ALCATEL AND WEBRASKA PARTNER TO PROVIDE LOCATION-BASED SERVICES TO GSM USERS

Paris, 01 July 1999 – Webraska and Alcatel have joined forces to create an innovative solution that brings personalized location-based services through GSM/WAP* devices. This offer will enable content providers to create proximity services that fit with the nomadic use of GSM devices. With this solution based on WAP, users - wherever they are - will be able to retrieve local information such as nearby restaurants, hospitals or garages. By combining Alcatel’s HomeTopTM Solutions and Webraska’s technologies, WAP users will access localized information according to their profile and preferences.

Webraska Mobile Technologies S.A. was founded in July 1998 by French engineers originating from major telecom equipment manufacturers. Webraska has Europe’s largest Internet digital map server and was the first company in the world to demonstrate real-time maps displayed directly on a GSM telephone screen in October 1998. Webraska’s mobile telephony mapping services, intelligent transport telematic applications and fleet management services, which are based in part on several patents pending approval, are accessible via Internet from wireless terminals.

Working with Webraska, - a pioneer in Value Added Services combining Internet mobility and cartography, Alcatel expands the scope of its open standard software platform, HomeTopTM Solutions. Alcatel’s server based solution allows any operator, whether they are incumbent or new, fixed or mobile, to launch, manage and promote on-line services, such as e-mail, voice mail, day to day personalized information, electronic commerce or home banking on new Internet- and WAP-enabled thin clients, such as screenphone, set-top boxes and GSM.

Jean-Michel Durocher, President of Webraska, welcomed the partnership saying, « We are extremely pleased to work with Alcatel in these new technologies. By coupling position information with Webraska’s multimodal directions and traffic services, which are already accessible via a mobile phone, it now becomes possible to be guided to the nearest available parking place. Imagine that a taxi dispatch center will be able, though a unique GSM subscription, to locate at any time the vehicle that will offer the fastest answer. »

« It is highly interesting for Alcatel to be working with an innovative and successful French startup such as Webraska, it is a good example of complementarity between our two companies. Together, we will jointly help operators and content providers attack the expanding WAP market. » said Alan Mottram, president of Alcatel Network Applications Division. « Webraska’s services combined with the HomeTop™ Solutions platform provide the needed additional differentiation that will give mobile operators the advantage. »

This agreement demonstrates the full commitment of Alcatel to provide operators with innovative end-to-end solutions for convergent voice and data services.

About Alcatel

Alcatel builds next generation networks, delivering integrated end-to-end voice and data communications solutions to established and new carriers, as well as enterprises and consumers worldwide. With 120,000 employees and sales of EURO 21.3 billion ($25.0 billion), Alcatel operates in more than 130 countries.

About Webraska

Webraska Mobile Technologies S.A. was founded in July 1998 by French engineers originating from major telecom equipment manufacturers. Webraska has Europe’s largest Internet digital map server and was the first company in the world to demonstrate real-time maps displayed directly on a GSM telephone screen in October 1998. Webraska’s mobile telephony mapping services, intelligent transport telematic applications and fleet management services, which are based in part on several patents pending approval, are accessible via Internet from wireless terminals. For more information, visit Webraska on Internet : www.webraska.com

WAP = Wireless Application Protocol

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