Vodafone selects iFollow to deliver messaging, presence and location to 93 million subscribers
Followap's own announcement of the Vodafone Group agreement, a month before Vodafone's. Sole provider of IMPL systems across the group, creating what both companies called the largest wireless instant messaging community in the world.
Powered by iFollow, Vodafone will offer instant messaging to its customers globally
London, UK - July 16th, 2001 - Followap™, the leading provider of Instant Messaging Presence and Location (IMPL) systems for mobile operators, and Vodafone, the world's largest mobile group, announced today that Vodafone has selected Followap to be the sole provider of IMPL systems to Vodafone Group Plc. By adopting a standard IMPL solution for the whole group, Vodafone will create the largest wireless Instant Messaging community in the world. Followap's proven technology, superior product quality and rapid time to market, were key factors in Vodafone's selection.
iFollow™, Followap's instant messaging platform, will enable Vodafone subscribers to form wireless communities, participate in chats, locate and communicate with their friends by using mobile phones, PCs, PDAs and other wireless and internet-based devices.
iFollow is being deployed on Vodafone's current network infrastructures and will migrate to its UMTS networks.
"After evaluating a number of Instant Messaging platforms, we chose Followap due to its ability to deliver collaborative messaging systems with the most advanced end-user capabilities. Followap shares our vision of providing state-of-the-art Mobile Instant Messaging services and creating the largest wireless community worldwide. We are committed to providing our customers with a truly seamless global offering of advanced mobile services." said Fritz Joussen, Vodafone's Director of Global Product Management. "Moreover, for the first time, our customers will be able to form wireless communities, regardless of the Vodafone network they belong to. This is quite a revolution in the Mobile Instant Messaging market." "We are very proud that the largest global mobile group in the world has chosen iFollow as the platform for IMPL services," said Tommy Volsen, COO of Followap. "This decision reinforces our leadership position as the premier Mobile IMPL vendor. We are committed to enabling mobile operators to offer their customers advanced revenue generating messaging services that will seamlessly migrate to the next generation network infrastructures."
About Vodafone
Vodafone is the largest mobile telecommunications network company in the world with over 93 million customers. It has interests in mobile networks in 29 countries across five continents.
About Followap
Followap is the leading provider of Mobile Instant Messaging Presence and Location (IMPL) platforms for mobile operators. Its flagship product, iFollow, has become the world's first commercially installed IMPL platform in December 2000, when it was launched within Ireland's Eircell Network as its branded e-merge Messenger service. Additional installations and pilot trials of iFollow are currently underway in 15 countries, with additional commercial launches at the world's largest mobile operators expected in the coming months.
With significant telecom and datacom experience, Followap is constantly extending its core technology in new directions and continues introducing additional scalable and reliable telecom-grade products that provide state-of-the-art messaging services to subscribers while incorporating essential carrier interfaces, such as network management, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), billing and more.
Headquartered in the USA, the company has an R&D center in Israel, as well as sales and support offices throughout the world. Followap offers full customization and integration services to address the specific requirements of its customers and provides extensive technical support and consulting services.