and personal information management services with the award-winning BlackBerry wireless platform. The result will be a scalable solution for wireless access to email, shared address books, calendars, tasks, to-do lists, and shared files. Carriers will be able to deliver a seamless wireless experience – including push-based, wireless access to email and personal information management for use by individuals and groups, without requiring subscribers to install or maintain any servers or software – a first for the carrier market.
“Critical Path and RIM are working together to provide carriers and ISPs with an enhanced platform that helps support their overall business goals and raises the bar for subscriber services in the prosumer and small business markets,” said David Castell, Vice President, Retail Business Unit at Research In Motion. “RIM pioneered push-based wireless services in the enterprise market and this new solution will extend that popular capability to carrier and ISP-hosted services.”
Subscribers to the new service will have a single carrier or ISP-hosted email account that can be accessed from their BlackBerry handheld, the Web and Microsoft Outlook. This new approach to operator-based wireless messaging extends the convenience and power of BlackBerry and push-based connectivity to prosumers and small businesses that are looking for alternatives to traditional, server-based solutions.
“The solution that Critical Path and Research In Motion are developing will open up significant new revenue opportunities for carriers, particularly with prosumers and businesses,” said Michael Serbinis, chief technology officer of Critical Path. “Carriers will be able to use a single, highly scalable solution to deliver the industry-leading BlackBerry push-based wireless experience along with the breadth of premium revenue-generating packages enabled by Critical Path’s Communications Platform.”
The solution is expected to be available early next year from Critical Path. It will be offered both as licensed software and as a hosted service that is managed remotely by Critical Path, a pioneer in hosted messaging. For more information on Critical Path’s messaging solutions for carriers and service providers, please visit www.criticalpath.net/solutions/wirelessSP/. For more information on the BlackBerry wireless solution, please visit www.blackberry.com.
About Research In Motion
Research In Motion is a leading designer, manufacturer and marketer of innovative wireless solutions for the worldwide mobile communications market. Through the development of integrated hardware, software and services that support multiple wireless network standards, RIM provides platforms and solutions for seamless access to time-sensitive information including email, phone, SMS messaging, Internet and intranet-based applications. RIM technology also enables a broad array of third party developers and manufacturers to enhance their products and services with wireless connectivity. RIM’s portfolio of award-winning products, services and embedded technologies are used by thousands of organizations around the world and include the BlackBerry® wireless platform, the RIM Wireless Handheld™ product line, software development tools, radio-modems and software/hardware licensing agreements. Founded in 1984 and based in Waterloo, Ontario, RIM operates offices in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. RIM is listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market (Nasdaq: RIMM) and the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: RIM). For more information, visit www.rim.com or www.blackberry.com.
About Critical Path, Inc.
Critical Path, Inc. (Nasdaq: CPTH) is a global leader in digital communications software and services. The company provides messaging solutions – from wireless, secure and unified messaging to basic email and personal information management – as well as identity management solutions that simplify user profile management and strengthen information security. The standards-based Critical Path Communications Platform, built to perform reliably at the scale of public networks, delivers the industry’s lowest total cost of ownership for messaging solutions and lays a solid foundation for next-generation communications services. Solutions are available on a hosted or licensed basis. Critical Path's customers include more than 700 enterprises, 200 carriers and service providers, eight national postal authorities and 35 government agencies. Critical Path is headquartered in San Francisco. More information can be found at www.criticalpath.net.