Trading Expected To Soar On The Wings of Wireless Transactions

Owings Mills, MD, August 25, 1998 — Users of Reuters MarketClipTM report more active stock trading just months after receiving real-time stock and options quotations into their hands because they are now better informed,” says David Oros, CEO of Aether Technologies International L.L.C., the global leader in mobile wireless data solutions. The most active traders report a doubling in trading. Through hand-held personal computers such as the PalmPilot or WindowsCE devices, initial results show Reuters MarketClip users increased trading by 35 to 40 percent, some had tripled their trading. The results are from a poll of individual investors and professional money mangers during August 1998.

“These initial results are a preliminary indication of how mobile wireless data technology will begin to change our lives,” said Oros.

The near future will bring fully integrated wireless trading complete with robust security. This will be combined with real-time news stories, quotes, alert notifications and the ability to check account balances. Aether expects wireless trading volumes to soar in the same way seen with the growth of Internet trading. Internet trading has risen 44 percent in the last six months from a base of 4.6 million on-line customers at the end of last year. Assets are expected to grow from 3 million accounts with $120 billion in assets to 14.4 million with $688 billion. “Internet and wireless growth are Americans taking charge of their investments. Many, with money in the stock market, are directing more and more aspects of their investments, even if just picking funds for their 401K. We finding our MarketClip customers are now able to stay more informed, letting them react more quickly to changes in market conditions. Reuters MarketClip currently provides real-time alerts, news and quotations on stocks, mutual funds and options,” said Mr. Oros. Since the introduction of Reuters MarketClip, its users have increased their trading activity dramatically. This includes professional money managers as well as doctors, builders and even landscape architects.

“I just want to tell you, your service is absolutely awesome,” states Roger McNamee, General Partner of Integral Capital Partners, “The MarketClip service is the first really useful new tool I've adopted in a long time. We spend our day visiting companies and kicking tires throughout Silicon Valley. Reuters MarketClip lets me do that without losing touch with the market.”

Integral is a Menlo Park, California, family of private investment partnerships affiliated with Morgan Stanley and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. They invest in expansion-stage private and growth-stage public companies.

“With wireless trading, security issues are of utmost importance. We are making certain that every precaution is taken to protect an individual’s trading process, including accuracy, privacy and confidentiality,” Oros concluded.

Published information shows estimates of increases in on-line brokerage accounts growing from about one million today to ten million in five years. Schwab recently announced that over half of its volume is now performed on-line. NASDAQ is piloting direct Internet trading by individuals, bypassing the current ties between the broker and the exchange. For high-end trading, there is speculation that traders might not even pay commissions. Profitability for brokerages has been under pressure recently due to low commissions. But the addition of value-added services such as wireless trading may provide a profitability edge and marketplace differentiation.

“Price cutting is a dangerous way to maintain market share,” according to Mr. Oros, “brokerages prefer to add value for active traders that cements client relationships and also generates attractive margins. Aether has developed an open, multi-communications architecture that is flexible, scaleable, redundant, secure and manageable. By basing the architecture on flexible wireless middleware, the system allows for growth and flexibility to new wireless networks and mobile devices without affecting the application interfaces and applications. Aether provides its customers with end-to-end wireless solutions including software development, customer service, fulfillment and technical support. The success of current financial services’ programs, such as Airbroker™ and Reuters MarketClipTM, demonstrates Aether’s ability to enable its customers to provide world-class wireless data service solutions.

About Aether Technologies

The company, headquartered in Owings Mills, MD, with offices in New York, NY and Boca Raton, FL, is privately held. For more information, visit the Aether Technologies Web site.