The Hon. Julie Bishop MP Officially Opens Australian Developed Private Network Global Roaming Service. PERTH, Western Australia, Friday 10 January 2014 – Wireless telecommunications start-up Norwood Systems, is pleased to announce that The Hon Julie Bishop MP has today officially launched the company’s CORONA platform.
CORONA (COrporate ROaming Network Access) is a cloud services platform that transparently reduces corporate roaming expenses, for corporate clients that today incur significant mobile roaming charges.
Norwood Systems CEO and Founder, Paul Ostergaard, welcomed Ms Bishop and invited the minister to officially “light up” the CORONA cloud service. “Our CORONA service was created to address a significant need any overseas traveller would recognise – the very significant global roaming costs faced by mobile phone users overseas. For large firms with many employees travelling, the costs can run into the hundreds of thousands every month,” said Mr Ostergaard. “Globally, businesses alone generate US$30 billion in voice roaming charges, still exceeding business data roaming charges which are estimated at US$7 to US$10 billion.
“Users of our CORONA service will see significant reductions in their roaming expenses, as we seamlessly utilise their existing enterprise PABX systems to intelligently route company calls over both the company’s own network and our cloud based network. We do so in a way that is seamless to both parties to the call, and in a manner which preserves call quality.
“Employees are not required to change their dialling habits, use tricky to implement solutions such as calling cards or different handsets and SIM cards, nor do companies need to have an office in the location their employee is travelling to in order to see benefits.
“I am pleased that a number of significant Australian firms, such as iiNet, have now signed up for the CORONA service. We expect to see our customer numbers increase significantly in the coming year, now that our core technology has moved beyond the development stage. We are ready for the next stage in development for the company.
“It also goes to show that Australia can be home to the development of innovative new technical services and products, such as ours, that have application to the world stage.
“I am very pleased that our local federal member can be here today to light up our cloud platform. Appropriately, the Hon. Ms Bishop is also Australia’s Foreign Minister, and not without some experience on the issue of global roaming charges whilst travelling overseas,” said Mr Ostergaard.
John Poynton AM, executive chairman of Azure Capital, one of the largest Perth-based investment banks and non-executive director of Norwood Systems was also on hand to watch the opening. Mr Poynton personally led one of Norwood Systems initial funding rounds.
The company’s core technology has been developed by Norwood Systems’ R&D team based in Perth, Australia, within The Hon. Julie Bishop MP’s own electorate of Curtin, since early 2011 under the guidance of David Wilson, co-founder and CTO.
For Further information, please contact:
Paul Ostergaard,
CEO & Founder
CORONA: +61 8 9200 3501
Mobile: +61 404 270 421
Skype: paulostergaard
Shane Murphy,
FTI Consulting
Office: +61 9485 8888
Direct: +618 9485 8804
Mobile: +61 420 945 291
Twitter: @ShaneWMurphy
Skype: shane.murphy999 
Background
Business and Government globally are incurring significant international call roaming charges. Informa Telecom estimates that businesses alone generate US$30 billion annually in voice roaming charges.* Such costs are increasing. Tariffs are declining only very slowly while business travel is growing at a much faster pace.
Norwood Systems’ patent-pending cloud services platform automatically leverages the international fixed phone network, the short-haul Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) networks and other voice bearers to optimise employee call quality, while lowering corporate calling expenses. This is done without requiring any change to the corporation’s numbering plan or its employees’ user behaviour.
By monitoring the location of employee’s roaming smartphones, it uses that information to implement a dynamic least-cost voice routing layer on top of the corporation’s PABX infrastructure, driving down roaming call costs and improving contactability.
The platform is being used live by Australian businesses, including iiNet, also headquartered in Perth, with very positive feedback. In addition to its early users, the company has built up a significant pipeline of prospects, including global players in the areas of professional services, banking, telecommunications, engineering and legal services.
“The ease of implementation, integration and the familiar interface have eliminated the barriers that previously prevented the take-up of such an enterprise mobility solution.” “The cost model ensures that we don’t incur costs unless we receive savings.” Matthew Toohey CIO, iiNet
 The platform was originally launched in early 2013 and was conceived as a pure office-to-office mobility service. As a result of consultation and feedback from both customers and prospects, the original concept has been broadened to provide what amounts to the world’s most advanced corporate roaming service for fixed and private networks, providing a credible alternative to the expensive cellular roaming option.
* Informa Telecom report on: the International Roaming Market, 2010
About Norwood Systems: Norwood Systems is revolutionising how large organisations can get more value from their private international voice cloud Norwood Systems was founded in 2011 to develop and supply the best possible global mobility and roaming solutions for multi-national organisations. The company’s current offering, CORONA, delivers the world’s most advanced international roaming solution for enterprise and government clients.
CORONA is an enterprise-class communications platform that integrates Wi-Fi enabled mobile devices securely and seamlessly with the organisation’s existing voice assets – its PBXs and voice WAN links – that make up the private voice cloud.