NIONEX Press Press Archive 2004

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Nionex and Sektor develop SMS/MMS service for MHP

Guetersloh/Duesseldorf, 31 March 2004 – Nionex GmbH, a fully consolidated
subsidiary of DirectGroup Bertelsmann, and Sektor Online Services GmbH,
Duesseldorf, have developed an SMS/MMS chat for Multimedia Home Platform (MHP)
based on the standard solutions pontegra and play!. A product has emerged which will
quickly open up new sources of income for companies offering MHP services. Both
Nionex and Sektor Online Services have technological expertise and experience in the
areas of MHP, interactive TV (iTV) and SMS/MMS services.

SMS/MMS services have long been known in the mobile world as so-called 'killer
applications'. Substantial sales have already been attained in the analog TV world with
these services, be it in the context of Teletext chats or SMS/MMS messages as part of
TV programs, e.g. flashed on television screens during music channel shows. Since this
form of communication is so popular with a whole generation of mobile phone users, it
is the perfect chance for MHP* service companies such as broadcasters and cable
providers to tap new sources of income by offering this attractive, modern MHP service.

The SMS/MMS chat created by the Nionex and Sektor partners supports the entire
value added chain. This starts with the interface to the SMS/MMS service provider and
continues over the corresponding monitoring tools used for monitoring and clearance of
contents to the finished MHP application in the Set Top Box. Using their remote
controls, the viewers can even directly participate in chats when a return channel is
available by way of a TV broadband cable or telephone modem.

The MHP product 'pontegra' by Nionex GmbH and the SMS/MMS solution 'play!' by
Sektor Online Services GmbH are utilized in the SMS/MMS chat. Pontegra has been
successfully used for a fairly long time in running operations such as those at RTL in
Germany and Telenet in Belgium. Sektor Online Services GmbH has added
components of their solution play!, which has achieved great success in analog TV with
their SMS/MMS services and Televoting at VIVA PLUS in Germany as well as at SF
DRS in Switzerland.

"What use is the best open standard if attractive contents are missing or if there aren't
enough opportunities for the MHP service companies to earn shortly money with MHP?
In this respect the cooperation with Sektor is an ideal complement to our own iTV
portfolio whose core component pontegra already has a very good reputation in the
MHP world. This is the first step in the direction of further attractive applications based
„Nionex and Sektor develop SMS/MMS service for MHP“ on pontegra that we are going
to offer our customers in the future", says Horst Gosewehr, managing director of Nionex GmbH.

Mahmoud Chatah, managing director and shareholder of Sektor Online Services GmbH
remarks, "SMS on air and Televoting reflect the younger generation's modern media
preference. New formats and simple technical solutions will further boost the success of
it. Sektor plays a role in this as an international provider of complete system solutions,
including support service for TV programs when they are on air."

*MHP and DVB are registered trademarks of the DVB Project.