Startup company a la Mobile, Inc.,(www.a-la-mobile.com) has announced the launch of its Convergent Linux Platform, the first viable mobile operating system alternative to proprietary offerings.

Designed to be readily adaptable to wireless handsets, Convergent Linux Platform enables handset manufacturers to bring Linux-based smartphones to market rapidly, while drastically reducing development, testing and deployment costs. Convergent Linux Platform is not just a kernel, middleware or applications, but a complete software stack for mobile handsets: integrated; tested; certified; supported; and maintained.

"The desire for an open and non-proprietary operating system for mobile handsets is well recognized," said Bill Hughes, Principle Analyst at In-Stat, a global market research and analysis company. "Linux is poised to become the primary mobile operating system that is not proprietary. The availability of a la Mobile's Linux offering could bridge a key gap for the wireless industry."

Convergent Linux is the only complete platform for mobile phones that remains open and scalable. The configurable architecture of Convergent Linux provides handset manufacturers the freedom to select software components and functionality and enables complete customization of look-and-feel of the device to suit varying enterprise and consumer requirements. This level of customization makes Convergent Linux unique in the market.

"Up to now, mobile operating systems have all been proprietary in nature, restricting freedom for customization," said Pauline Lo Alker, President and CEO of a la Mobile. "In a high growth and high stakes environment, competitive differentiation and ease of delivering customized services are paramount for both handset vendors and network operators."

At the heart of a la Mobile's Convergent Linux Platform are two patent-pending Software Mobility Engines:
* The Hardware Mobility Engine (HME) enables a tested software suite in binary form (operating system andapplications) to move across different hardware platforms without porting or diminishing performance.
* The Network Mobility Engine (NME) provides a policy-based framework for seamless handover of IP-based services (voice, data and video) between network transports without requiring any modification in the network infrastructure or the IP applications.

In addition to a la Mobile's HME and NME, Version 1.0 of Convergent Linux Platform is integrated with a rich collection of software from third-party and open-source partners, including: Linux Kernel 2.6, GSM/GPRS solution from HelloSoft, firmware over the air (FOTA) solution from Red Bend, Qtopia application framework and UI from Trolltech, Browser, Messenger and multimedia framework from Obigo AB, Flash and incorporated with Java (TM) ME.

Version 1.0 of Convergent Linux Platform will be available for handset manufacturer customers in September 2006.

The Industry has been very supportive of the Convergent Linux Platform. "To date, Linux has successfully garnered dozens of Smartphone design wins, with unit shipments quadrupling year over year. OSDL sees the emergence of rich Linux handset platforms like the a la Mobile offering as key to consolidating these gains. We welcome a la Mobile to OSDL/MLI and as a unifying force in this dynamic marketplace, "says Bill Weinberg Senior Technology Analyst , Open Source Development Labs (www.osdl.org)