News release

Compaq Unveils Telco Real-Time Billing Breakthrough With ZLE-enabled UshaComm Solution

Broadband Operators Can Bill for Data Services in Real Time, Improve Customer Service, Reduce Risks and Lower Costs

Compaq Computer Corporation (NYSE: CPQ) announced today a significant breakthrough in the way telecommunications operators bill their broadband customers for all voice and data services. Compaq, working with Portland, Oregon-based Usha Communications (UshaComm), unveiled the telco industry's first next generation billing solution that provides true ZLE (Zero Latency Enterprise)-enabled real-time capability. To deliver this groundbreaking capability, Compaq has integrated its well-known ZLE technology with Unicorn, the leading-edge Business Support System (BSS) solution from UshaComm.

The new solution is designed to meet dramatically different billing requirements that operators must address as they deploy data services on their next generation networks, both wired and wireless. The traditional batch processing, and even recently-available "near real-time" billing, that has been sufficient for voice services won't work for operators who will be offering 2.5G/3G and other advanced Internet services.

The Compaq ZLE-enabled UshaComm billing solution, which is being demonstrated for the first time at Billing Systems 2002 in London, delivers key benefits for IP service providers and their customers.

In the new paradigm of communications services, subscribers must know in advance how much it will cost to download information to their access devices, including mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs) or PC notebooks. At the same time, service providers must be able to bill, and in some cases, process payments from customers for that information as soon as it is downloaded. Operators, content providers, merchants, financial institutions, and consumers will need to complete numerous complex exchanges of data—instantaneously.

Both the anticipated volume of data involved in these processes and the required velocity of these transactions will quickly overwhelm the processing abilities of current billing solutions. The Compaq ZLE-based solution will redefine "real time" in terms of sub-second response time, and simultaneously will deliver linear scalability to meet any processing load. Most importantly, this speed and scalability is offered in an ironclad NonStop fault tolerant environment where no data is lost and no transaction is incomplete.

David Bealby, vice president and general manager of Compaq's Telecom Division, said, "Amid the enthusiasm about new data services, we must remember that next generation BSS infrastructure, particularly billing, is absolutely necessary to ensure consumer acceptance—and operator profitability. The ZLE-enabled UshaComm billing solution meets these emerging, data-oriented operator requirements, and is in every sense a harbinger of things to come." Bealby added, "UshaComm is the first to implement ZLE in billing, and has worked with Compaq to leverage the technology to create a truly next generation billing solution."

Jim Anthony, UshaComm executive vice president, said, "Emerging broadband networks will bring a tidal wave of usage related data—possibly more than 50 times current levels. Equally daunting for service providers is that these huge volumes of data will have to be processed in real time." Anthony added, "This is why we've partnered with Compaq to incorporate its real-time, massively scalable ZLE technology into our multi-tier, rules-based BSS platform, Unicorn Release 5. We think this combination is the ideal solution for the next generation of broadband services."

UshaComm and Compaq's ZLE-enabled Billing Solution Delivers Key Benefits

The ZLE-enabled Unicorn Release 5 BSS platform will deliver other key benefits to broadband operators, in addition to instantaneous pricing and billing for data services.

It can improve customer service (and reduce churn) through a single, unified view of the customer. With a single, current up-to-the-second profile, the operator can provide highly personalized service to each customer, including a single integrated bill—on the Web and viewable via the customer's handset or PC—which shows a running total of the customer's usage of all services. This real-time approach helps customers stay within usage limits—and reduces unpleasant billing surprises.

Such "threshold monitoring" also enables operators to reduce credit risks and revenue losses via real-time monitoring of customers' usage relative to their credit limits. If credit limits are approached, the operator can alert the customer, or take decisive action at the network level automatically.

Other capabilities that add business value for wireless operators:

• Value-chain rating of multi-vendor events and accurate restitution to merchants and content providers.
• Complex discounting across multiple communication services and intricate account hierarchies.
• Immediate usage and network event acquisition, enrichment, and distribution.
• Intelligent deployment and evaluation of marketing campaigns

Compaq ZLE Delivers Real-Time Capability Across Telco and Other Industries

A term originated by Gartner, ZLE describes an enterprise architecture in which information and transactions are propagated throughout the company—in real time—in order to create a single, integrated view of the business that is current up to the second. Gartner anticipates that most companies will need to implement some form of zero latency infrastructure in order to be competitive and profitable.⁽¹⁾ Compaq was the first to actually build and deploy ZLE-based solutions, in the telecommunications, retail and travel industries.

The Compaq ZLE engine features an integration services hub that links all key business applications and tightly couples them into a single operational data store (ODS), or transaction-oriented database. The result is that data can be propagated instantly and seamlessly to all applications in the enterprise and to an ODS where it is used to generate a single, convergent view of the customer that is always current up to the second.

The Compaq ZLE technology is based on the company's NonStop platform, including the NonStop server and the NonStop database.

About UshaComm

Usha Communications Technology (UshaComm) is a software solutions company offering a comprehensive product suite for next generation service providers needing billing and customer care (BACC) systems for the convergent market. UshaComm's technology is differentiated by a rapid return on investment backed by a world-class customer service organization. These next generation providers are the companies in the industry looking ahead to the new convergence, delivering communications services through mobile, wireline, and all types of cable and IP infrastructure. UshaComm pioneered a product line based on its unique three-tier CORBA compliance architecture, resulting in a new level of price/performance. The systems have been benchmarked for operations having up to 20 million subscribers. UshaComm's corporate headquarters is located in Portland, Oregon, USA, and can be reached at 1(503) 274-8777, or toll-free in North America at 1(877) 567-5588, or www.ushacomm.com.

About Compaq

Founded in 1982, Compaq Computer Corporation is a leading global provider of information technology products, services and solutions for enterprise customers. Compaq designs, develops, manufactures and markets information technology equipment, software, services and solutions, including industry-leading enterprise storage and computing solutions, fault-tolerant business-critical solutions, communication products, personal desktop and notebook computers, and personal entertainment and Internet access devices that are sold in more than 200 countries directly and through a network of authorized Compaq marketing partners. Information on Compaq and its products and services is available at http://www.compaq.com.