Icomera, the supplier of Internet connectivity to trains, has agreed to acquire UK-based Moovera Networks, the manufacturer of fixed and mobile communications systems. As a result of the merger Icomera AB says it will become the foremost provider of in-vehicle, industrial-grade Internet access technology – encompassing trains, buses, coaches, trucks and ferries – with a global customer base including many of the world's largest transport operators.

"The market for Internet connectivity on public transport is developing at a very rapid pace," said Ola Sj?lin, Chief Executive Officer at Icomera. "Whether for Wi-Fi hotspots, CCTV monitoring, vehicle tracking or streaming entertainment, real-time connections to buses and trains are increasingly in demand. Moovera has acquired a strong reputation in the industry as a developer of innovative yet price competitive technology and has established an impressive customer base that in many instances overlaps with our own. It was a natural progression for Icomera and Moovera to combine forces to offer a complete range of solutions from low-cost bus products to high-end systems certified for the railway industry. Moving forward we will continue to build on Icomera's position as the dominant force in on-board vehicle communications."

Icomera currently offers high-reliability, backhaul-agnostic communications gateways supporting concurrent satellite, cellular and trackside networks in a single in-vehicle system that – using patented technology – automatically switches to use the best wide area network without session interruption. With the acquisition of Moovera Networks, Icomera will add Moovera's multi-radio Moovbox product family to create the most advanced portfolio of fixed and mobile broadband gateways on the market. In addition to vehicular applications, Moovbox gateways have been used increasingly for public safety and outdoor municipal wireless applications, and by cellular network operators seeking to expand into Wi-Fi hotspot services.

"For some time now Moovera and Icomera have been addressing the same markets from different directions," said Jim Baker, CEO and founder of Moovera. "While Icomera has focused on sophisticated and complex rail systems, we have been targeting the broader market for Internet connectivity on road transport and outdoor networks. Many of the world's largest transport operators like National Express and First Group own rail and bus networks and are already deploying both Icomera and Moovera solutions; the merger of our two businesses will create a single supplier with the best possible range of solutions for our customers worldwide."

Following the acquisition, Icomera will adopt the Moovbox brand for its new combined product line and leverage Moovera's worldwide network of Channel Partners who sell and support Moovbox systems in their regional markets. Moovera's Kent-based operations and its nine employees will become Icomera's UK office, bringing the total workforce in Sweden and the UK to over forty people. Moovera CEO Jim Baker will take up the post of Chief Marketing Officer at Icomera. The financial terms of the acquisition have not been disclosed.

THUS has announced the launch of its mobile product portfolio aimed at improving the management of remote and field based staff and will also help companies reap the benefits of anywhere, anytime device agnostic connectivity.  THUS says that its  Workforce Management, Messaging and Multimedia Communications and Location Based Services will combine to benefit businesses through increasing access to management information, improving customer service and reducing operating expenditure.

The workforce mobilisation solution will offer customers a one-stop shop for their fixed and mobile networks, applications, hardware, support and installation.  The combined suite allows customers to take an integrated approach to mobile job dispatch and service, mobile messaging and vehicle tracking. The flexibility offered through anywhere, anytime connectivity to the corporate network and systems, is something that is on the wish list of an increasing number of employees. According to THUS, the mobile workforce solution will deliver what staff want, but also what employers need in terms of cost savings, improved productivity and organisational efficiencies.

The product portfolio can be provided within a fully managed and hosted environment, or managed within a customer sited environment depending on the particular needs of the organisation. THUS has combined products, technologies and networking into a package that streamlines operations and reduces costs, offering customers an improved quality of service.

Nigel Stevens, Product Director at THUS plc, commented:  "Increasingly, workers and employers are reaping the benefits of mobile working; flexibility, efficiency and productivity and one number, device agnostic connectivity. THUS's workforce mobilisation product portfolio will add value to businesses by providing an intelligent and dynamic way of assigning jobs to workers in the field, tracking progress and delivering accurate information to their customers.

"Mobile technology is hugely important in helping businesses keep track of their mobile resources and improve customer care by being able to better communicate with field-based workers while they're onsite or in transit.  This workforce mobilisation solution will enable our customers to enjoy these benefits and efficiencies through a converged fixed/mobile solution based on our industry-leading next-generation network."

The offering is said to provide a secure method of connecting various mobile devices to THUS's fixed MPLS network, delivering data convergence to further reduce costs. As a result of the way in which the solution has been designed, THUS says it can provide highly competitive SLAs, due to owning the fixed network and interconnecting with the Vodafone network to provide mobile connectivity. 

The data mobilisation solution is claimed to equalise access to the internal corporate network for mobile workers and improves the efficiency of central corporate office systems. The solution will also contribute to ensuring the safety and security of lone workers. GPS-based live tracking and dynamic job allocation serves the needs of security, but also adds to the pool of real time management information allowing performance to be measured and productivity increased.

Boingo Wireless and free-hotspot.com have announced that Boingo customers will now be able to roam at all of free-hotspot.com's Wi-Fi locations. Boingo users will not be required to view advertisements to connect to free-hotspot.com's network of more than 3,500 locations in 18 countries throughout Europe.

free-hotspot.com quadrupled its network size in 2007 and expects to have 5,000 hotspots by the end of 2008, making it one of the fastest growing networks in the world. Boingo, which provides access to the 'world's largest' network of Wi-Fi hotspots, has aggregated more than 100,000 hotspots across the globe, all accessible via one single account.

"We are pleased to extend our reach by partnering with a dynamic company like free-hotspot.com. Their rapidly growing network is a great complement to our business and personal traveller user base and will provide our customers with more choices and options as they move around Europe," said Luis Serrano, Vice President, Network Strategy for Boingo.

"We are excited about teaming up with a worldwide market leader such as Boingo," said Brandon Meyers, free-hotspot.com's Vice President, Marketing. "Their large established user base can now use hotspots across our entire European footprint, which includes previously underserved areas in Eastern Europe such as Poland, Romania and the Czech Republic."

Meridian Group and Opera Software have today announced a partnership to pre-install Opera Mini Web browser on Meridian Mobile's new Fly E310 handset.

The Fly E310 handset is available in the United Kingdom, Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), with a pre-installed Opera Mini browser available in all the local languages.

"We are pleased to further our partnership with Meridian Group and bring the best mobile Web experience closer to our customers in the UK, Russia and the CIS," says Jon von Tetzchner, CEO, Opera Software. "We have witnessed a significant growth in mobile Web browsing in those countries and work hard on making it even easier for people to get online."

"We aim to provide our customers the best services available," says Andrew Collinge, Member of the Board of Directors, Meridian Group. "When it comes to offering our customers a fast, secure and cost-efficient Internet service on a mobile phone, the popular Opera Mini browser offers the user an outstanding experience. Accessing the Web could not be easier, as Opera Mini brings the Web to our customers in local languages."

ROAMSYS, a provider of RAEX solutions to the wireless industry, has announced a referral arrangement with the VeriSign Communications Services division, a US based wireless clearing agent. Under the terms of the agreement, ROAMSYS will provide RAEX solutions to VeriSign customers.

ROAMSYS easyRAEX is is said to be an affordable, integrated roaming agreement management solution designed to help wireless operators streamline operations and achieve better visibility and control over their roaming relationships. It is based on the new GSM Association endorsed standard RAEX.

By connecting with ROAMSYS easyRAEX solutions, VeriSign's clients will be able to address issues such as poor quality of roaming related data, high labor costs when handling roaming agreements and slow distribution of roaming related information inside and outside their companies.

"ROAMSYS is always seeking innovative new ways to drive down the operational and infrastructure costs of customers' roaming management environments and at the same time increasing data quality" said Alexander Gross, CTO, ROAMSYS.

Barry Metz, Product Manager for GSM Data Clearing Services, VeriSign, added, "With this easy- to-use software, our customers will enjoy a comprehensive solution for managing roaming information while achieving RAEX compliance. The easyRAEX service complements VeriSign's existing suite of analytical tools and VeriSign's commitment to fulfilling the roaming and clearing needs of the GSM community."

mobilePeople, a specialist in local mobile search and advertising solutions for directory publishers, today announces its latest collaboration with Yell.com. The new application based on mobilePeople's liquid MAPs+ product will 'significantly enhance' Yell's existing suite of free-to-use mobile products by providing map-based information which allows users to locate different businesses and services throughout the UK on their mobile devices.

Yell.com mobile maps is a downloadable application which enables users to not only search any of the 2.3 million businesses available on the Yell.com database, but to also locate any address in the UK, providing a map displaying both walking and driving directions. mobilePeople says that, unlike other mobile map applications it allows users to save business names, addresses and contact details directly to the phone contact list. This means it only takes a simple click to call through, while the information can also be forwarded to the user's other contacts via text.

Jens Andersen, chief executive officer and co-founder of mobilePeople, said, "We are delighted to carry on this successful partnership with Yell.com, part of Yell – the largest UK directory publisher. Yell.com mobile maps is the best mobile map application a user can get today, benefiting from the vast amount of Yell's local data that is essential to the local search experience."

Carey Bunks, head of Yell.com mobile, said, "Mobile search applications are becoming increasingly popular and with mobilePeople we know we are supplying our loyal users with the very best in breed technology. Yell.com maps are extremely useful for people on the move whether on the way to a business meeting or on a night out, providing them with both contact information and directions."

The new mobile maps application is available to all Yell.com UK users immediately. The application is initially supported by 65 different mobile handsets and is set to expand rapidly to more than 100 handsets by the end of August 2008.

Moblog, the UK based mobile blogging community and technology provider, has announced a major upgrade to its platform, simplifying sign-up and enhancing mobile web features for its users, as well as re-branding the service from moblog:UK to Moblog.

"We have focused on making blogging from a mobile device simpler than ever through new features, and through our partners such as Spinvox and Shozu. The release of our community site adapted for the mobile web  means blogging and participating on the move has never been easier or more feature rich." said Alfie Dennen, co-founder of the company.
 
With the mobile web reaching critical mass mobile blogging is ready to go mainstream. Consumers can join group moblogs or create their own mobile blogs in seconds, simply by sending an SMS or MMS, or by calling a dedicated SpinVox number in the UK, USA, France, Germany, and Spain. SpinVox converts your message to text and posts it along with the original audio directly to your own moblog.
 
"We're very happy to be an integral partner of Moblog" said Mark Harris, Value Added Services Director, SpinVox. "At SpinVox we treat digitalised voice content very seriously and believe that the ability to capture moments in speech, convert them to text and post up to a blog is great news for bloggers."

As well as new posting methods (SMS/voice/browser upload), Moblog has created new features such as Groups (MMS/SMS keyword posting), integrated maps for every user and a domains facility giving every subscriber the ability to run their moblog from a URL of their choice, for example: The Stopped Clocks Foundation, a charity which catalogues and helps restore stopped public clocks in the UK, uses a Moblog group to power both their web and mobile site.