MERA Announces Strategic Cooperation with Kapsch

Kapsch increases dedicated technical resources to support rapidly expanding GSM/GSM-R business

December, 1, 2010, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia – MERA, an Eastern Europe's leader in value-added software R&D services, and Kapsch CarrierCom, a global system integrator, innovator and fixed, mobile, transportation and access networks solutions vendor, announced start of long-term strategic cooperation. Within an agreement, MERA will contribute to GSM with a special focus on GSM-R, a breakthrough technology for railway communications and applications.

GSM-R revolutionizes international railway traffic. The unique technology serves as the only communication system on international freight and passenger trains replacing the existing time-consuming bundle of national systems. Freight and passenger trains are dispatched faster at the border and are more quickly handed over to the neighboring country’s railway operator. GSM-R is planned as a communication system as well as the transmitting medium for ETCS (the European Train Control System) data and is the basic for the new Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS).

"We are extremely excited to cooperate with Kapsch CarrierCom. We hope that our unrivaled services quality and commitment to deadline will help Kapsch remain a reliable partner for leading networks market players and European railway operators. MERA will gladly support Kapsch`s growth in the drastically changing telecom world and help to further build up the company`s portfolio, including the strategically important migration to future mobile technologies " said Alex Myakov, VP, Business Development, MERA.

"MERA's depth of technical resources with expertise in network management software is unmatched and is indispensible for our GSM/GSM-R projects ", explains Ingolf Planer, Kapsch CarrierCom’s CFO. "Russia is one of our strategic development centers offering excellent opportunities for further development of the portfolio, including the strategically important migration to future mobile technologies such as LTE, IMS, NGN. We are pleased to be working with one of the leaders in global software services. "

About Kapsch CarrierCom

Kapsch CarrierCom  AG is a global system integrator and innovator and offers fixed, mobile, transportation and access networks solutions. The company addresses the full spectrum of the operator’s requirements from analysis, consulting, design, product development, integration, installation, training to the maintenance and operation of complete networks. Kapsch CarrierCom is one of the global leaders in the development of future technologies for service providers and has achieved world-wide market leadership in GSM-R digital wireless train communication. Among Kapsch Carrier Com's customers are some of the largest GSM-R railway operators in important markets such as France, as well as the world's largest GSM-R network in Germany.