Tandem Wins Three Year/US$60 Million OEM UNIX System Contract with Ericsson

Business Wire, Nov 19, 1997

CUPERTINO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 19, 1997--

Tandem Provides High Availability, High Bandwidth UNIX System

Servers for Global Telecommunications Customer

Further expanding the OEM agreement between Tandem, a Compaq company, and Sweden-based Ericsson Utvecklings AB, the Ericsson company intends to purchase up to US$60 million of rack-mounted UNIX system-based S400RK servers over the next three years.

"In the data-intensive telecommunications industry, lost data is lost revenue," said Haus Borgnas, vice president of AXE I/O development at Ericsson. "Therefore, the need for very high dependability is critical. In addition to a proven track record in the telecommunications industry for delivering highly reliable, fault-tolerant UNIX systems, Tandem has been able to provide systems with the necessary bandwidth to handle the high-volume processing required in billing applications."

To preserve computing power on Ericsson switches for performing call data processing -- a switch's primary function -- Ericsson will use Tandem's S400RK servers as adjunct processors for a billing data application. The S400RK will gather the billing data from the Ericsson switch, process and format the data into a standardized telecommunications format, and send it to the appropriate billing center.

The S400RK server is a fault-tolerant, NEBS compatible, 19-inch rack-mountable product that will be mounted in Ericsson's BYB501 rack for central office locations.

Based on Tandem's Integrity(R) S4000 UNIX system platform, the S400RK is expected to be a high-volume seller specifically targeted toward OEM partners in the telecommunications industry.

"We are pleased to be working with a major player in the global telecommunications industry such as Ericsson," said Gail Hamilton, vice president and general manager of Tandem's UNIX systems product group. "Our relationship with Ericsson exemplifies why we are unique in the industry. To meet our customers' specific needs, we team with industry-leading switch vendors, integrators, and solutions providers to build solutions centered around our proven experience, expertise, and technology vision."

Based in Austin, Texas, Tandem's UNIX systems product group is a recognized leader in delivering revenue-generating, business-critical systems for the communications industry. As the leading fault-tolerant UNIX system-based platform provider, Tandem has delivered systems that have been used in worldwide telecommunications networks as adjunct services processors and applications processors since 1989.

About Tandem

Founded in 1974, Tandem, a Compaq company, designs and delivers technology solutions that companies rely on to compete in a business world that runs 24 hours a day. A U.S. company headquartered in Cupertino, Tandem has offices, strategic partners, and service providers in more than 50 countries. -0-

Note to Editors: Tandem, Integrity, and Tandem logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Tandem Computers Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. UNIX is a registered trademark in the United States and other countries, licensed exclusively through X/Open Company Limited. Compaq is a registered trademark of Compaq Computer Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

CONTACT: Tandem, a Compaq Company

Scott Blevins, 408/285-6076

blevins_scott@tandem.com

http://www.tandem.com