SOMA’s Advanced Wireless Technology to Expand Broadband Penetration in the Region

SINGAPORE, 19 October 2004 – Singapore-based Cadmus Technologies announced today that it has been appointed a sales partner in Asia and the Middle East for US-based SOMA Networks, Inc., a leading provider of last-mile broadband wireless access technology delivering multi-megabit broadband access and superior voice services.

Cadmus Technologies, which markets and distributes next-generation products and services from emerging technology companies, aims to expand broadband penetration in the region through this partnership. As a sales partner, it will establish local contacts with industry regulators and build relationships with communication providers to promote SOMA Networks’ last-mile solution in countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, Oman and Bahrain.

Last-Mile Solution

SOMA Networks’ solution is the industry’s only fully converged broadband data and voice solution, dramatically improving the economics of delivering communications services by lowering capital and operating costs and maximising potential revenue per user.

The standards-based SOMA^TM solution delivers peak broadband rates of up to 12 mbps per user, superior voice, and managed multi-media services.  It supports a variety of licensed spectrums including 1.9 GHz, 2.3 GHz, and 2.6 GHz.

The solution features non-line-of-sight access, industry-leading macro-cellular coverage and capability and true “plug-and-play” subscriber self-installation capability, which eliminates the need for technician visits. These features are all designed to deliver a highly profitable communications provider business case.  The SOMA^TM solution thus enables communication providers to deploy broadband, voice and application services quickly and profitably to entire local markets, including remote locations.

Market Potential

“As countries in the region continue to liberalise their info-communication sectors, SOMA Networks offers communication operators with a viable new business proposition to deliver instant, reliable, and cost-effective broadband and voice services to their customers,” said Abdul Rahman Zamawi, Executive Director of Cadmus Technologies. “We see our partnership with SOMA Networks as an opportunity to increase broadband penetration, which is a key indicator of economic and social development, around the region.”

According to International Data Corporation’s report in June 2004, the broadband access market in the Asia-Pacific (excluding Japan) is expected achieve a compounded annual growth rate of 16 per cent between 2004 and 2008. The market, which recorded revenues of nearly US$6.8 billion in 2003, is forecast to reach US$14 billion in 2008.

In the Middle East, ongoing liberalisation in the info-communication market is widely expected to lower bandwidth costs and increase broadband uptake in the future.

“Broadband wireless access is a new market in Asia and the Middle East. Selling an infrastructure solution like SOMA requires extensive collaboration with local regulators in order to deliver a complete package to potential service providers,” said Greg Caltabiano, Chief Operating Officer of SOMA Networks.  “With its many contacts in these regions, Cadmus Technologies allows us to expand our outreach to service providers with a compelling business need to deploy our wireless broadband solution.”

He added: “The track record of the Cadmus Group’s management team in structuring large business deals gives us a complete portfolio of expertise to successfully address the financial, technological, and organisational needs of local service providers.”

As a first step, Cadmus Technologies has facilitated a contract with JARING in Malaysia for the adoption of the SOMA^TM solution following a successful trial in December of last year. Broadband and voice service using the SOMA^TM solution will initially be rolled out to users in the Klang Valley. By 2006, when the solution is fully deployed across the country, JARING will be the first wireless broadband service provider to offer bundled services throughout Malaysia.

“With SOMA Networks’ solution, we have given JARING a profitable way to reach rural and underserved districts as well as to convert Malaysian users from dial-up to broadband,” said Abdul Rahman. “We aim to ride on the success of this deployment to work in similar partnership with other communication providers in Asia as well as the Middle East region.”

About SOMA Networks

Integrating the latest advances in wireless broadband, distributed computing, and Internet technologies, SOMA Networks offers the industry’s leading last-mile wireless broadband system. With the SOMA^TM solution, service providers can quickly and profitably roll out a feature-rich package of broadband Internet access and voice service to the residential and small-office market.  Key advantages of the SOMA^TM solution include its large cell size for quick and inexpensive market entry, multi-megabit data rates, voice capabilities, non-line-of-sight access enabling self-installation of the SOMAport^TM subscriber terminals, and simple subscriber self-activation of services via the Internet or telephone. Founded in 1998, SOMA Networks has development centers in San Francisco, California; Richardson, Texas; and Toronto and Ottawa, Ontario.  For more information about SOMA Networks, visit our website at http://www.somanetworks.com.

About Cadmus Technologies

Cadmus Technologies is a partner in developing strategic markets in Asia Pacific and the Middle East for emerging technology companies. It markets and distributes next-generation products and services and provides project financing to bridge the digital divide in key markets within the region. Based in Singapore, the company has built a presence in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei and the Middle East. For more information, visit our website at www.cadmustechnologies.com.