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Two of Ireland's top mobile technology companies, Xiam Limited and Rtn2Sndr, have entered into a strategic partnership.
The two Irish firms said on Monday that through their new agreement, they would be able to "share and exploit" their respective experiences and knowledge as they look to claim more business in the ever-growing mobile marketing and mobile advertising space.
Xiam is best known for its 'Media Platform' software which lets advertisers and media companies set up interactive mobile marketing campaigns, typically based on SMS technology. Rtn2Sndr meanwhile is a mobile marketing company and its main business is to deploy mobile marketing campaigns for clients. The first promotion in the alliance will centre on a campaign that promotes the Archers Aqua drinks brand.
Many of the details of the contract between the businesses were not revealed, but Colm Healy, Xiam's chief executive officer, explained that Xiam would receive revenue as part of the deal on an "ongoing basis" from Rtn2Sndr. He went on to explain that the agreement was not a precursor to a possible acquisition or merger. "We are a very firm believer in focusing on core skills. We are technology providers and they are a mobile marketing company."
Healy went on to claim that Xiam chose to partner with Rtn2Sndr because of the firm's leadership position in terms of "actual deployments of creative campaigns."
In February of this year, Rtn2Sndr was named as one of the top five European SMS pull campaigners by research agency Forrester, which described the Irish firm's one-off pull campaigns as "displaying the strongest skills."
Xiam itself is also frequently ranked high compared to its competitors. Last week, Mobile Metrix, a business and consumer research and consulting company, said that Xiam was one of the leading providers of mobile applications and content. "Xiam has been found to have a balanced company profile and since it has recently become profitable, it has an advantage over many of its counterparts, less than 20 percent of which are profitable," Mobile Metrix's Founder and Chief Executive Officer Edward Nugent said. "It is expected that the company will remain in the leader list and in fact should improve its position."
Praise from industry groups and researchers aside, both firms are sitting on the cusp of what is expected to be a major industry in coming years. According to Forrester, 21 percent of direct marketers already use SMS marketing at least occasionally and 12 percent have tested it. Around 5 percent plan to use it regularly during 2003 and will devote 7 percent of their budgets to it, Forrester predicted.
Rtn2Sndr was founded in February 2001 by Douglas and Mark Mulhern, both of whom are advertising graduates. Xiam was founded in 1999 and is owned by its founders, staff and venture capital investors Delta Partners, Vertex Management, ADD Partners and Enterprise Ireland.
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