Acision and Aegis Mobility partner to enable mobile operators to accelerate deployment and delivery of distracted driving solutions
Addressing one of the greatest safety concerns associated with mobile phone use, Acision, a world leader in mobile data, and Aegis Mobility, a leading developer of solutions for distracted driving, today announced an alliance that will enable mobile operators to offer subscribers breakthrough safe-driving technology.
The alliance integrates Aegis Mobility’s DriveAssist solution with the Acision Personalized Messaging portfolio, which enables mobile operators to deliver mobile messaging solutions with additional value-added services. The interoperability with Acision’s enabling technology – and the company’s longstanding relationship with the operator community – speeds up and simplifies the deployment of Aegis Mobility’s distracted-driving solution for operators. DriveAssist automatically allows the network to mediate text messages, data sessions, and voice calls when a cell phone user is driving.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, driver inattention is the cause of almost 80% of traffic crashes with mobile phone use being the most common distraction. The National Safety Council reports that 28% of motor vehicle crashes can be attributed to talking and texting on a cell phone while driving. Texting and driving is especially dangerous and has been found to increase the risk of a crash by 8 to 23 times.
“Acision is partnering with Aegis Mobility to offer a solution to address safety concerns associated with mobile phone usage while operating a motor vehicle. We believe operators will find strong market interest in this distracted driving solution, especially among parents looking to protect their teenage children, as well as enterprises wishing to reduce liability risk and enhance the safety of their mobile employees,” said Rick Harris, senior vice president and general manager of North American operations for Acision. “This alliance empowers operators to accelerate the deployment and delivery of a distracted driving solution that will save lives.”
“Acision and Aegis Mobility are working together to address the challenge of distracted driving,” said William Stack, President of Aegis Mobility. “Our work with Acision is an important step in the ongoing effort to provide solutions that enable operators to meet growing subscriber demand for distracted driving solutions in a scalable, network-efficient manner.”
The two companies are working together through the Acision Innovation Network, a program that includes more than 100 partners from across the communications industry working with Acision on the creation and marketing of new applications and services to advance the way the world uses mobile communications.
Acision appoints Jorgen Nilsson as new Chief Executive
Acision, a world leader in mobile data, today announced that its Board of Directors has appointed Jorgen Nilsson to Chief Executive. In his new role, the former COO will focus on the day to day leadership of the company, driving innovation and capitalising on the growing opportunities in the mobile data market.
As an industry veteran, Nilsson has more than 30 years experience in senior executive roles at leading blue chip companies including Ericsson and Compaq. He will be instrumental in driving Acision forward as it strengthens its position across the mobile data ecosystem.
Nilsson assumes his new position with immediate effect, succeeding Rory Buckley who has stepped down from Acision. Larry Quinn, Chairman at Acision, said, “It gives me great pleasure to announce Jorgen Nilsson’s progression to his new role to head up Acision as it continues to successfully lead the charge in the mobile data market. It was an opportune time to transition Acision’s leadership and Jorgen will now work with the rest of our committed executive team to drive the business to the next level. Jorgen’s passion, industry knowledge, breadth of experience and close senior relationships within the telecom sector will enable us to build on our solid customer base and develop our already strong next generation products portfolio.”
Commenting on his appointment, Jorgen Nilsson said: “Acision has an enviable global customer portfolio and is ideally placed to support our customers in successfully monetising their data services. I am excited to be given the chance to work with such a dedicated group of people to drive leadership, operational excellence and take the company forward to next phase of business relevance. This will provide the foundation to positioning Acision as a world leader in the mobile data.”
Prior to joining Acision as COO, Nilsson worked for over 10 years at Ericsson where his most recent position was Executive Vice President and General Manager of Vodafone’s Global Customer Unit. In this role, Nilsson was responsible for the management of Vodafone Group’s 21 operators, as well as driving economies of scale across Ericsson’s global sales, marketing, technology and operational teams. Nilsson was also previously part of Ericsson Group’s Extended Executive Team.
Mexican Telecoms Revenues Reach $15 Billion
A survey conducted by Acision has revealed that total mobile telecoms revenues in Mexico reached US$15 billions with 23% from VAS (SMS 60%; Data: 20%; others: 20%). Latin America already has approximately 540 million mobile service subscribers, with Mexico registering 88.2 million subscribers and a 79% market penetration.
MMS usage is also common, with 14% of users accessing the service during the last quarter. This is high compared to the Brazilian market, where MMS is only used by 5% of cell phone owners. Another major finding in Mexico is that Mobile Marketing is something that 79% of users receive, with 17% stating they receive marketing messages on a daily basis.
According to Rafael Steinhauser- Acision’s President for Latin America, signs of increased uptake of VAS in the Latin American mobile market have caught attention in recent months, especially in Mexico. This rise in usage reinforces the increased importance of these services and the need for mobile operators to invest in the delivery of high quality VAS to generate increased ARPU and profitability.
Besides, the survey found that 80% of Mexicans use their mobile handsets to listen music, while 82% use their handset to play games. Also, 11% of users access social networks from their mobile. For heavy users this number goes to 32% while 6% have accessed a bank service and 5% have made a payment.
MTC upgrades SMSC (Kuwait)
MTC-Vodafone Kuwait has upgraded its short message service centre (SMSC) to a new next generation IP-based SMSC from Acision. Nadia Al-Saif, manager of value added services at the cellco, commented: ‘We have seen the demand for messaging in Kuwait explode over the past year and wanted to ensure that we were prepared for future growth and able to continue providing our loyal customers with the best quality experience available.’ Acision was formerly LogicaCMG’s Telecoms Products division.
