Multimedia services market to grow 50pc this year


7 Apr 2005

The content-delivery market for new, interactive, multimedia services is expected to generate 50pc yearly growth, said Xiam on the occasion of selecting Oracle technology to underpin its mobile retail solution.

The Oracle partnership so far has enabled the Dublin-based mobile content-delivery firm to break into new markets in Europe, Asia and North America.

Xiam’s platform MPOS (mobile point of sale) for mobile operators is built on Oracle’s database technology and enables operators to manage the retailing process of a rich portfolio of premium-rate services, such as mobile ringtones, games and SMS alerts to generate significant additional revenues.

The content-delivery market for new, interactive, multimedia services is expected to generate 50pc yearly growth. Therefore, scalability, high performance and 100pc availability were key elements in Xiam’s selection of Oracle technology, said Hugh O’Donoghue, its chief technology officer. “This ensures delivery of time-sensitive services such as subscriptions to sports results and stock prices to customers.”

He continued: “Oracle Database with real application cluster enhances our added value to customers by allowing us to build robust, scalable solutions that in turn enable them to offer more services to subscribers in the most cost-effective manner.

“Building our solution on Oracle technology means we can offer mobile operators a scalable, low-cost and easy-to-manage solution that offers long-term business value. Oracle has helped us establish our market-leading position in Europe, Asia and North America and will underpin our future growth plans.”

Xiam’s software helps mobile operators to manage the retailing process of profiling, cataloguing, promoting and delivering content services to all channels on a mobile device.
MPOS is Xiam’s approach to mobile retailing. It helps mobile operators with a complex mix of services and a diverse subscriber base, to proactively promote the uptake of premium services by providing a unified view, advanced profiling and intelligent recommendations.

Xiam’s customers include leading mobile operators such as Vodafone, O2, Telenor, Rogers AT&T Wireless and Globe Telecom. The company has been widely recognised as a leading innovator in mobile data and was a GSM Association award winner in both 2003 and 2004.

Nicky Sheridan, vice-president and managing director of Oracle Ireland, commented: “Our technology enables Xiam to meet its ambitious growth plans and attract a growing number of customers for its mobile technology infrastructure solutions. Oracle’s technology has helped a company of 30 people to grow rapidly, gain a major international foothold and become a market leader in a very competitive industry.”

By John Kennedy