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Xiam and Rtn2Sndr sign alliance
Monday, August 26 2002
by Matthew Clark


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.