Europe : Emblaze Ltd announced that it has been selected by Optimus, Portugal's fastest growing mobile phone operator, for the immediate launch of a full deployment of mobile media services.

The Emblaze EMplatform ( diagram above )will be integrated with Optimus' billing and legacy systems, operating on GSM/GPRS networks and will enable Optimus' customers to browse, select and download news, weather and entertainment video clips via a portal on a range of mobile handsets and smartphones. All devices will be embedded with the Emblaze EMplayer(TM) for playback of both MP4 and Windows Media video formats.

Optimus, with 2.1 million subscribers, is one of the first telecommunications companies in Portugal to offer its subscribers enhanced services of powerful next-generation multimedia applications over GPRS networks.

Emblaze Systems provides a customized, media centric, end-to-end solution for wireless multimedia, enabling wireless operators to create, manage and deliver rich media services and offer a personalized communications experience to their wireless subscribers. The Emblaze solution runs on all networks, including GSM/GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, CDMA, 1X, and EVDO. It is compatible with all leading formats, such as MPEG4, Windows Media. This is the fourth commercial launch for Emblaze Systems.

Pinto Carrea, Chief Technology Officer of Optimus said: "We are delighted to offer an advanced range of communication and entertainment services that our customers really want. After a series of tough field trials over several months, we opted for the Emblaze solution because their performance was by far the best in video quality and architecture. We look forward to a fruitful and long-term relationship with them."

Itai Ben-Dor, Chief Executive Officer of Emblaze Systems said: "Optimus has a reputation as an innovative company and we are very pleased to be part of their vision - to be at the forefront of the delivery of multi-media services in Portugal. Throughout Europe, Emblaze is involved in many commercial launches of mobile video services. Today's announcement is a further endorsement of the superior quality of Emblaze's technology."