Norwood Systems first to demonstrate Bluetooth(TM) voice hand-off

Norwood Systems first to demonstrate Bluetooth(TM) voice hand-off Norwood Systems shows seamless hand-off at Bluetooth Congress, Amsterdam - Stand No: 405 Richmond-upon-Thames, UK and Amsterdam, The Netherlands - 12th June 2002 - At the Bluetooth Congress today Norwood Systems demonstrates its ability to offer a full voice hand-off, using EnterpriseMobilitytm, its Bluetooth-enabled voice and data communications platform. This development removes the fundamental range limitation of Bluetooth, allowing organisations to benefit seamlessly from the features delivered by Personal Area Networking (PAN) over much large workspaces than those that can be serviced by a single Bluetooth cell. Using EnterpriseMobility allows employees to move freely around the Bluetooth environment whilst on calls with connections being passed from base station to base station to maintain constant connectivity wherever they want to be in the building. Employees of organisations that have deployed a Bluetooth network can make and receive calls through multiple network access points in their building. Historically, they have been unable to move between the access points without losing the signal and dropping a call in progress, i.e. to-date, automatic hand-off of a call has not been possible. Norwood Systems today is proving otherwise by demonstrating its hand-off capabilities. Norwood Systems has been focusing on developing voice roaming and hand- off since its inception. The company has been actively participating in the Bluetooth SIG PAN working group in getting mobility management mechanism standardised within the Bluetooth SIG specifications. "This is a real breakthrough in scalable Bluetooth communications for the enterprise," states Paul Østergaard, co-founder, Chairman and CEO of Norwood Systems. "We have already delivered a proven roaming solution - giving employees the ability to be anywhere in the Bluetooth environment and still make and receive calls. However, now we can let them move unhindered while they are on calls or accessing data, maintaining connectivity all the time." - ENDS - NOTES TO EDITORS About Norwood Systems Norwood Systems was founded in January 2000 to become the market leader in system connectivity software for short-range wireless based office networks for voice and data. Its award winning networking platform, EnterpriseMobilitytm, which became commercially available in June 2002, delivers a wireless communications platform to connect Bluetoothtm enabled mobile devices seamlessly with existing voice and data communication networks. Norwood Systems' customer base includes leading companies in the Telecommunications, Professional Services, Financial industries and the Healthcare and Pharmaceutical Sector, including Plantronics. Norwood Systems has its headquarters in Richmond-Upon-Thames in the UK and a research and development facility in Perth, Western Australia. Further information on the company and products can be found at www.norwoodsystems.com About EnterpriseMobility EnterpriseMobility is the most advanced Bluetooth voice and data platform available. By enhancing user contactability, EnterpriseMobility customers can benefit from enhanced productivity and better customer management. Coupled with cost reductions on mobile calls this potentially creates an ROI of a few months. The platform supports standard PBX functions, such as call transfer, call on hold, music on hold, call swap, call forwarding, calling line ID (CLI), call diversion, interactive voice dialling, voice mail integration and integrates with most major PBX systems including Lucent Definity, Nortel Meridian, Ericsson MD110, Siemens HiPath, Cisco AVVID, 3COM NBX, and Alcatel Omni-PCX. To promote early adoption of EnterpriseMobility, Norwood Systems is releasing a range of Starter Kits which include EnterpriseMobility user licenses, InstantCoverage planning software, Bluetooth headsets for all users, a VoIP telephony gateway, Bluetooth base stations and installation services. Starter kits are for 10, 20 or 30 users, and can easily be scaled for additional users. EnterpriseMobility is available direct from Norwood Systems and also via Norwood Systems' partner network, including Damovo under the Walkabouttm brand. Norwood Systems photography High Resolution images from Norwood Systems can be downloaded free of charge by the media from the Newscast Website: www.newscast-online.com EnterpriseMobility and InstantCoverage are registered trademarks of Norwood Systems. All other trademarks or registered trademarks belong to their respective companies. About Bluetooth The Bluetoothtm wireless technology is set to revolutionize the personal connectivity market by providing freedom from wired connections. It is a specification for a small-form factor, low-cost radio solution providing links between mobile computers, mobile phones and other portable handheld devices, and connectivity to the internet. The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG), comprised of leaders in the telecommunications, computing, and network industries, is driving development of the technology and bringing it to market. The Bluetooth SIG includes promoter companies 3Com, Ericsson, IBM, Lucent, Microsoft, Motorola, Nokia and Toshiba and more than 2000 Adopter/Associate member companies. For further information: For Norwood Systems For Financial Dynamics Karen Worrall Edward Taylor Tel: +44 20 8334 8065 Tel: +44 20 7269 7295 e-mail: karen.worrall@norwoodsystems.com e-mail: edward.taylor@fd.com Contacts at The Bluetooth Congress: Karen Worrall Jo Brice Financial Dynamics Tel: +44 7785 387039 Tel: +44 7785 956989 ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by Waymaker http://www.waymaker.net The following files are available for download: http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2002/06/12/20020612BIT00270/wkr0001.doc http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2002/06/12/20020612BIT00270/wkr0002.pdf