ChangingWorlds, the global expert in intelligent content discovery and subscriber intelligence for the Mobile Internet signed a seven figure deal with leading mobile operator Vodacom during the An Taoiseach led Trade Mission to South Africa last week. Vodacom, one of Vodafone Global’s most important operations, is the number one mobile operator in South Africa with over 23 million customers.
Signing the deal with Vodacom and Minister Micheál Martin TD, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Vincent Ryan, VP of International Sales & Marketing, ChangingWorlds said “This business mission, expertly organised by Enterprise Ireland, is an ideal opportunity to get government level endorsement and strengthen relationships with existing partners and clients in South Africa.” He added, “We have a long-term relationship with Vodacom and we are delighted that our latest deal with Vodacom coincides with the visit of An Taoiseach and Minister Micheál Martin to South Africa to promote Irish business.”
Mr Vincent Ryan, VP of International Sales & Marketing, ChangingWorlds; Mr Peter Matlare, Chief Strategy Officer, Vodacom; Minister Micheál Martin TD, Minster Enterprise, Trade and Employment; Mr Ian Finnegan, EMEA Sales Director, ChangingWorlds and Mr Frank Ryan, CEO, Enterprise Ireland.
Vodacom will deploy ChangingWorlds’ entire ClixSmart Intelligent Portal Platform over its mobile portal Vodafone Live! This will incorporate ChangingWorlds’ suite of intelligent content discovery and personalization solutions for mobile data as well as sophisticated portal management. Based on advanced artificial intelligence technology, the ClixSmart™ Platform will significantly enhance mobile content relevance and will optimise the user experience of Vodafone Live!, resulting in greater ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) for Vodacom.
ChangingWorlds, a University College Dublin spin-out company developed its ClixSmart technology as part of an extensive research programme in the University’s Smart Media Institute. ChangingWorlds maintains a strong strategic link with the University as its ongoing R&D activities are taking place in NovaUCD, the Innovation and Technology Transfer Centre at UCD. The ChangingWorlds’ ClixSmart Intelligent Portal Platform offers a suite of intelligent content discovery and personalization solutions for mobile data, as well as sophisticated portal management. The ClixSmart Intelligent Portal Platform will add advanced artificial intelligence technology to Vodacom’s Vodafone live! portal to enhance mobile content relevance and optimize the user experience.
ClixSmart Business Intelligence Manager - an advanced mobile subscriber and portal usage reporting tool and the latest addition to the ClixSmart Intelligent Portal Platform, will offer Vodacom a subscriber intelligence platform for the optimal management of its Vodafone Live! portal.
Vodacom selected ChangingWorlds for its reputation in building world-class subscriber intelligence solutions and looks forward to a successful partnership.
The South Africa Trade Mission was organised by Enterprise Ireland in order to help Irish companies capitalise on the growing opportunities in South Africa. The mission included Irish companies who like ChangingWorlds, are active in this market and those who have included South Africa in their business development strategy for 2008.
ENDS
21 January 2008
For further information contact Micéal Whelan, NovaUCD, e-mail: miceal.whelan@ucd.ie, tel: (01) 716 3712.
Editors Notes
ChangingWorlds was founded in 1999 to commercialise the award-winning ClixSmart personalization engine developed to solve the usability and content discovery problems of the mobile internet as part of an extensive research programme in the Smart Media Institute at University College Dublin.
ChangingWorlds is the market-leading provider of intelligent personalization and wireless portal products to the telecommunications industry. Based on advanced artificial intelligence technology developed from in-depth research carried out in NovaUCD, UCD’s innovation and technology transfer centre. The company’s ClixSmart™ Intelligent Portal platform offers a personalized content discovery solution that enhances content relevance and optimizes the user experience of the wireless internet, resulting in greater ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) for the network operator.
Results from implementations of the ClixSmart Intelligent Portal Platform have shown an increase of mobile internet ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) and mobile internet traffic by 20% - 30%. Proven in market as a high-performance, scalable and carrier-grade wireless portal solution, ClixSmart is used by over 45 wireless operators worldwide including the Vodafone Global Group, O2 UK & O2 Germany, the TeliaSonera Group, Celcom Malaysia and Hong Kong CSL. ChangingWorlds is privately owned and employs over one hundred highly qualified staff in Ireland (Dublin), Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur) and USA (San Francisco).
Vodacom is a Pan-African cellular communications company providing a world class GSM service to more than 28.2 million customers in South Africa, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lesotho, and in Mozambique. Vodacom South Africa launched its 3G network in December 2004 and subsequently its 3G HSDPA network in March 2006. Vodacom Tanzania will roll out its 3G network in the near future.
Vodacom is the market leader in all of the countries where it currently operates, with a 58% market share in the South African market; Africa's largest and most profitable cellular market. Shareholding: Telkom SA - 50%, Vodafone Group Plc - 50%.
NovaUCD is University College Dublin’s €11 million Innovation and Technology Transfer Centre. NovaUCD is responsible for the commercialisation of intellectual property arising from UCD research and for the development of co-operation with industry and business. NovaUCD as a purpose-built centre also nurtures new technology and knowledge-intensive enterprises. NovaUCD has over 40 incubation units, including bio-incubation units, and provides innovators and entrepreneurs with the necessary support and knowledge to take their ideas from proof of principle to commercial success. Twenty-three knowledge-intensive companies are currently located in NovaUCD. NovaUCD has been funded through a unique public-private partnership that includes AIB Bank, Arthur Cox, Deloitte, Enterprise Ireland, Ericsson, Goodbody Stockbrokers, UCD and Xilinx.