hp and Kenan to offer ISPs usage-based billing solutions

Palo Alto, California. Oct. 6, 1998--Hewlett-Packard Company, a worldwide leader in IT infrastructure for telecommunications, and Kenan Systems Corporation, a leader in IP billing solutions, today announced their intent to enter into an agreement to offer Tier 1 Internet service providers (ISPs) usage-based billing solutions.

HP and Kenan have jointly delivered billing and customer-care solutions to the telecommunications industry since 1995, and this new agreement would expand the relationship further into the ISP industry, where service providers need usage-based billing solutions to manage costs and increase revenues. The companies' carrier-class usage-based IP billing solutions would be based on HP Smart Internet Usage products and Kenan's Arbor/Internet.

HP Smart Internet Usage products collect, aggregate and correlate subscriber Internet usage data from multiple data sources into an Internet data record (IDR). Kenan's Arbor/Internet rates the IDRs according to sophisticated pricing and discount plans to generate detailed subscriber billing statements in real time.

"Leading IP service providers have chosen Arbor/Internet to build their businesses on because it gives them the ability to evolve their pricing plans as quickly as the market demands," said Tom Gramaglia, director of Kenan's Internet Business Unit. "HP Smart Internet Usage and Kenan's Arbor/Internet together provide ISPs with even more flexibility as they migrate to more profitable, usage-based pricing and billing models."

"ISPs need comprehensive solutions to understand their subscribers' Internet usage patterns and to improve their services," said Sanjay Uppal, manager of HP's Internet Infrastructure Operation. "ISPs deploying HP Smart Internet Usage and Kenan's Arbor/Internet can realize immediate benefits through additional revenue streams, particularly those ISPs offering business services and those providing rich media access."

Kenan's Arbor/Internet has been shipping since May. HP Smart Internet Usage has been shipping since June, and HP has just announced the immediate availability of Smart Internet Usage Version 1.1, which includes improved performance, price reductions and additional data encapsulators. These new features provide service providers with better price/performance and new billing options. Solutions integrating HP Smart Internet Usage and Arbor/Internet are expected to be available later this fall. Pricing for these solutions will be determined by configuration and can be quoted on request.

HP recently announced an aggressive strategy to provide solutions to ISPs in order to make business on the Internet more pervasive. The strategy includes a comprehensive solutions portfolio that incorporates premium HP and independent software vendor (ISV) solutions, such as Kenan's Arbor/Internet, to enable ISPs to differentiate and grow with new value-added services. A study by G2R, Inc., a market-research firm based in Mountain View, Calif., recently showed that HP is the preferred hardware vendor overall in wireline billing. Making use of that hardware expertise and working with companies such as Kenan, HP will continue to offer the types of solution that enable ISPs to provide high-quality billing solutions.

about Kenan

Kenan Systems Corporation is an award-winning provider of software products and services that answer the specific billing, customer care, order management and decision-support requirements of leading single- and multi-service carriers in the communications industry worldwide, including mobile and wireline voice and data services, rich media as well as Internet services. With headquarters in Cambridge, Mass. and offices throughout North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, Kenan Systems worldwide customers include @Home Network, AT&T;, BellSouth, British Telecom, Casema, France Telecom, GTE, Optus Communications, PageNet, Time Telekom, Verio, Videotron and WorldCom. Additional information on Kenan Systems' products and services may be obtained by visiting http://www.kenan.com or via e-mail at info@kenan.com.

about HP

Hewlett-Packard Company is a leading global provider of computing, Internet and intranet solutions, services, communications products and measurement solutions, all of which are recognized for excellence in quality and support. HP has 127,200 employees and had revenue of $42.9 billion in its 1997 fiscal year.

Information about HP and its products can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.hp.com.