US : Bytemobile and Opera Software ASA announced a joint development, marketing and sales agreement for handset browser optimization. The two companies also announced the availability of a high-performance Opera Mobile browser powered by Bytemobile's Optimization Services Node (OSN) Monaco Edition.

Bytemobile and Opera have integrated these products to accelerate current browser speeds by up to three times on 3G networks, while optimizing network efficiency by reducing per-transaction data volumes. The resulting solution, a full-HTML handset browser enhanced by Monaco, is designed for rapid integration and deployment by mobile handset manufacturers and network operators.

"By combining our products, we can offer a faster Web browsing experience for the end user, free up network capacity to support more users and applications, and lower the operators' cost of information delivery," said Timo Bruns, executive vice president, Mobile, at Opera. "We believe that this joint solution will further accelerate the ongoing rapid adoption of full Web browsers."

"This partnership underscores the commitment of Bytemobile and Opera to help operators increase their competitive advantage and maximize their return on investment," said Yoshioki Chika, chief technology officer of Willcom,Inc., a leading mobile data network operator in Japan.

Bytemobile's OSN has been implemented by more than 60 operators worldwide, serving a total of nearly one billion subscribers. The new Bytemobile-enhanced Opera Mobile browser is compatible with all of these operators' platforms and is designed to deliver high performance on the fastest networks. The solution is also compatible with all handset platforms supported by Opera Mobile, which currently serves approximately 25 million mobile subscribers worldwide.

"Our strategic partnership with Opera leverages the convergence of more efficient networks, more advanced feature phones and more sophisticated browsers to deliver increasingly richer content," said Adrian Hall, vice president, Business Development, at Bytemobile. "Moreover, it fully supports our strategy of enabling operators to generate new and more profitable revenue streams for handset-based services by continuously enhancing the user experience."