STNC Releases HitchHiker for Windows CE; STNC's Compact Microbrowser Solution Now Available for Windows CE.

CANNES, France--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 22, 1999--STNC Ltd., the world leader in developing compact internet and value-added services solutions for mobile devices, today launched a version of its HitchHiker(TM) smartphone platform customised for Microsoft's Windows CE(R) operating system.

HitchHiker for CE is being demonstrated for the first time at the GSM World Congress held in Cannes this week, running on palm-size PCs from several manufacturers. It provides a fully-graphical, HTML3.2 browser solution, capable of accessing a wide range of information services designed for mobile users.

The demonstration also builds on STNC's relationships with other experts in the field of mobile communications. Text input is provided by the innovative T9(TM) software from Tegic Communications, which enables the rapid entry of text from a numeric keypad, while GSM connectivity can be provided in the form of a GSM cardphone developed by TTP Communications.

"HitchHiker for CE provides the most compact information-access solution available for manufacturers creating telephone handsets based on Windows CE," explained Amy Mokady, marketing director at STNC. "The development of this product demonstrates the flexibility of STNC's software solutions, and their ease of use on any mobile platform. It also further advances STNC's aim to make information readily available to anyone whenever they need it, wherever they are."

STNC's HitchHiker(TM) smartphone platform, which was granted Millennium Product status in 1998, provides a complete software solution for manufacturers developing mobile products to access value-added services, email or the internet.

HitchHiker is designed for rapid portability between different operating systems and hardware platforms. It can be used, as in today's announcement, in conjunction with an existing operating system environment, allowing manufacturers to take advantage of the other applications available for the platform used. Alternatively, it can be used directly on top of a mobile product's hardware environment, with no additional software being needed.

STNC's software products are currently available on a wide range of operating systems and real-time operating systems, including Symbian's EPOC, Microware's OS9, and Microsoft's Windows CE, as well as running directly on a range of hardware platforms, including TTPCom's WebWalker reference design, and a variety of ARM-based environments.

HitchHiker for CE will be demonstrated at the TTP Communications stand (Stand number A9) and at the Tegic Communications stand (Stand J14) at the GSM World Congress in Cannes, February 23 to February 25 1999.

About STNC Ltd. (www.stnc.com)

STNC brings information to people on the move, through the design and implementation of compact and efficient Internet software suitable for use in consumer products with limited ROM, RAM and processor power, such as cellular phones, communicators and palmtop computers. Based in England, STNC is focused on the development of leading-edge communication software for the cellular phone market.

STNC's partners and customers include Ericsson, Symbian, Psion, Amstrad, TTPCom, Tegic and Brother.

STNC's product range includes the HitchHiker(TM) smartphone platform which provides all the software needed to turn any phone into a smartphone in less than 350KB of ROMable code. Products available separately include a TCP/IP protocol stack, Email and Messaging Technology Library, WWW Technology Library, and Portable Graphics Library, all designed for use in ROM, RAM and CPU-restricted environments.

About HitchHiker(TM)

STNC's HitchHiker(TM) smartphone platform provides all the software needed to deliver value-added services to a mobile handset in less than 350KB of ROM, and requires only 1 MIPS of CPU power. Used by itself or with an underlying RTOS, HitchHiker uses open standards to enable the delivery of data and information services such as Yellow Pages and corporate email access to the mobile user.

Supported features include:

-- Value Added Services delivered via HTTP, HTML, GIF and JPEG

-- Corporate and Internet Email access via POP3, IMAP and SMTP

-- Access to corporate intranets and groupware servers via HTML

-- No RTOS required. HitchHiker can run directly on target hardware

-- PC Development environment available

-- Supports development of complete handset MMI 

-- Graphics library, memory manager and driver architecture allowing

development of additional applications

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