Monday, October 27, 2008

TelcoBridges' Technology Powers Aegis Mobility's DriveAssist™ Mobile Call Management System

Montreal, Canada, October 27, 2008 -- TelcoBridges™ today announced that the new DriveAssist mobile call management system recently announced by Aegis Mobility and Nationwide Insurance, is supported by TelcoBridges' award-winning hardware platform. DriveAssist is a network integrated software application that detects when a mobile phone user is driving, and it provides a set of user-defined options for managing incoming and outgoing calls, text messages, and internet access, much like a personal assistant.

"Cutting-edge solutions like DriveAssist illustrate a new era in mobile value-added services, and we're thrilled to help Aegis Mobility and Nationwide Insurance bring this technology to market," said Gaetan Campeau, President and CEO of TelcoBridges. "Solutions providers and operators looking to deploy services to a large user base are turning to TelcoBridges in increasing numbers - because we can provide the carrier-grade reliability and scalability needed to ensure that their innovative applications work flawlessly, anywhere and all the time."

DriveAssist utilizes all the sensors in the phone, including GPS, WiFi, baseband cellular, accelerometers, and proprietary technology created by Aegis Mobility, to detect motion in a manner that distinguishes between walking, and driving. While in motion, DriveAssist manages mobile phone use according to user-defined policies, set up through a web-based policy manager, which will not restrict E911 connections, or other designated emergency/priority calls - such as those coming from a business/fleet manager, or from a parent. More information on how DriveAssist works can be found on: http://www.aegismobility.com/.

"DriveAssist demands carrier grade equipment that will scale to tens-of-millions of subscribers, while providing 'five-nines' reliability - so we're running it on TelcoBridges' hardware - to ensure the capacity and the coast-to-coast availability we need to support our user base," said David Hattey, CEO of Aegis Mobility. "Their hardware and software have exceeded our expectations and TelcoBridges has been a tremendous partner to Aegis."

TelcoBridges connects DriveAssist to the mobile carrier's switching center via high-availability SS7 links. And TelcoBridges is also providing the IVR capabilities needed to store content and playback voice prompts on thousands of channels simultaneously. These capabilities form the core of the DriveAssist "personal assistant" functionality, which manages incoming calls and text messages while users are driving.

A recent National Highway Transportation Safety Association (NHTSA) study reported that more than 80-percent of motor vehicle crashes and near-crashes result from driver inattention. Another survey conducted by "Harris Poll" indicated that 90-percent of Americans believe that cell phone texting while driving is just as dangerous as drinking and driving, and more than 75-percent of respondents support legislation limiting cell phone use while driving. Today, 17 States currently ban cell phone use while driving, and every remaining state is considering similar measures. DriveAssist addresses the issues that can arise when drivers get distracted by their phones while out on the road.

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