Located in Soho, London, the office focuses on sales, marketing and support functions. The office will initially employ four people, and the aim is to increase the amount of staff to ten by summer 2001. With the opening of the London office, LPG Innovations continues its international expansion. The previous step was the opening of a German office in Frankfurt last spring.

Mr. Phil Church (44) has made a long career in the IT and Telecom industries, having held posts with companies like Cellnet, STC, GPT and Fujitsu Telecom. Prior to Fujitsu Mr. Church was responsible for running GPTs UK operators business, increasing the turnover to over �200 million per annum. At Fujitsu Telecommunications Europe he functioned as European Sales Director, where he headed the European Sales Team and managed all key UK accounts.

A top-notch telecom executive, Mr. Church brings vital experience and contacts to LPG. Looking from a technology perspective, Finnish companies are right on the leading edge of mobile technology. However, from a marketing and financial perspective, London is one of the focal points for the mobile industry. Our London office helps us serve a global customer base, says Mr. Pekka Kelkka, CEO, LPG Innovations.

I believe in LPGs idea that no single device or technology such as WAP will be the answer to mobile needs. More likely, WAP will constitute a part of the answer. Users must be able to access the same services regardless of place and the type of terminal they are using, whether it be a mobile phone, a web browser or a digiTV set-top-box, comments the new head of LPG Innovations London office, Mr. Phil Church.

The LPG vision is that the mobile market is undergoing a transfomation, with established players such as telecom operators facing new competition from financial institutions, media corporations and insurance companies. This opens a window of opportunity for companies like LPG Innovations. The problem is not finding new customers but rather choosing on which ones to focus first. I would estimate that our turnover during the first full year of operation will be between three and four million pounds, Mr. Church continues.

LPG Innovations Ltd, founded in 1994, is one of mobile Internets early pioneers. The company provides service level enhancing solutions for corporations, operators and service providers. LPG Innovations focuses on transforming new technologies to highly scalable solutions with open interfaces and inbuilt fault tolerance. LPG Innovations customers include mobile operators (such as Sonofon), b-to-b service providers (LCI Consultants), and large corporations (BMW). LPG Innovations partners include Hewlett-Packard, Oracle, WM-Data Faci and Cap Gemini Ernst & Young. The company is owned by employees and the venture capital company Capital Management. Currently, LPG Innovations employs over 100 people in three Finnish development centers and one branch office in Frankfurt, Germany.

For further information, please contact

Mr. Esa Aho, Senior Vice President, Marketing, LPG Innovations Oy
tel. +358 30 6006 341, mobile +358 40 758 6362
[email protected]

Mr. Phil Church, Country Manager, LPG Innovations UK
Mobile +44 777 165 1920, [email protected]