[London, ENGLAND] California-based “Wireless Web” software developer
BlueKite.com announced Tuesday
a major expansion of its operations in Europe.
Having recently closed US $36 million in its latest round of equity
financing, BlueKite.com has appointed Jan Wiejak to manage its European
sales and marketing from a new base in London. Wiejak joins the company
from Lucent subsidiary Kenan Systems where he was head of the Global
Mobile business unit.
Interest in the so-called “Mobile Internet” is reaching fever pitch
among potential operators with the current German G3 auction already
topping the astronomical sums reached in the U.K. At the same time,
WAP phones which use an earlier technology have proved to be a dismal
failure, especially in the U.K. where (according to the London Standard)
they have “bombed before take-off.”
BlueKite.com’s management is confident that mobile technology and
the Internet will mesh gracefully, however, and the company is now
gearing up for a huge expansion.
David R. Cox, BlueKite’s president and chief executive, said
Europe is continuing to set the pace for the Wireless Web market and
BlueKite has already experienced what he called “tremendous enthusiasm”
from early customers at BT Cellnet, Connect Austria, Swisscom, and Telecel.
“We have recruited a multinational team with a depth of global wireless
Internet expertise, and will continue to attract the very best talent
from across Europe,” said Cox.
BlueKite offers technology that optimizes the bandwidth available for
GSM, GPRS, CDMA, HSCSD, and UMTS networks. (In long-hand, that’s Global
System for Mobile communication, General Packet Radio Services,
Code-Division
Multiple Access, High-Speed Circuit-Switched Data, and Universal Mobile
Telecommunications System).
BlueKite makes it possible to view Web pages on handheld PCs, laptops,
and other mobile devices using a standard browser. When using the most
advanced networks (not GSM) the process is said to be as good as
connecting via a 56K dial-up modem.
