New possibilities in the remote emailing service

Sonera (Nasdaq: SNRA ), the leading telecommunications company in Finland, announced today the enhancement of its email platform for Sonera Internet subscriptions for consumer customers and the launch of Sonera BusinessMail, an outsourced email system for SMEs and other organizations. Both systems are now based on Software.com's InterMail(R) software, the first messaging platform to enable service providers like Sonera to offer differentiated consumer, business and WebMail messaging services within a single architecture. Santa Barbara, Calif.-based Software.com (Nasdaq: SWCM ) is a leading developer of carrier-scale Internet infrastructure applications. One of the most significant features of Software.com's InterMail software is the possibility of remote access. Email messages can be read safely from anywhere in the world via a WebMail user interface. In addition, email messages can be routed to a mobile phone and special services, such as sending short messages via email or sending and receiving faxes, can be included in the system. Sonera currently offers outbound short messaging services (SMS) via Software.com's InterMail platform, and additional wireless and unified messaging functionality is planned for future release. Outsourced email solutions are particularly well-suited to companies that do not want to purchase new software and hardware or put additional resources into system maintenance. With Sonera's outsourced email solution, a company's email boxes will be located on Sonera's server. Additional features of Sonera's enhanced email system include round-the-clock availability and maintenance, reliability, information security, and the opportunity to access email from anywhere in the world. With Sonera's enhanced email system, backups are made several times a day. In addition to being used by all of Sonera's consumer Internet users today, the enhanced email system is currently in use in a project dubbed "South Karelia Toward Information Society" spearheaded by the Regional Council of South Karelia and Lappeenranta University of Technology in Finland. The purpose of the project is to boost high-tech business in South Karelia and to ensure the province's strong position in tomorrow's European information society. The South Karelian information network, which is to be built for the use of the region's municipalities, schools and health care district, will be one of the most extensive regional network solutions in Finland.