Colibria Appoints VP of Marketing as the Instant Messaging Developer Accelerates Growth

Colibria, a leading international developer of new generation Mobile Instant Messaging (MIM) solutions, has appointed Matt Hooper as its new executive VP of Marketing. Hooper is responsible for all aspects of marketing: supporting Colibria’s global expansion strategy, leading product and partner marketing, and further development of Colibria’s market solutions.

Hooper’s 13 year’s of experience in marketing and business development – eight in mobile – stand him in good stead to ensure Colibria’s continued success in enabling the deployment of instant messaging services. Awareness is growing of MIM’s potential to take mobile messaging to a new level of enhanced, real-time presence-based communication, building on the SMS model of today. It further enables compelling multimedia features such as image sharing and the extension of digital communities.

Previously Technical Marketing Director for Qualcomm Europe, Hooper will be developing Colibria’s global marketing strategy as the MIM developer builds on unprecedented growth in 2006, which saw the company grow by 400 per cent. Hooper’s other previous roles include VP Marketing & Alliances at ELATA, a leading mobile content delivery vendor, as well as senior posts with HP, Orange and BT.

Speaking on his appointment, Hooper said: "Mobile instant messaging is the next evolutionary step from SMS and is set to grow at an incredible rate. Visiongain is forecasting that the mobile IM market will be worth $16bn by 2011. MIM offers arguably the biggest single services opportunity for the mobile communications industry since SMS emerged in the early nineties.

‘‘A big part of this will be evolving the SMS model and community by enabling operators to establish simple and compelling mobile IM services including real-time, personalised features, so creating enhanced ways for mobile users to interact. I’m confident Colibria is best positioned, with the right solutions portfolio and technology platform, to lead this evolution."

Colibria’s customers include Telefonica, Dixitel and Globe with further customers established in 2006 across Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Colibria is also working extensively with leading systems integrators. Strategic partners include LogicaCMG, Lucent Technologies, Nokia, and Motorola.

For more information, please contact Richard George on 020 7792 7408 or email Richard.George@nelsonbostock.com

About Colibria
Colibria was founded in 2000 and is already a leading international player in the field of new generation Mobile Instant Messaging (MIM) solutions. Based in Norway, Colibria also has locations in the UK, Belgium, Spain, Singapore and the Philippines. Colibria has a global customer base of mobile operators in Europe, Asia and Latin America, as well as working with leading systems integrators. Strategic partners include LogicaCMG, Lucent Technologies, Nokia, and Motorola.

Colibria’s IM platform provides an end-to-end solution from advanced server technology through to innovative handset clients. It delivers the infrastructure for launching instant messaging and associated multimedia services as well as advanced IMS based messaging and presence services. Colibria is focused on ensuring interoperability between devices, platforms and operators. Its IMPS and SIP/IMS test server facilities are now the de facto standard for product and service trials, with users in over 30 countries around the world.

Colibria is an active participant in the international standards arena, contributing extensively to the OMA IMPS forum as a member of the Open Mobile Alliance, as well as the GSMA. It is also a founding member of the COMET alliance, a global consortium committed to the delivery of end-to-end converged messaging solutions.

Colibria’s investors are Northzone Ventures (www.northzone.com), Four Seasons Venture (www.fsv.no), and Ferd Venture (www.ferdventure.no).