HP'S NETWORK MONITORING SYSTEM TO HELP WIRELESS-SERVICE PROVIDERS IMPROVE NETWORK RELIABILITY; Finland's Radiolinja Among the First to Deploy HP's acceSS7 System in Wireless Environments

Business Wire, March 3, 1997

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 3, 1997--Extending its expertise in developing and installing SS7 network-monitoring systems for wireline networks, Hewlett-Packard Company today announces it has delivered its HP acceSS7 system to leading wireless service providers to help them improve network reliability in their effort to gain a competitive advantage in today's cut-throat mobile-telecommunications business environment.

One of the first service providers to deploy the HP network-monitoring system across its wireless network is Finland-based Radiolinja Oy. The system is expected to help improve quality of service to its customers and to trouble-shoot complex SS7 network-signaling problems.

In separate announcements, HP also announces that it has delivered the system to Vodafone Ltd., a leading mobile-phone operator in the United Kingdom and to Vodafone Australia, an operating subsidiary of Vodafone Group plc. (See press releases titled "HP Enhances the Quality of Service for Vodafone in the UK" and "HP's Real-time SS7-monitoring System Installed by a Leading Mobile-phone Operator in the Asia-Pacific Region.")

AN EARLY WARNING SYSTEM

While many of the mobile operators that have signed up to install HP's acceSS7 monitoring system plan to utilize different applications of the system, all of them report they are interested in taking advantage of the system's real-time monitoring capabilities to help improve the reliability of their networks.

"Quality of Service is a competitive differentiator for mobile operators," said Simon Durrant, marketing manager for HP's Telecom Systems Division. "With our extensive technical expertise in SS7 networks and IS-41and GSM protocols, we can provide mobile operators with powerful and innovative management solutions to help them improve their business results and stay competitive."

"Providing a high-level of service is uppermost in the minds of executives and engineers at Radiolinja," said Kari Partanen, vice president of technology for the Finnish mobile operator. "We want to offer our customers the highest-possible quality of service. The HP acceSS7 system is helping us do this by pinpointing the source of problems so that action can be taken to resolve problems quickly -- before it affects our customer service."

Radiolinja says it is using the HP system to protect its investment in a large SS7 network that helps it deploy revenue-generating intelligent network services quickly. The HP system is expected to help ensure that these services are operating correctly. In one application, Radiolinja used the capabilities of the HP system to help manage an area-code change in Finland. "Using the acceSS7 system, Radiolinjas' engineers were able to spot and resolve potential problems associated with the area-code changeover before our customers were affected," Partanen said.

HP'S ACCESS7 SYSTEM

In addition to monitoring SS7 traffic and link status, the HP acceSS7 network-monitoring system gathers traffic statistics, analyzes SS7 protocols, and provides call trace and alarm reporting. The user interface also instantaneously communicates the status of the SS7 network in multidimensional "radar-diagram" displays that complement real-time data acquisition across the network. This capability helps give network operators early warning of network degradation before it affects customers. The SS7 data collected by the HP acceSS7 system also can be used to detect fraud and to implement usage-billing applications.

The acceSS7 system is currently deployed by 25 major wireline operators around the world, including US WEST, Sprint, Bell Atlantic and Deutsche Telekom.

Radiolinja Oy is the GSM operator of the Finnet Group. The Finnet Group consists of 46 private Finnish telecommunications companies and their common subsidiaries. The Finnet Group says it handles approximately 60 percent of the long-distance traffic and approximately 70 percent of the local traffic in Finland. Radiolinja says they currently have over 300,000 GSM customers. Information about Radiolinja can be obtained on the World Wide Web via http://www.radiolinja.fi/ .

Hewlett-Packard Company is a leading global manufacturer of computing, communications and measurement products and services recognized for excellence in quality and support. HP has 112,800 employees and had revenue of $38.4 billion in its 1996 fiscal year.

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

Additional information on products from HP's Test and Measurement Organization can be obtained on the World Wide Web via http://www.tmo.hp.com .

CONTACT: Hewlett-Packard

Jim Black, 44-131-331-7043

fax: 44-131-331-7987

jim-tsd_black@hp.com

or

John McCreadie, 408/553-7342

fax: 408/553-6248

dearjohn@sc.hp.com