Queensland University of Technology Selects CellTrust GlobalSMS Gateway Platform for First of Kind Pilot for New Mothers

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. and SYDNEY, Oct. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- CellTrust Corporation, the world's largest provider of SecureSMS™ (Secure SMS) for mobile phones (www.celltrust.com), announced today that its GlobalSMS platform solution has been selected by the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), for the world's first text message pilot program to offer breastfeeding support for new mothers in Australia.

The "Mumbubconnect" trial, concepted and engineered by Andre La Porte, a Digital Media and Social Marketing Specialist in Brisbane, Australia, for a team from QUT's School of Public Health and the School of Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations, is the first of its kind to use two-way SMS to provide support for breastfeeding mothers. The text messages provide a direct link with breastfeeding women and offer support, encouragement and advice when needed. For example if a mother responds to a text message indicating she is struggling with breastfeeding, she will be sent an encouraging response, along with hints on how to get through the difficult times. This pilot program aims to facilitate QUT's research and ultimately to increase breastfeeding rates among new mothers.

"Our research found that text messages are an ideal way to communicate with new mothers, because they send and receive messages on their mobile devices throughout the day," said Mr. La Porte. "CellTrust Australia had our system up and running in less than two hours and it's easy to use.  I was astonished to find that a particular vendor would have to build a specific SMS platform application from scratch, and that other vendors with existing technology had platforms that were complicated to program and manage."

It is important to note that standard SMS is not secure and can be spoofed. CellTrust's GlobalSMS Gateway also features SecureSMS a tamper-proof process, which enables message sizes up to 5,000 characters versus standard text messages, which allow up to only 160 characters.

"We can assure participants of Mumbubconnect that their information and all conversations with us are completely private, which is crucial when dealing with people's health issues, and after this initial trial is carried out, further information could be gathered by utilising Celltrust's two-way SecureSMS platform," said Nick Goritsas, Managing Director, CellTrust of Australia. "It is exciting that Andre La Porte chose to leverage CellTrust's technology for QUT to deliver this groundbreaking new service to new mothers in Australia."

La Porte has spent over two years developing the SMS-based concept for QUT, which incorporated various areas of research into women's behaviours and use of technology. A preliminary study by QUT of mothers has revealed that women find breastfeeding difficult in the first few months and they are receptive to receiving text messages about breastfeeding, especially if these are linked to a resource where they can access further information. Overall the study found the response to an SMS social marketing campaign was positive. It also found new young mothers in particular use their mobile phone as an essential link to peers, family and friends.

CellTrust's SecureSMS™ Appliance is the first global enterprise appliance to offer secure SMS communication for handset to handset and enterprise applications to handsets with highly encrypted end-to-end security in compliance with HIPAA, FISMA, and Sarbanes-Oxley, ensuring that information is kept private and only delivered to the intended recipient. CellTrust's award winning SecureSMS Appliance and Gateway reaches 200+ countries and over 800 carriers.  

CellTrust SecureSMS Appliance was named winner of many industry awards by CTIA, Mobile Marketing Association, RCR Magazine, MobileTrax, and more.

For details on Mumbubconnect, visit www.mumbubconnect.com.au

About Mumbubconnect

Mumbubconnect (MBC) is the name of a pilot project currently being conducted by Queensland University of Technology. The mission of MBC is to create better communication connections between mums and official support services (such as government, commercial, community or charity based support); with the belief that better communications will enable better connections between a mum and her baby. MBC aims to test the delivery of tailored SMS text messages and online communications to each new mum participating in the project. For more information, visit www.mumbubconnect.com.au.

About CellTrust Corporation

CellTrust is a leading provider of secure mobile messaging and applications. CellTrust's patent pending SecureSMS Gateway™ featuring the SecureSMS™ Appliance and a suite of mobile applications provide advanced secure mobile messaging and information management across 200+ countries and over 800 carriers.  CellTrust ensures the secure and trusted exchange of information on mobile devices to the financial services, healthcare, government, education, energy, information technology, marketing, and travel, among other global industries. For more information about CellTrust's Global, African, North American and Australian operations: www.celltrust.com   www.africa.celltrust.com   www.celltrust.com.au

SOURCE CellTrust Corporation