Locatrix launches the "New" Presence: Location Services using IM

Showcases integrated location services via innovative plug-ins for IM clients; previews mobile presence platform.

Brisbane, Australia - 25^th October 2005 - Locatrix Communications, an innovator of application technologies that extend the market for location-based services, today announced plug-ins for several Instant Messaging clients that augment a user's presence information with their current location. The plug-ins, based on Locatrix Communications' ShareWhere™ technology, seamlessly integrate a user's PC location (such as home, office or WiFi hotspot) with the location of their mobile phone. This augmented presence information - called a "Locatrix" - can be shared with anyone in the user's contact lists, and allows networks of friends and colleagues to be fully aware of each other's status, location and availability.

"Location-enhanced services are all about helping people connect", said Mark White, Locatrix Communications Founder and CEO. "Limiting consumer location services to just the mobile network or one type of device is counter-intuitive - most people communicate using a PC as well as their mobile phone, so integrating presence and location from both is a logical step forward." White added that the company is currently investigating alliances with IM providers and mobile operators to deliver commercial services using the augmented IM clients.

The augmented presence clients are powered by the Locatrix Presence Accelerator, a forthcoming server solution which allows mobile operators to dramatically and cost-effectively increase the type and number of location requests that a GSM or UMTS network can service. Designed to work in conjunction with an mobile operator's Gateway Mobile Location Centre (GMLC), the Locatrix Presence Accelerator maintains a real-time view of each subscriber's mobile handset status and location, and provides an event-based information feed to consumer applications via an XML interface.

"We predict an explosion in the number and variety of location-enhanced services," says Mark White, "because location is the last untapped facet of mobility. Once we make cost-effective network location services available and ubiquitous, their integration into applications such as IM, Mobile Social Software (MoSoSo) and other viral services will make subscribers more productive, secure and communicative."

The Locatrix IM plugins support Microsoft's MSN Messenger, and Yahoo! Messenger, and are also compatible with Skype and ICQ. A limited number of beta downloads are being made available, contact Locatrix Communications for details.

Editors: Click here a variety for hi-res application screenshots (ZIP file)

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About Locatrix Communications
Locatrix Communications is the innovator of application technologies that dramatically expand the market opportunity for location- and presence-enhanced application services. In addition to providing mobile operators with solutions to enhance ARPU and customer entanglement, Locatrix enhances enterprise applications with seamless presence and location gateway services that improve employee productivity and security. Founded in 2003, Locatrix is headquartered in Brisbane, Australia.

For more information:
Mark White
Locatrix Communications
Tel: +61 4 3890 0880
Email:pr@locatrix.com

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