Industry's First 100% Web-Based Billing Systems Unveiled by Savera Systems; Tele2 and Tango Implement First Systems in Europe

Business Wire, Nov 8, 1999

PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 8, 1999--

The billing and provisioning of telecom and Internet service reached a new level of sophistication and ease-of-use today with the introduction of the industry's first and only 100% Web-Based(TM) inter-connect and prepaid billing systems from Savera Systems. The products--InterCarrier(TM) and RealTime Prepaid(TM)--were unveiled at the Billing '99 Show in Paris.

The company announced the successful implementation of systems at several key customers. Tele2 Europe and Netcom (Nasdaq: NECS) jointly implemented InterCarrier(TM) at Tele2 AB in Sweden for providing interconnect billing services via an application service provider (ASP) model to Tele2 companies in Austria, France and Italy. The RealTime Prepaid(TM) system has been installed by Tango in Luxembourg. Tele2 Europe and Tango are subsidiaries of Societe Europeenne de Communication S.A (Nasdaq: SECAY, SECBY).

InterCarrier(TM) and RealTime Prepaid(TM) were built for use over the Web, delivering billing solutions unsurpassed in performance and ease of use. The benefits include:

-    Easy access to every aspect of the billing
     process--administration, routine maintenance, management,
     statement and settlement, data entry, agreement negotiation--by
     anyone with authorization from virtually any location.

-    Ease of use via intuitive web interfaces with contextual help for
     every screen.

-    Low cost of ownership from less system maintenance, no client
     applications and upgrades, and reduced user training.

-    Built-in security over Intranet, Internet or virtual private
     networks (VPN) using proven technologies, such as SSL.

Savera delivers its solutions as hosted applications from an ASP and as installed systems.

"Savera is simplifying the billing process in the same way Yahoo simplified usage of the Internet," said Inderpal Singh Mumick, president of Savera. "Savera's 100% Web Based technology simplifies complex billing domains and encompasses tasks that are traditionally accomplished outside the billing application. The result is a system far more usable than any other billing application."

InterCarrier(TM)

InterCarrier(TM) is a 100% Web Based(TM) settlement and management solution designed to help telecom and IP carriers, resellers, service bureaus, and trading houses maximize revenue in today's complex, deregulated environment. It gives carriers the ability to quickly and accurately use the Web to track and bill for use of each other's voice, data and IP networks.

InterCarrier(TM) fits any network carrier's needs--regional or global, large or small. InterCarrier(TM) can be used by carriers independently and securely from each other, or together for consolidated reporting. It supports multiple currencies and languages, easy and quick changes in domestic and international routes and rates, and changes in network infrastructure.

InterCarrier(TM) speeds up reconciliation and invoice settlement and drastically reduces accounts receivables. Its real-time usage analysis offers unprecedented insight into traffic volumes and revenue by route, switch and destination, helping to optimize network utilization using methods such as Least Cost Routing (LCR). Its mediation adapter accepts multiple input record formats from any mediation device, and an enhanced auto loader maintains, exports and imports all reference data and price list information using a standard spreadsheet application.

InterCarrier(TM) also supports IP, and works on the Oracle 8 database (Nasdaq: ORCL) and Sun Solaris platform (Nasdaq: SUNW), providing virtually unlimited scalability.

"Tele2 Europe expects substantial improvements in controlling our operations using InterCarrier(TM)," said Kurt Demeuleneere, technical controller of Tele2 Europe. "Now we can check and analyze all incumbent and carrier invoices on a per minute basis, by time of day, service type and destination. InterCarrier(TM) is so easy to use. It allows us to download any data into an Excel spreadsheet, make changes and then upload it. This saves Tele2 a great deal of time and virtually eliminates manual input errors."

RealTime Prepaid(TM)

RealTime Prepaid(TM) is a 100% Web-Based real-time rating, billing and customer support system ideally suited for high-transaction volume telecom and Internet businesses. It provides real-time accounting of prepaid accounts and allows carriers to use the Web to provide inventory management of prepaid cards and management of Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards for wireless networks.

Real-Time Prepaid(TM) enables carriers to provide current information to customer care, marketing and finance departments, as well as to subscribers over a secure Web interface. The solution enables carriers to move to new business models by outsourcing functions such as customer care.

RealTime Prepaid(TM) supports both CDR-based, service node (trunk-based) and WIN interfaces, and contains several features needed to support a postpaid billing solution.

RealTime Prepaid(TM) features a robust suite of application programming interfaces (APIs) so carriers can easily incorporate 3rd party solutions--switch interfaces, Cyber-cash, Interactive Voice Response (IVR), and short message services (SMS)--and support flexible tariff structures. It can scale with business growth. The system works on the Oracle 8 database and Sun Solaris platform.