netomat and VSNL Partner to Deliver Breakthrough New Service Enabling Consumers to Instantly Get and Share Photos, News Feeds & Blog Feeds With Friends, Family & Co-Workers Across PCs and Mobile Phones
India's First Service Enabling Seamless Messaging and Sharing of Multimedia Content From PC to Phone, Phone to PC, Phone to Phone and PC to PC
netomat, Inc., pioneers in enabling seamless messaging across mobile phones and PCs, and Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL), India's premier Broadband and Internet service company, today announced a partnership that enables consumers in India to create, get and share content on PCs and Mobile Phones.
This breakthrough new service, called netomat hub, allows PC and mobile phone users to easily:
Get -- Text, photos, news and blog feeds instantly Share -- Photos and feeds in private groups or public blogs Socialize -- With friends and meet new people
"As we have always done, VSNL is committed to offering our users the most innovative products and services that will enrich their online experience," said Shashi Kalathil, President, Broadband and Retail Business, VSNL. "User- generated digital content and new technologies such as RSS which enable easy sharing and distribution of digital content are transforming how the world communicates and receives information. netomat's new service brings these powerful, cutting-edge technologies together in simple and easy-to-use ways on both the PC and mobile phone, enabling our customers to both communicate more richly with friends, family and co-workers and to access information they need anywhere, anytime."
An RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed is a new way to have favorite web content delivered directly to computers or mobile phones. Users can simply subscribe to the feeds that interest them and when the content is updated (e.g., a news update, a sports score, a new blog post, a new Flickr photo), users get alerts on their PCs and phones and the content is delivered directly to them. Most news sites, content portals and blogs today offer RSS feeds. With netomat, users can also create their own feeds with photos and personal updates to which their friends, family and co-workers can subscribe.
netomat hub easily integrates multiple essential services for real-time group communication as richly on mobile phones as on PCs. These include picture and text messaging with presence, RSS syndication, digital photo storage, trusted social networking and update alerts.
VSNL users subscribing to the netomat hub service will receive a new premium desktop application plus 25mb of additional storage space. By simply dragging and dropping photos into it, the application allows users to instantly create group photo albums called "photohubs" that can be viewed and shared on the web as well as on mobile phones. Friends and family members can also view the photohubs and add their own comments and photos from their PCs or mobile phones. A free version of the service without the photohub features and with less storage space will also be offered. Users have a choice of subscribing to premium features at Rs.25 per month or Rs.250 per year.
"We are thrilled to have this opportunity to partner with VSNL, India's leading ISP, and to offer our exciting services to their subscribers -- both individuals and businesses can really benefit from having an easy-to-use and affordable way to communicate with rich content," said Kris Ramanathan, COO of netomat. "We look forward to working closely with VSNL to offer a growing suite of PC/Mobile services in India and through VSNL's partners around the world."
In January, netomat hub was launched as a public beta in the United States. In March, netomat announced that its free service is optimized to deliver Flickr updates with images and text to mobile phones. In April, PC Magazine named netomat hub one of its "101 Fabulous Freebies." And in May, Business 2.0 Magazine named netomat one of the "Companies to Watch" in the wireless space.
About VSNL
Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL), a part of the Tata Group, is a leading international telecommunications company. VSNL has, with the acquisition of Teleglobe, become one of the world's largest carriers of international voice complementing its emergence as the largest provider of submarine cable bandwidth. VSNL has a global presence including operations in USA, Canada, UK, South Africa, Singapore, Sri Lanka and India making it the first Indian truly global telecommunications company. Its range of service offerings include wholesale voice, private leased circuits, IP MPLS VPN, Internet access, hosting, mobile signaling and several other IP services. The company is now poised to offer managed data services and deliver end-to-end telecommunications solutions to carriers and enterprises globally. VSNL, a pioneer in offering Internet services to individual customers now offers a full slew of retail products in India like highspeed broadband, dial-up Internet, Wi-FI, net telephony and calling cards under the Tata Indicom brand name, and continues to be one of the leading retail Internet players in India.
VSNL is listed on the major stock exchanges in India and also has its ADRs listed on the New York Stock Exchange. (www.vsnl.in)
About netomat
netomat is a software company whose mission is to break down barriers to communication. The company is privately held and financed by a group of investors including venture capitalists, foundations and individuals reflecting the company's genesis as a network based art project as well as the company's goal to build an innovative, responsible and profitable software company. For more information visit www.netomat.net.
NOTE: netomat and netomat hub are registered trademarks of netomat, Inc. All other registered or unregistered trademarks are the sole property of their respective owners.
