Synchronica, international provider of next generation mobile messaging services, has signed a letter of intent with Canada’s NewPace Technology Development to cooperate in the development, sales and marketing of a Rich Communication Suite (RCS) product.
Rich Communication Suite (RCS) is a mobile industry standards effort led by the GSMA that unifies communication such as voice, presence, status, instant messaging and texting, buddy lists, media sharing, conferencing and video chat into one service on a mobile handset without the need for third party software and downloads.
The proposed collaboration agreement between the two companies will enable NewPace’s Rich Communication Suite of products to be extended to Synchronica’s growing list of worldwide clients. Synchronica’s client base extends to more than 100 mobile operators and device manufacturers globally.
Under the collaboration agreement, NewPace will license its current and future RCS technology to Synchronica, who will be responsible for marketing and sales of the products and technology. The two groups will collaborate to create a joint product and sales roadmap. The relationship between the two companies extends back to January 2011 when Synchronica acquired Neustar NGM Messaging products. NewPace’s professional services team had provided the technical support for the Neustar products and has continued doing so for Synchronica.
'NewPace’s focus on innovation and insight has been a major factor in making our decision,' explained Simon Taylor, EVP sales and business development at Synchronica. 'This partnership presents us with a great deal of potential, not least the ‘time to market’ benefits of being able to provide a full RCS-e solution which meets the needs of our customers today. Synchronica and NewPace are both acknowledged leaders in their respective fields, and by working with NewPace, Synchronica has found a cost-efficient way to be amongst the first to offer this groundbreaking product that is set to change the way in which we use our mobile phones.'
Said Kim Hartlev, chief technical officer at Synchronica: 'We’re really looking forward to demonstrating our RCS offering at Mobile World Congress. We believe that our solution, which enables RCS services without capital outlay, will be of great interest to operators who are keen to deploy this next-generation technology but are put off by the prospect of making significant changes to their core network.'
Both parties will be responsible for their own costs under the collaboration agreement which will grant Synchronica exclusive rights to a selection of mobile operators, and is based on a revenue sharing arrangement. In the agreement, NewPace will retain the Intellectual Property developed, and under certain limited conditions will provide Synchronica with the first right of offer to purchase the intellectual property at fair market value.
'This is an exciting partnership for NewPace,' added Brent Newsome, CEO of NewPace. 'Synchronica’s reach in the marketplace provides our team with a significant opportunity to extend our products globally while allowing us to concentrate on what we do best, new technology development'.
Further announcements about the product will follow at Mobile World Congress, where both companies will be conducting onsite demonstrations.
