SAN JOSE, Calif. -- IP Unity, the leader in carrier-grade media servers, application servers and real-time multimedia applications, launches its newest rich media application, Mereon Video Messaging, today at Spring VON 2006. This IMS-compliant application gives carriers the most in-demand messaging features for video-enabled end devices, including video greetings, video messages, call transfer, automated speech recognition, and switching between video and audio calls. The features are especially well designed for 3G wireless carriers who are targeting Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC).

Video messaging is expected to be a popular application among subscribers all over the world. Within North America, the early adopters are 15 to 20 year-old subscribers, who are increasingly interested in storing and sending video clips, videos of themselves, their friends and activities to one another's phones and email addresses. According to the Institute for Media and Communications Research at Keio University, more than 12% of Japanese wireless users regularly send video messages to one another, which equates to over 17 million users. Video messaging is coming of age.

"Asian service providers are clearly setting the trend for video and rich media shared via mobile phones," stated Philip Marshall, Vice President with Yankee Group. "They want well-featured, carrier-grade video messaging in their arsenal, with which they can bundle appealing and sticky group communications services. Video messaging is a valuable addition to IP Unity's 'Many services, one platform' product and service development strategy."

IP Unity has tested a variety of real-time and non real-time video applications in its Asian carrier trials. The company used those key learnings to ensure that Mereon Video Messaging is tuned to support maximum user-friendliness and usage growth, and supportive of fixed, mobile and FMC carriers. The subscriber feature list includes the ability to:

The Mereon Video Messaging application provides a complete range of administrative and provisioning features as required for carrier-grade delivery, monitoring and network management of video messaging. IP Unity has also provided a number of open APIs, with which carriers and third-party developers can brand their services and personalize the users' experience. As with all IP Unity products and applications, Mereon Video Messaging is designed to support millions of subscribers utilizing the Mereon 6000 Media Server platform.

IP Unity Corp.