Sonera Distributes WideRay

HELSINKI -- Sonera Corporation, a leading international provider of mobile and advanced telecom services, and WideRay, provider of scalable single-box solutions for on-location wireless data services, have entered into a co-development and commercial distribution agreement.Under the terms of the agreement, Sonera is funding a portion of the development of WideRay's next-generation mobile caching server product. WideRay's award-winning product (2001 DemoMobile DEMOGAD Award, 2002 Bronze Industrial Design Excellence Award, 2002 Wireless Business & Technology World Class Product Award) will be used to provide high speed on location content and data services, leveraging Sonera's GSM/GPRS wireless networks for back-end connectivity. Sonera will also contribute network engineering and business process expertise to the co-development project. Sonera has received an equity position in WideRay and representation on the board of directors of WideRay. Under the commercial terms of the agreement, Sonera will gain exclusive distributorship of WideRay's product in Europe. Sonera is expected to begin formally offering Sonera-labeled solutions and services based on the WideRay platform in the first half of 2003. Sonera plans to expand WideRay's network of European resellers and solutions providers, as well as offer direct solutions to enterprises. "We see large opportunities in delivering the next generation of intelligent wireless data services, both in the public sphere and within enterprises. WideRay stands well positioned to become a leader in this area by providing the best implementation of a critical missing piece of the overall architecture," said Harri Koponen, CEO of Sonera Corporation. Sonera Corp. WideRay Corp.