IVR Technology From Periphonics Provides Telephone Access to PeopleSoft's Student System At the University of Utah

Business Wire, August 13, 1998

BOHEMIA, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 13, 1998--Periphonics Corporation (NASDAQ:PERI), a leading worldwide provider of products and services for call processing solutions used in Computer Telephony Integration and Telecom Enhanced Network Services, today announced that The University of Utah has installed Periphonics Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems to provide telephone access to the PeopleSoft Student Administration System (SAS).

Founded in 1850, The University of Utah provides a variety of undergraduate and graduate programs to more than 27,000 students.

The Periphonics IVR systems replace systems from another vendor, and allow students to register for classes, drop or add classes, access grade reports and registration assignments, change personal identification numbers and obtain general class information via touch-tone telephone. All applications were created by university programmers using PeriProducer(R), Periphonics' graphical development tool. The consulting division of PeopleSoft, PSG, assisted with system integration.

"We investigated as many as seven vendors before choosing Periphonics," said Ron Muncey, senior systems analyst. "Our previous vendor was unable to interface to the PeopleSoft package, so that was the most important item on our list of criteria. And since we do all our programming in-house, the development environment was also a critical issue. Periphonics has a close relationship with PeopleSoft, so the interface had already been developed. Plus, they offered the most advanced development tools available."

Two VPS/is systems with a total of 96 digital lines process approximately 50% of all student registration. The systems retrieve student information from an Oracle database, and interface to PeopleSoft's SAS. A Distributed Message Agent Server (DMAS) from Interactive Business Solutions runs on eight Hewlett Packard LCII 300MZ dual-processor Pentium 2s, and provides load balancing for high-volume front-end communications with the PeopleSoft package. This system architecture allows the university to process as many as 57,000 transactions per hour.

"Our experience with Periphonics has been a positive one," adds Muncey. "They were very responsive to our needs, which allowed us to put the systems into production just a short time after the hardware was delivered. We are confident that we made the right decision."

Muncey and his team are currently designing new applications for financial aid, tuition and admissions. The university will also implement additional PeopleSoft packages for financial and human resources functions.

Periphonics Corporation develops, markets and supports products and professional services for Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) and for Telecom Enhanced Network Services using technologies such as Interactive Voice Response (IVR), speech input, messaging, fax and Web browsers. The Company's products and services automate call and transaction processing, increase call center agent productivity, and often create new revenue streams for its customers. Headquartered in Bohemia, New York (Long Island), Periphonics has systems installed in more than 50 countries worldwide.

   CONTACT: Periphonics Corp., Bohemia
             Anne M. Strauss, Public Relations Coordinator
             516/468-9591
             anne.strauss@peri.com
                     or
             Karen L. Ferraro, Director of Marketing
             516/468-9276
             karen.ferraro@peri.com