3 Italy Selects IONA's Artix3 Italy Selects IONA's Artix

DUBLIN -- IONA® Technologies (NASDAQ: IONA), a world leader in high-performance integration solutions for mission-critical IT environments, today announced that 3 Italy, the Mobile Video Company of Hutchinson Whampoa Group Ltd (HWL), has selected IONA's Artix™ to help achieve interoperability between the wireless provider's multiple packaged and home-grown middleware systems. The resulting infrastructure will better enable 3 Italy to leverage its IT assets to support the introduction of new offerings and customer service initiatives.

3 Italy was the first provider to launch UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) services in Europe and its goal is to become the leading provider of UMTS services in the Italian market. Critical to 3's strategy is its ability to introduce new 3G services while optimising network performance and maintaining a high quality of service. 3 selected Artix for its high performance, small footprint and integrated security capabilities. These qualities allow 3 to integrate disparate systems with its existing IT infrastructure, while satisfying high-volume transaction requirements and maintaining the highest quality of service.

"The very nature of a carrier's infrastructure is complex," said Georges Perez, CTO, 3 Italy. "It may include switches from different suppliers, multiple legacy customer databases, subscriber authentication systems and billing platforms. It can require enormous labor and maintenance resources to ensure smooth operation. By using a platform-independent and standards-based integration solution like Artix, we plan to reduce the overall complexity of our IT infrastructure while at the same time leveraging it to build and deploy new business applications."

With an increasingly competitive telecommunications landscape, operators are constantly seeking to improve their average revenue per user (ARPU) through the introduction of new services, such as those based on third generation (3G) mobile telecommunications. However, the introduction of new services needs to be achieved in tandem with the management of those service offerings within existing IT systems.

"As telecommunications operators continue to expand the service offerings to their customers, the IT environment that supports those services has become increasingly complex," said Chris Horn, CEO and co-founder, IONA Technologies. "Artix is expressly designed to help telecommunications carriers connect their many existing systems to their chosen common infrastructure. This makes it easy for them to create new service offerings that can be seamlessly and securely integrated and managed within existing IT environments."

IONA Technologies

Hutchison 3G Italy