Tuesday, 11 October 2005 13:51 EST

Surrey, UK, 11 October 2005 – Argogroup, the leader in user experience optimization for mobile services, has announced the market’s first autonomous active test appliance that allows operators to test and monitor data services across their entire network. Part of the Argogroup Monitor Master family, the Agent M100 series combines built-in global positioning system functionality with mobile network modems to permit data services to be simulated from anywhere where the operator has network coverage. To date, active test machines have been expensive and limited to sites with Internet connectivity. The first of the Agent M100 active test probes to be launched is the Agent M139 which is a duel-band GPRS active test probe. With full functionality on European frequencies, Argogroup will be releasing a version of its active test probe to support US bands in the future.

According to David Frodsham, Argogroup’s CEO, the easy deployment and low support costs of the new machine are very attractive to mobile operators looking to simulate how customers will use data services.

”Everyone knows that operators’ services perform better or worse depending on where the customer is using the network,” he explained. “Despite this, operators have traditionally confined the simulation of their services to their network operating centres, because that has been the easiest and cheapest way to manage the active test process. With the Argogroup Agent M100 series, they can now test services in a real environment, over the air, and anywhere in the field.”

The new appliance interfaces seamlessly with Argogroup’s flagship Service Monitoring product Monitor Master which is the only comprehensive test environment for mobile data services. An Agent M100 series test probe such as the Agent M139 simply gives new options to mobile network operators that are looking for additional points of presence and drive test capabilities.

The appliance will simulate real people doing real things with mobile phones by using a test scripts to control the human interaction. Operators download the scripts into each device and place them at any desired location, regardless of how remote it may be. Results and required updates are then sent to and from the opertator’s data centre over the GSM network, eliminating the need for costly maintenance and upgrade services.

The Agent M139 is a solid state device about the size of a cigar box. It offers Argogroup’s new browser-based user interface and the best management available on any active monitoring appliance. Users can receive fast, integrated in-depth graphical reports and have total flexibility in specifying the type of reports they’d like to see.

Frodsham said the Argogroup Agent M139 is the first in a whole family of easy to use appliances to be launched by the company in the near future.

Agent M139 is available for immediate order and shipment. For further information on Argogroup’s Agent M100 series and the Agent M139 in particular, please go to www.argogroup.com.

About Argogroup

Argogroup specialises in optimizing user experience for mobile services, a discipline that focuses on the interaction between network, service and handset. The company’s two software products - Monitor Master and Device Master - help handset manufacturers and mobile operators test, monitor and develop products and services so that users spend more time and money on them.

Monitor Master is the world’s leading User Experience Optimization platform, in use in over 60 mobile operators and equipment manufacturers worldwide. Device Master automatically creates detailed handset profiles so that all device data is held in a central knowledge base.

Argogroup is backed by Apax Partners Funds and 3i. Its headquarters are near Guildford, UK, with offices USA (four offices), Beijing, Paris, Hong Kong, Stockholm and Milan. For more information, visit: http://www.argogroup.com/