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SIPquest Changes Name to FirstHand Technologies and Obtains $7 Million US in Series C Funding

Reflects Focus on Enterprise Communications Everywhere; Accelerates Market Traction

Ottawa, Canada, May 24, 2006 – SIPquest, an innovator in mobile VoIP software for enterprise use, today announced that it has both renamed the company ‘FirstHand Technologies’ and secured $7 million (US) in Series C funding.

According to David Hattey, president and CEO of FirstHand Technologies, “Today, SIP is everywhere in telecom, in enterprise and in the consumer Instant Messaging services; the quest for SIP has been achieved. The name ‘FirstHand Technologies’ best speaks to our innovation and leadership position enabling enterprise communications everywhere. ”

BDC Venture Capital led the funding round, with participation from existing investors Covington Capital and Skypoint Capital.

“We are very impressed with the FirstHand management team and their vision for enterprise mobility,” said Roch Charbonneau, director, BDC Venture Capital. “Through its innovative product development FirstHand has the potential to become one of Canada’s leading mobile software developers.”

“BDC Venture Capital is joining a highly effective venture capital syndicate that includes both Skypoint and Covington,” added Hattey. “We have been very fortunate to have such supportive, creative and well-connected venture capitalists investing in our company.”

FirstHand said it would be using the Series C funding to accelerate market traction.

FirstHand sells its mobile client and server software through equipment vendors, systems integrators and service providers to extend enterprise communications services directly onto mobile phones. An estimated 70 million Americans use cell phones at work but aren’t able to access important features like incoming call details, corporate directories or instant conferencing on their mobile phones, which could deliver productivity and cost improvements.

Mobile Assistant and Mobile Console
The FirstHand Mobile Assistant is a software application for RIM, Symbian, Series 60 and Microsoft Windows Mobile smart phones that extends the enterprise telephony environment. Using Mobile Assistant, users can screen incoming calls, check the availability of co-workers, sort through the corporate directory, enable instant conferencing, sort through call logs of calls made to their desktop phone and signal to the IP PBX to deliver calls to some temporary number such as a home office, hotel or conference room.

FirstHand Mobile Console is deployed on Microsoft Windows Mobile to deliver personal command and control of communications services over WiFi, or WiFi and GSM, or WiFi and CDMA network interfaces. Its network-aware, unified GUI and support for single number calling consolidates both WiFi and cellular identities to provide a seamless end-user experience.

About BDC Venture Capital
BDC Venture Capital is a major venture capital investor in Canada, active at every stage of the company’s development cycle, from seed through expansion, with a focus on technology-based businesses that have high growth potential and are positioned to become dominant players in their markets. BDC Venture Capital has been involved in venture capital since 1975, and has to date invested in more than 400 different companies. It currently manages approximately $550 million in venture capital assets invested in the areas of Life Sciences, Telecommunications, Information Technology, Advanced Technologies and Fund Investments. For more information, see www.bdc.ca.

About Covington Group of Funds
Founded in 1995, Covington Group of Funds is one of Canada’s largest and most experienced venture capital fund providers. Covington Group of Funds manages over $525 million in venture capital assets on behalf of 160,000 retail investors. These funds invest in small-and-medium businesses throughout many industry sectors.  The Covington Group of Funds, headquartered in Toronto, is an affiliate of Affiliated Managers Group Inc.  AMG is an asset management holding company with equity interests in a diverse group of mid-sized investment management firms. In addition, AMG provides centralized assistance to its Affiliates in strategic matters, marketing, distribution, product development and operations.  AMG’s affiliated investment management firms managed approximately US$203 billion in assets at March 31, 2006.

About Skypoint Capital ®
Skypoint Capital® (www.skypointcorp.com) forms and manages venture capital funds that stimulate and leverage the ever-changing telecommunications and information technology sector. Its funds provide early-stage equity capital to new or growing businesses with the potential to become major enterprises. The firm, which currently has US $185 million under management, invests primarily in Canada, but also in the US, Israel and the UK. The members of the Skypoint Capital team have participated in more than 75 technology start-ups in the Ottawa and Montreal regions.

About FirstHand Technologies (www.firsthandtech.com)
FirstHand Technologies (formerly SIPquest) is the leading developer of Converged Multimedia Client software for desktop, WiFi, Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC) and IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) environments. The company’s solutions are embedded or bundled into the world's largest equipment vendors, systems integrators and service provider’s products to quickly and seamlessly deliver rich multimedia services to their end-users.

Based in Ottawa, Canada, the company differentiates its mobile VoIP offerings by enabling the broadest available market through a range of leading channel partners and the widest array of mobile devices. This provides enterprises with extensive choices of their preferred solutions. Partners include 3Com, BroadSoft, Cisco and Nortel among others. For more information visit http://www.firsthandtech.com or call +1-613-254-8886.

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