The MultiMediaCard Association Signs Cooperation Agreement with Open Mobile Alliance; The Industry Standard Organizations Agree to Cooperate on Enabling Secure Removable Media within the OMA DRM Framework.

SUNOL, Calif. -- The MultiMediaCard Association (MMCA) today announced it has signed a Cooperation Agreement with the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA). The agreement between the two organizations aims at enabling technical collaboration in order to design secure removable media based on OMA DRM (Digital Rights Management).

The MMCA is the leading standards organization for removable memory cards in mobile phones, digital cameras and other consumer electronics devices. The MMCA demonstrated a DRM application on SecureMMC Cards at the 3GSM World Congress in February and at CTIA Wireless in March. The demonstrations illustrated the role of secure removable media in a DRM ecosystem such as OMA DRM. Under the Cooperative Agreement with the OMA, the MMCA intends to collaborate with the OMA to define an open standard for secure removable media in the OMA DRM framework.

According to Yves Leonard, MMCA Board Chairman, "End-users who want ease of use and portability of digital content to multiple playback devices will benefit from the extension of the OMA DRM ecosystem to the SecureMMC v2.0. Both of our organizations are keenly mindful of the need for a positive user experience."

OMA is a specification setting organization focused on developing interoperable mobile data services based on market requirements. OMA's External Liaison Program is designed to allow OMA to collaborate with outside organizations and standards bodies, like MMCA, and ensure broad industry participation in the development of these open, interoperable industry solutions.

"Maintaining an open organization is the key to OMA's vision for broad industry participation with groups like the MMCA," said Jari Alvinen, OMA, Chairman of the Board. "MMCA and OMA share common interests on standardization and target applications. The Agreement between OMA and MMCA will greatly enhance the development of secure removable media based on OMA DRM specifications."

About The MMCA (MultiMediaCard Association -- www.mmca.org)

The MultiMediaCard Association (MMCA) is the open standard organization that defines the physical, functional and interface specifications of MultiMediaCards (MMCs), the postage-stamp size, removable memory cards used in mobile phone, digital imaging and portable consumer electronics applications. While removable memory cards are the primary focus, the MMCA also supports the adoption of the MMC interface standard in other embedded or removable components and subsystems, such as hard disk drives.

Founded in 1998, the MMCA provides a global forum for memory card and semiconductor component suppliers, software vendors and manufacturers of mobile electronic devices who jointly endorse and promote the worldwide adoption of MultiMediaCards and the MMC standards.

MMCA Principles:

The organization is dedicated to open, royalty-free standards;

These standards are established consensually, with the equal participation of MMCA members;

Product interoperability and compliance are integral to the specifications and standards.

The MMCA mailing address is P.O. Box 303, Sunol, CA 94586; Ph: 925-417-0127; Fax: [phone]. More information is at www.mmca.org.

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