PRESS RELEASE
Colibria appoints new CFO as Mobile Instant Messaging
provider continues unprecedented growth in 2007
9 August 2007 – LONDON – Colibria, the leading global provider of Mobile
Instant Messaging (MIM) solutions, has appointed Trond Gjengset as its new CFO.
Gjengset is charged with overseeing financial operations internationally for the
rapidly growing company which develops and deploys messaging solutions to
power mobile communities worldwide. Record growth in 2006 of 220% saw
Colibria build its position in the market, with additional wins in 2007 set to extend
this lead.
With over two decades in the financial and telecommunications industries,
Gjengset’s proven executive-level experience will be invaluable in helping to
ensure Colibria’s continued success in a fast-paced market. Prior to joining
Colibria, Gjengset was CEO for Imagine Consulting AS, a management consulting
company,
and
he
also
served
as
CFO
for
Thrane-Grupen
ASA
and
Sense.Communications International.
Colibria currently provides Mobile IM solutions to over 25 Operators and Service
Providers, with a total global addressable subscriber base in excess of 300m.
These include Telefonica Moviles España – for whom Colibria enabled one of the
first inter-Operator IM interconnects in Europe – TMN, Maxis and Telia Sonera.
Colibria is leading the way for the MIM industry with its IMPS and SIP based IM
delivery platform, which is the defacto standard for industry interoperability
testing (IOT) in over 30 countries.
Keith Gibson, CEO Colibria commented: “Gjengset’s expertise will strengthen the
senior management team as the company continues to expand over the coming
years. Based on the diversity of our portfolio and our strength in both internet
community and operator community IM services, Colibria is playing a pivotal role
to ensure that the market realises its projected $4.6 billion global worth by
20111.”
Speaking on his appointment, Gjengset said: “The Mobile Instant Messaging
market is in a phase of exceptional growth as Operators and Service Providers
respond to the growing communication demands of mobile communities. As the
leader in this market, Colibria will no doubt continue to capitalise on this. It’s a
really exciting time to start working with the company.”
Colibria has had a stellar year to date, also securing an additional €10.2 million to
fund growth and achieving a position in Red Herring’s Top 100 European
Companies list for 2007.
-endsFor more information, please contact Cristina Whittington on 020 7792 7432 or
email cristina.whittington@nelsonbostock.com
About Colibria
Colibria is the leading global provider of Mobile Instant Messaging (MIM)
solutions, operating from its global headquarters in Norway and locations in the
UK, Belgium, Spain, Singapore and the Philippines. The company was established
in 2000, and today employs more than 100 staff around the world. Colibria
powers numerous mobile communities throughout Europe, Asia and Latin
America, as well as working extensively with leading systems integrators –
strategic partners include Acision, Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson and Motorola.
Colibria’s investors are Northzone Ventures (www.northzone.com), Verdane
Capital (www.verdanecapital.com) and Ferd Venture (www.ferdventure.no).
Colibria’s modular solutions provide robust service enablers to support the
effective deployment of Mobile Instant Messaging, IMS based messaging and
Presence services. From innovative mobile clients through to advanced server
technology, Colibria delivers the vital infrastructure needed to support advanced
presence, messaging and multimedia services. Focused on ensuring
interoperability between devices, platforms and Operators, Colibria’s IMPS and
SIP/IMS test facilities are now the de facto standard for product and service
trials, with users in over 30 countries around the world, including service
providers, handset suppliers, software developers and Operators.
Colibria is also an active participant in the international standards arena,
contributing extensively to the OMA IMPS forum as a member of the Open Mobile
Alliance, as well as the GSMA’s Personal IM initiative. Colibria is also a founding
member of the COMET alliance, a global EU initiative consortium committed to
the delivery of end-to-end converged messaging solutions.
www.colibria.com
1
Strategy Analytics, May 2007