Press Releases

Helsinki, Finland – 30 October, 2008 – Xtract announced today that the GSM Association (GSMA) selected its Social Links solution as a top finalist for the 2009 Mobile Innovation Global Awards Competition – APAC Tournament. The Mobile Innovation Global Awards Competition encourages breakthrough technology, applications and services in the mobile industry by bringing together innovative mobile products, industry investors and mobile operators. Xtract with its Social Links solution, a social marketing intelligence product, has been selected as one of three finalists in the ‘Most Innovative Carrier Infrastructure or Platform’ category.

Timo Laaksonen, CEO of Xtract said, “We are very proud to be recognised by the GSMA for the second time this year. This shows again that the operator community is starting to utilise their rich user data for marketing, making it more flexible, cost efficient, accurate and relevant to their customers. With Social Links, mobile operators can utilise their marketing budgets more effectively to tackle churn, acquire new customers and launch new products to the market. Operators that have already adopted Social Links are gaining tangible returns on their marketing investment right from the start of taking the solution into use.”

Xtract was a finalist for the 2008 Mobile Innovation Global Award Competition at the GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona last February, and has now been recognised for the second time for the APAC tournament.

About Xtract Social Links
Xtract Social Links is the first carrier-grade product that analyzes customers’ real social networks from massive amounts of calls and messaging data. It utilizes this information to better predict the behaviour of customers in operators’ networks. Social Links can be extended with its add-on modules that are designed for specific business applications including: customer insight, customer acquisition, product marketing and customer loyalty. Social Links has already been successfully deployed by several top-tier mobile operators worldwide with very positive results. Xtract’s customers range from top-tier operators such as T-Mobile to innovating challengers such as Blyk.

About Xtract
Xtract delivers software products for social marketing and advertising intelligence. The company refines social interaction, personal behaviour and demographic data to create accurate 3D user profiles. These profiles for the first time enable companies to utilise data as a dynamic tool in the day to day business of marketing for effective and intelligent targeting of digital advertising, viral campaigns and predictive churn management. Xtract’s products and solutions are automated, self-learning and capable of analysing billions of customer transactions. They make complexity simple with easy to use and actionable tools for marketers and advertisers to define and manage their campaigns. Xtract works with over 50 blue-chip companies with intensive customer data. Headquarters are in Helsinki, Finland.

Meet us at GSMA Mobile Asia Congress Mobile Innovations Zone

Helsinki, Finland – October 16, 2008 – Xtract announced today that the company’s board of directors has appointed Michael Hallén as chairman of the board effective immediately. Hallén has a solid experience from several technology companies.

Michael Hallén’s most recent operational assignment was as president and CEO of Stockholm listed Boss Media AB, a leading systems supplier in digitally-distributed gaming entertainment. His team contributed in revitalizing the company and then to a successful public bid process resulting in Boss Media being acquired by US based GTECH in April 2008. Previously, Hallén was president and CEO of IFS AB, a provider of business applications, also listed in Stockholm and operating in some 50 countries. He played a key role in the company’s international expansion and has also been establishing its offshore capabilities.

“I am thrilled to be elected chairman of the board of Xtract and to contribute in building the next successful step in the company’s fast development,” says Michael Hallén. “Xtract has built a unique proposition and track record providing software products that enable highly accurate customer targeting and profiling for telecom operators and online social media. I am impressed by the results and the dramatic increase of return on marketing investment for the Xtract customers.”

In support of his interest in building entrepreneurial companies, Hallén has held board positions in a number of other technology companies. He is currently active in the boards of Extenda, a supplier of software for the retail industry; Cambio, provider of healthcare administration software; and XDIN, an engineering consultation firm.

“Michael is the right person to head Xtract’s board through these exciting and challenging times,” said Timo Laaksonen, Xtract’s CEO. “He brings hands-on experience combined with in-depth knowledge and vision of the market that Xtract needs to strengthen our long term strategy and execution.”