Sotto and Visto Team Up to Bring Mobile Email to Small Businesses

Business Wire, March 27, 2007

Joint Customers Cite Increased Productivity and Response Time Improvements as Key Benefits of New Visto-Powered Mobile Email Service

SEATTLE & REDWOOD CITY, Calif. -- Communication service provider Sotto Wireless and Visto, the leading global provider of easy-to-use mobile email, today announced that they have teamed up to deliver a new mobile email service for small- and medium-sized businesses (SMB). Based on the Visto Mobile[TM] email service, Sotto's Service makes mobile email widely available on the latest mobile devices and easy for companies to adopt by making it possible to get up and running with just a few basic steps.

Under the partnership agreement, Visto email will be available to SMBs as part of Sotto's hosted communication service. Sotto's solution takes the complexity out of communications for SMBs by combining cellular service and wireless applications -- including Visto's mobile email offering -- with the functionality of office phone systems into a single unified service. The new service has been launched in the Charlotte, N.C., region and is already drawing positive reviews from customers that have been actively using the Visto-based mobile email service over the past couple of months. Nationwide rollout will continue throughout 2007 and 2008.

"As a manager, I am more responsive to the needs of my reps and their customers when they need me to review or approve a written document," said Ed Warren, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Creative Marketing Solutions, a marketing fulfillment provider based in Charlotte, N.C. "My reps cannot live without Sotto's wireless email service."

To date, large enterprises with sophisticated information technology departments have led the way for mobile email adoption. According to Forrester Research's latest survey(a) of wireless and IP communication adoption, 71 percent of large enterprises in North America have adopted mobile email, compared to just 28 percent of SMBs. While the business advantages of mobile email are significant, a major stumbling block for SMBs, until now, has been the complexity of managing and administering a wireless email infrastructure.

"The Sotto and Visto partnership levels the playing field for small companies by offering the wireless services that help employees to be more productive and responsive in today's competitive business environment," said Doug Brackbill, EVP and Chief Marketing Officer for Visto. "By making mobile email easy and accessible for the SMB market, Visto and Sotto are best positioned to take advantage of this rapidly growing market segment."

The Sotto Service makes communication services more economical for organizations that lack the resources to implement and manage their telecommunications without a dedicated IT staff. Sotto also helps SMBs lower communications costs by providing employees with hybrid phones that can send and receive calls on both Wi-Fi and cellular networks, saving airtime costs while employees are in the office. Sotto ties everything together with a Web-based dashboard -- the Sotto Service Manager -- which enables customers to easily manage and control the entire Sotto Service.

Commenting on the partnership, Sotto Wireless Vice-President of Product Management Clayton Foster said, "We are starting to see wireless email become a driving factor in a small company's decision to adopt our service. Most have explored other options and have come away frustrated at the cost and complexity. Visto has helped us achieve our vision of making enterprise-class communications services accessible to SMBs without the need for a dedicated IT staff."

About Visto

Visto delivers the leading global platform for mobile operators to provide easy-to-use wireless push email to the broadest set of mobile devices. Visto's open solution enables email for the mass market, targeting enterprises, small businesses, mobile professionals and consumers. The company's patented Visto Mobile[TM] platform with ConstantSync[TM] technology works in real time with POP3, IMAP, Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Domino email solutions for personal to business use, providing maximum control and flexibility for the operator and choice for the customer. Visto's customized, brandable solutions are available through mobile operators worldwide, including: Cingular, Elisa, Meteor, Rogers Wireless, SmarTone, SFR, Softbank Mobile, Sprint Nextel, TELUS Mobility, Turkcell and the Vodafone Group.

Established in 1996 and headquartered in Redwood Shores, California, with offices in Seattle, Toronto, London, Milan, Paris, Madrid, Munich, Tokyo, Beijing and Tianjin, China, Visto is backed by Oak Investment Partners, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Meritech Capital Partners, DFJ ePlanet Ventures, DFJ Growth Fund, Rustic Canyon Ventures, Allegis Capital, GKM Newport and Blueprint Ventures. For more information, visit www.visto.com or email sales@visto.com.

About Sotto Wireless

Based in Bellevue, Wash., Sotto Wireless provides small- and medium-sized businesses with a hosted communications service that combines the mobility of cellular phones with the functionality of office phone systems into one simple service. Sotto's service platform includes the latest phones and integrated Web-based management tools -- transforming customers' communications into a competitive asset. The company was founded in 2005 by an experienced group of senior leaders and veterans from the wireless and telecommunications industries and is funded by Ignition Partners and VantagePoint Venture Partners. For more information on Sotto Wireless, visit www.sottowireless.com.