SAN FRANCISCO and MADRID - Wednesday, June 7, 2006 - Critical Path, a leading provider of messaging software and services, today announced that Telefónica Móviles España, Spain's leading mobile operator, is using Critical Path's Memova® Messaging platform to power its new universal contacts service for consumers. The first of its kind in Spain, the new service called "CopyAgenda," provides a centralized contact list that can be integrated with all Telefónica Móviles and movistar messaging services, enabling subscribers to easily access, synchronize and manage contacts across multiple messaging applications and communications devices.
With a growing number of devices (PCs, mobile phones, PDAs) and an increasing array of communications services (email, IM, SMS, mobile email, VoIP, etc.) - each with its own independent address book - today's consumers are finding it increasingly difficult to keep contact information up-to-date, consistent and synchronized. To address this problem, enable better integration across all mobile and broadband services, and provide subscribers with the best possible user experience, Telefónica Móviles implemented a Universal Contacts solution with Critical Path's Memova Messaging.
The rich functionality, flexible architecture and immense scalability of Memova Messaging, as well as its support for existing and emerging standards, were some of the qualities most valued by Telefónica Móviles. Additionally, the platform could be easily integrated with existing infrastructure, allowing Telefónica Móviles to get to market quickly with new value-added services, such as CopyAgenda.
With the new CopyAgenda service, Telefónica Móviles and movistar subscribers can set up a universal contact list, including friends, colleagues and family members in their community, and store this list on the service provider's network server. The universal contact list is currently integrated with email and will soon be integrated with other messaging applications, including chat, SMS and MMS. Using a specially developed, lightweight version of the SyncML protocol called AMA (Advanced Messaging and Address Book), address books in all of these applications, as well as those stored on SyncML-compatible mobile devices, can be automatically synchronized. Whenever new contacts are added or updated in one application or device, updates are automatically reflected across all integrated devices and services. The service also provides an automatic back-up feature for mobile device address books, so a lost phone never means lost personal data.
In addition to powering the new CopyAgenda service, the Memova Messaging solution enables Telefónica Móviles to roll out additional new services more easily. The open standard-based Universal Contacts solution can store contacts for a wide variety of applications, such as video-conferencing. Additionally, anti-abuse technology can be integrated with universal contact lists to provide greater spam protection and parental controls. This enables users to set up "white lists" and "black lists" controlling who can contact them - essentially creating a closed, safe community of people they wish to communicate with online or via mobile messaging.
"Critical Path's contact-centric approach puts contacts - rather than the email or messaging application - at the center of the consumer experience to build an intelligent connection between consumers, their community and the messaging services they use," said Donald Dew, CTO, Critical Path. "This enables service providers to provide new value-added services that address critical issues, including security and spam, while also providing a seamless user experience and reducing infrastructure costs."
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About Critical Path, Inc. Critical Path's Memova® solutions provide a new and improved email experience for millions of consumers worldwide, helping mobile operators, broadband and fixed-line service providers unlock the potential of email in the mass market. Memova® Mobile gives consumers instant, on-the-go access to the messages that matter most. Featuring industry-leading anti-spam and anti-virus technology, Memova® Anti-Abuse protects consumers against viruses and spam. Memova® Messaging provides consumers with a rich email experience, enabling service providers to develop customized offerings for high-speed subscribers. Headquartered in San Francisco with offices around the globe, Critical Path's messaging solutions are deployed by more than 200 service providers throughout the world. More information is available at www.criticalpath.net.
Forward-Looking Statements: This press release contains forward-looking statements by the Company and its executives regarding the performance of our product and service offerings, the future release of our products and services and our customer's products and services which include our offerings, the ability of our customers to achieve cost savings and improve revenues in the provision of services, industry trends, market and customer requirements, the ability of our products and services to meet the business needs of our customers, the market for products and services like ours and the performance of our senior management in achieving strategic goals. The words and expressions "look forward to," "will," "expect," "plan," "believe," "seek," "strive for," "anticipate," "hope," "estimate" and similar expressions are intended to identify the Company's forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. These risks include, but are not limited to, our evolving business strategy and the emerging and changing nature of the market for our products and services, our ability to deliver on our sales objectives, the ability of our technology and our competitors' technologies to address customer demands, changes in economic and market conditions, and software and service design defects. These and other risks and uncertainties are described in more detail in the Company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (www.sec.gov) made from time to time including Critical Path's Annual Report on Form 10-K/A for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2005, Form 10-Q for the three months ended March 31, 2006 and Current Reports on Form 8-K, as may be amended from time to time, and all subsequent filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (www.sec.gov). The Company makes no commitment to revise or update any forward-looking statements in order to reflect events or circumstances after the date any such statement is made.
Note to Editors: Critical Path, the Critical Path logo, Memova and the Memova logo are the trademarks of Critical Path, Inc., registered in various jurisdictions. All other trademarks are the property of their respective holders.
Reporters, Editors - for additional information, contact:
Critical Path Corporate Communications - Michelle Weber
1-415-541-2575
pr@criticalpath.net Fleishman-Hillard - Europe
Sophie Davis
+44 (0) 20 7395 7048
daviss@fleishmaneurope.com