Europe Netherlands : 3ple-Media, the Mobile Multimedia infrastructure company, has added Image, Audio and Video Transcoding functionality to its Mercury Mobile Multimedia Platform. This further enables Mobile Operators to spark and vitalize MMS and Video Streaming service adoption for 2.5G and 3G subscribers.

The new Mercury Transcode module enables the conversion and optimization of hundreds of audio, video and image file types to ensure the best user experience on the mobile device.  It can also be deployed as a stand-alone Transcoding solution through use of its 3GPP-compliant Standard Transcoding Interface (STI).  The solution has been fully tested and rolled out at Mobile Operator CURE in the Philippines.

The addition of Transcoding to its Mercury Mobile Multimedia suite reflects 3ple-Media's ethos of delivering holistic, end-to-end solutions. Modules include a 3G MMSC, WAP Gateway, Image, Audio and Video Transcoding, Mobile Video Portal and an MMS Gateway (all currently provided by different vendors or OEM'd).  The commercial model for the entire suite is pay-once, flat rate, site licensing.  When combined together, these two advances finally enable Operators to unlock the
potential of Mobile Multimedia.

And the potential of Mobile Multimedia is huge. For mobile advertising alone, a recent report from ABI Research estimates that by 2011, the value of the world market for mobile marketing and advertising will reach US$19 billion.  Add to this mobile distribution of commercial, mainstream, multimedia content, plus user generated content, and the numbers become immense.

Costi Manda, Managing Director & CTO of 3ple-Media, commented "With globally declining voice ARPU, finding replacement revenue from data has become a contentious issue for Mobile Operators. We believe that the revenue opportunity from Mobile Multimedia is both massive and immediate.  Our Mercury Mobile Multimedia Platform has been designed to provide the necessary Mobile Multimedia 'plumbing'. The addition of best-of-breed Mercury Transcode functionality allows us to further address the inherent issues caused by a fragmented population of Mobile Multimedia client- side devices and operating systems". 

ABOUT 3ple-Media - 3ple-Media designs, develops and delivers Mobile Multimedia infrastructure to Mobile Network Operators and providers of mobile broadband services. Incorporated and head quartered in The Netherlands, it has additional development centers in Romania and the Philippines with an Asian regional HQ in Singapore and an African regional HQ in Johannesburg. Mercury is a registered trademark of 3ple-Media BV.