CANNES, France, Feb. 2, 2000 — Today at the GSM World Congress, Bouygues Telecom, one of France’s major wireless carriers, and Microsoft Corp. demonstrated Bouygues Telecom’s new wireless portal, http://www.bouygtel.com/ , which is based on Microsoft’s standards-based, flexible, end-to-end mobile Internet solution. One more way that Microsoft is working with the wireless industry to enable information access any time, anywhere and from any device, the new mobile portal is available immediately to Bouygues Telecom’s subscribers, at no additional charge.
Bouygues Telecom has worked closely with Microsoft to develop a standards-based Internet solution based entirely on Microsoft® products including Windows NT® Server with Microsoft Message Queue Server (MSMQ), Microsoft Commercial Internet System (MCIS), Microsoft SQL Server TM and the Microsoft Internet Cellular Smart Access (ICSA) e-mail server. In addition to providing the technology, Microsoft was able to share with Bouygues Telecom its extensive experience in developing consumer Web portals.
“With the launch of Bouygtel.com, we want to offer our customers mobile access to a broader range of services and to provide them with more flexibility to personalize the information they want to receive,”
said Patrick Leleu, chief executive officer of Bouygues Telecom.
“In that respect, Microsoft technologies have given us the scalability and flexibility we need to develop tailored services for our customers.”
“We believe that mobile Internet portals such as Bouygtel.com will become key gateways for the growing population of wireless device users in Europe who want and need to access a full range of information,”
said Michel Lacombe, president, Microsoft Europe, Middle East and Africa (Microsoft EMEA).
“This collaboration marks a step closer to achieving our vision of enabling users to access their information any time, anywhere and on any device.”
Subscribers to Bouygues Telecom can now use this portal from their PC as the single point of access to quickly and easily personalize all of Bouygues Telecom’s mobile Internet services. The portal is based on the Extensible Markup Language (XML) format and supported by Short Message Services (SMS), allowing information to be received on any mobile phone or Windows® CE operating system-based device.
As part of this portal, a number of new content services have been added to Bouygues Telecom’s existing mobile Internet services:
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Customized information such as news, sports and weather, provided by MSN TM France
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A search engine feature, also from MSN France
In addition, existing services have been upgraded:
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ExpressM@il, a feature that allows subscribers to receive and send e-mail messages on any device – mobile phone, Windows CE-based device or PC – using a wireless e-mail service based on the Microsoft ICSA e-mail server
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Scoop, a feature-rich service based on MCIS 2.5 that allows mobile content from Bouygues Telecom to be sent directly to the user’s mobile phone or other device
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SIM Tool Kit 2 Card, the latest version of this technology that allows Bouygues Telecom customers to customize their mobile phone menu
The benefits of Bouygtel.com are twofold: End users can enjoy improved and simplified access to Bouygues Telecom’s mobile services and are able to better customize the information they want to receive; and mobile operators can now offer even more value-add services while realizing enhanced database management and lower customer-care costs.
About Bouygues Telecom
Mobile operator Bouygues Telecom was launched in May 1996 with the aim of putting mobile telephony within the reach of everyone through innovation in customer care and value-add services. Bouygues Telecom is the first and only French mobile operator to have implemented digital EFR technology in its network, giving it sound quality comparable to that of fixed-line phones. Today, Bouygues Telecom has 3.2 million subscribers in France with network coverage to 97 percent of the population.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq
“MSFT”
) is the worldwide leader in software for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software – any time, any place and on any device.
Microsoft, Windows NT, Windows and MSN are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.
The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
