Onset to Co-Market METAmessage Emergency Communications for BlackBerry With Cingular

Onset Technology's METAmessage and BlackBerry Solutions Will Help Federal, State, and Local Governments Meet Continuity of Operations (COOP) and Emergency Response Mandates; Joint Solutions to Be Shown at Washington DC Lunch-and-Learn

Onset Technology, a leading developer of enterprise access software for wireless handheld devices, announced today a co-marketing agreement with Cingular Wireless, to provide emergency communications and COOP solutions to government agencies meeting homeland security needs. The METAmessage capabilities, designed for the BlackBerry wireless platform from Research In Motion (RIM) , include automatic PIN updating, custom message alerts, PIN-to-PIN archiving, handheld document storage, instant conference calling, and emergency data access. The solutions will be shown at a joint Onset and Cingular Wireless lunch-and-learn event at the George Hotel in Washington DC on December 9. Interested parties should call Onset at (831) 471-1360 x508.

According to Gadi Mazor, president and CEO of Onset Technology, "Together with the new Cingular, we will be able to offer government customers unparalleled functionality from their wireless deployments. Because our emergency communication solutions also provide capabilities that will be used on a daily basis, we're adding a significant value to BlackBerry deployments. This remarkable set of products, BlackBerry from the new Cingular and METAmessage, can quickly increase government effectiveness and productivity."

Onset recently announced the availability of the Emergency Communications Kit that provides all METAmessage Emergency Communications features, onsite installation and setup, and maintenance and support included in one SKU. Also announced was the addition of custom message alerts, a particularly important capability for government users, to the METAmessage feature set. Custom alerts let administrators and users set notification rules in order to differentiate messages from different senders or with different subjects. When an incident or emergency occurs, custom alerts ensure that emergency communications will receive immediate attention.

METAmessage Emergency Communications

In the event of a catastrophic loss of network, email, or back-end infrastructure, BlackBerry users can take advantage of PIN-to-PIN messaging to communicate directly with other BlackBerry users over the wireless network. However, two factors can potentially impede this feature: the need for easy access to PIN addresses and the decision by many organizations to "turn off" PIN-to-PIN messaging due to the absence of message archiving. With METAmessage, users can make sure their BlackBerry address books have the latest PIN addresses by using METAmessage's PIN updating feature. And, organizations can enable PIN-to-PIN messaging with the knowledge that all transmissions will be securely archived.

PIN-to-PIN blast makes fast communication with groups possible by letting users address messages using special lists of PIN addresses or using existing lists from the BlackBerry address book where PIN addresses have been included in the address book entries.

The METAmessage handheld document storage (HDS) capability lets a user read emergency information immediately on their handheld even if out of wireless coverage. When in coverage, METAmessage monitors specified network folders that contain emergency documents. It converts the documents into handheld-readable format, and uploads the documents to the handheld. METAmessage maintains the latest versions of emergency documents on the handheld, and the original documents can be in virtually any format, from WordPerfect documents and Excel spreadsheets to MS Project files, PowerPoint presentations and .html pages.

Instant Conference Calling lets a user quickly set up a conference call on their BlackBerry handheld by choosing from a list of pre-defined groups, by selecting participants from the address book, or by entering new numbers. Working with either a local or hosted voice gateway, METAmessage calls and connects the participants, including the initiating user. Response teams and other emergency groups can be talking to each other quickly with just a few clicks of the handheld.

The Emergency Gateway ensures that BlackBerry handheld users are in constant communication with command centers, receiving and reporting emergency notifications and updates via PIN-to-PIN messaging, automatically switching user handhelds from email to PIN-to-PIN mode. For example, the server can push an emergency "Where are you?" message to users that appears as a pop-up window with an audible alert. The message can require the user to enter location and contact information in the window and submit the data back to the Gateway. The Gateway, interacting with virtually any type of information system such as a database, can then push user location information, or any other appropriate information, such as Continuity of Operations (COOP) and emergency response (ER) plans, to the field. Or, the Gateway can respond to individual user requests as needed.

METAmessage for Wireless

METAmessage, used by over 1000 enterprise customers with over 120,000 users, is a complete, out-of-the-box solution for BlackBerry. Users can interact directly with a range of enterprise data systems including document management/time-and-billing programs, enterprise applications, and internally developed databases. The user simply opens a form on the handheld and either requests information from or adds information to the data source. Users can also

--  Check spelling;
--  Print anywhere;
--  Set custom message alerts;
--  Access network documents;
--  Ask Concierge Services virtually any question;
--  and more.
    

In addition to its Basic and Emergency Communications products, METAmessage provides advanced Legal, Data, and Voice solutions. METAmessage supports both BlackBerry Mobile Data Service and email transport.

Onset Technology

Founded in 1997, Onset Technology is the developer of METAmessage® for Wireless -- a unique software solution that gives business users access to virtually any data on their enterprise network using wireless devices such as BlackBerry® handhelds from Research In Motion (RIM). The software is broadly compatible with virtually all wireless devices and servers including those from strategic partners AT&T, Ericsson, Microsoft, and RIM. Since its introduction, METAmessage has been widely adopted by Fortune 1000 companies, government agencies, and a range of large service organizations. For more information, visit www.onsettechnology.com.

METAmessage® is a trademark of Onset Technology. The BlackBerry and RIM families of related marks, images and symbols are the exclusive properties and trademarks of Research In Motion Limited.