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T-Systems and Convergys Sign Cooperation Agreement

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T-Systems and Convergys have signed a cooperation agreement. Convergys develops individual software solutions for the billing of telecommunications services, customer care, and employee care.

The contract entitles T-Systems to use, sell and sub-license the Convergys “Infinys” billing and rating software. The license agreement carries a term of six years and includes Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

“We are not simply going to use the well-known Infinys billing system in solutions for our clients, for example, T-Com and T-Online, but also for ourselves. We are already making plans to convert the billing system of some of our clients to Infinys,” says Olaf Heyden, Executive Committee member and Head of IT Operations at T-Systems.

David Dougherty, president and Chief Operating Officer of Convergys, is looking forward to this opportunity to work together with T-Systems: “For Convergys, this cooperation with T-Systems is one of the most important billing agreements in our company’s history.”

Comverse Completes Acquisition Of The GSS Division of CSG Systems

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Comverse Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: CMVT) today announced that Comverse Inc. completed its acquisition of the GSS division and certain related assets of CSG Systems International, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSGS), for approximately $249 million in cash, subject to certain post closing adjustments. The combination of GSS, a leader in software-based billing solutions, with Comverse’s Real-Time Billing group is expected to expand significantly Comverse’s addressable market, and enhance its leadership position in the emerging converged billing market, serving wireless, wireline, cable, satellite, and Internet-based service providers.

GSS brings to Comverse a broad suite of software-based billing solutions, supporting the voice, data, video, and e-commerce offerings of approximately 150 service providers, including wireless, wireline, cable, satellite, and Internet-based companies. GSS customers include, among others, Bharti, British Sky Broadcasting, BSNL, BT, China Telecom, eBay, France Telecom, O2, Telecom Italia and certain Vodafone entities.

Kobi Alexander, Chairman and CEO of Comverse Technology, said, “We believe the emerging converged billing market is approaching an inflection point, and that a significant growth opportunity is at hand. Converged billing is expected to be among the fast growing, and ultimately one of the largest, segments of the overall billing market. This combination is projected to enhance our leadership position as a supplier of converged billing solutions, and to open up cross-selling growth opportunities for data, messaging, content, and billing solutions into our respective customer bases.”

Zeev Bregman, CEO of Comverse, the company’s network systems unit, said, “GSS complements our product portfolio, technology, customer footprint, and strategic direction. Most service providers today rely on disparate solutions for billing, including highly customized, inflexible systems serving specific customer and application segments, including prepaid, post-paid, fixed, and wireless. As services and networks converge, so too will billing solutions, addressing the different types of convergence, such as prepaid/post-paid, fixed/mobile, and data/voice. We believe that flexible, software-centric product modules, such as those provided by GSS and Comverse, are best suited to meet the needs of service providers going forward. In addition, we believe service providers will appreciate the advantages of having both value-added services and billing solutions provided by the same supplier. The advantages include faster time-to-market for new services, greater flexibility in service segmentation, modification, and targeted marketing campaigns, and lower total cost of ownership. This growth-driven initiative is expected to position Comverse for long-term leadership in the emerging and expanding converged billing market, expand our customer base and scale, enhance the leadership position of both GSS and Comverse in their respective domains, and introduce new cross-selling growth opportunities into both customer bases.”

The combination of GSS and Comverse’s Real-Time Billing group is expected to result in the creation of a leading supplier of converged billing solutions, and one of the leading overall suppliers of billing solutions for wireless and fixed service providers.

T-Systems and Convergys Sign Six-Year Infinys Telecom Billing Services Agreement

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T-Systems, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Deutsche Telekom Group (NYSE: DT), and Convergys (NYSE:CVG), announced today the signing of a six-year Infinys [tm] billing services agreement. The agreement includes licensing Infinys billing and rating software, purchase of professional services, and the ability for T-Systems to re-sell Infinys in Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA).

The agreement calls for Infinys billing and rating software to replace certain legacy billing applications in business units of the Deutsche Telekom Group. T-Systems currently manages and operates the legacy Billing applications for the Deutsche Telekom business units T-Com (7.3 million broadband connections in operation and 35.6 million narrowband connections) and T-Online (11.67 million customers).

“We evaluated many alternatives, but chose Infinys from Convergys for The upgrading of our legacy billing applications. The Infinys software will enable us to innovate in the market while lowering our total cost of ownership. We also plan to bundle Infinys into our T-Systems solution portfolio and offer it to clients outside the Deutsche Telekom Group,” said Olaf Heyden, member of the Executive Committee and Head of IT Operations at T-Systems.

“We are very excited about the opportunity to work with T-Systems. Its choice of Infinys is further evidence that Convergys provides a superior solution for our clients and is gaining widespread acceptance in the global marketplace. This is the largest billing agreement ever for Convergys in the EMEA region,” said David Dougherty, president and chief operating officer of Convergys.

Tango CCN Deployed in GSM Network for Outremer Telecom

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Tango Telecom, the leading provider of convergent charging and intelligent messaging solutions, today announced the successful deployment of the Tango CCN as part of two compact cellular networks Alvarion installed for telecommunications provider, Outremer Telecom. The deployment will provide real-time data services to the islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe and French Guiana.

The Tango CCN was deployed to enable real-time GPRS charging for prepaid and postpaid subscribers. The Tango CCN provides real-time metering and control of GPRS traffic and content for Outremer’s prepaid subscribers, with a seamless integration to the Alvarion IN prepaid system. The CCN also provides billable CDRs for postpaid subscriber activities.

“We’re delighted to work with Alvarion to deliver our charging solution to Outremer Telecom”, said Colm Ward, CEO of Tango. “We expect that this first installation will lead to further joint opportunities on a global basis”, he added.

Intec Telecom Systems PLC Announces Audited results for the year ended 30 September 2005

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Intec Telecom Systems PLC (“Intec” or “the Company”), a leading supplier of billing software solutions to the global telecoms industry, today announced its audited results for the year ended 30 September 2005 (“FY 2005”). Revenue and earnings have grown almost 70% over the same period last year as a result of the turnaround of the Singl.eView acquisition, with Intec making a clear transition to being one of the world’s leading BSS/OSS suppliers in terms of both business performance and product capability.

Financial Highlights
– Revenue up 69% to £116.2m (Year ended 30 September 2004 (“FY 2004”): £68.8m)
– EBITDA before exceptionals up 58% to £16.9m (FY 2004: £10.7m)
– License sales up 33% to £25.4m (FY2004:£19.1m)
– Adjusted PBT up 63% to £13.5m (FY 2004: £8.3m)
– Loss before tax of £4.0m (FY 2004: loss of £1.2m) after £16.4m amortisation charge (FY 2004: £8.8m)
– Adjusted EPS up 7% to 3.82p (FY 2004: 3.57p); Basic loss per share (2.00p) (FY 2004: (0.80p))
– Operating cash inflow of £0.6m (FY 2004: inflow of £4.6m)
– Net cash and current asset investments of £23.8m (FY 2004: £32.2m)

Operational Highlights
– Successfully turned around the Singl.eView business; made profitable from first quarter of ownership.
– Original Intec business continues to win market share.
– Increase in frequency of multi-product, multi-million pound deals.
– Transformation of Intec into tier 1 vendor of business critical solutions.
– Contract wins across all products and all regions including two RBOCs in the USA, MTN, The Carphone Warehouse, Saudi Telecom and VimpelCom.
– New solutions launched, including Singl.eView v6, Intec IPTV and Intec Trading & Routing.
– New Centre of Excellence opened in Bangalore.

“2005 has been a year of transition in which Intec has increased its market share in its established business, created excellent momentum and good profitability in Singl.eView, and built a strong foundation for continued, profitable growth,” said Intec’s non-executive chairman, John Hughes. “It has also been a year of investment, in particular in new offshore facilities, new software solutions, and improved operational infrastructure, that are vital to our future competitive performance.”

“The impact of Singl.eView on Intec has been dramatic. We are delivering on its promise, particularly in terms of our market presence, and in establishing relationships with the most senior management at tier 1 telcos,” added Intec CEO Kevin Adams. “As well as beating expectations for both revenue and earnings, we have transformed the Singl.eView business from substantial losses to profitability. Despite strong marketplace competition, we have won our largest ever deals, which bring long-term revenue streams.”

Portal Introduces Software Certification Program

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Portal Software, Inc. (Pink Sheets:PRSF), the premier global provider of billing and Revenue Management solutions for telecommunications and media markets, today introduced the Portal Certification Program. Available to Portal’s customers, system integrators and technology partners, the Portal Certification Program offers training and testing for professionals whose job function includes the installation, implementation and configuration of Portal’s billing and Revenue Management platform. Five-day preparation training courses for the Certification exams are now available through Portal Educational Services. Certification testing will commence in January 2006.
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Connectiva and the MTC Group Win Best Revenue Assurance Award

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The Mobile Telecommunications Company (MTC) Group and Connectiva Systems, a leading provider of revenue assurance solutions to the telecom industry worldwide has won the prestigious World Billing Award – “Best Revenue Assurance / Management Project” — awarded by the Institute for International Research (IIR). Connectiva Systems was awarded this recognition for implementing its ONEREViEW(TM) revenue assurance solution at the MTC Group, and demonstrating a compelling Return on Investment (ROI) for the project while delivering the desired functionality on time and under budget.

Launched in 1997, the World Billing Awards are widely regarded as the highest recognition of billing excellence within the telecom industry. The winners were selected in April 2005 and the award ceremony took place on December 6, 2005 in Madrid. Connectiva Systems was named joint-winner with the MTC Group for the “Best Revenue Assurance Project” for 2005.

Hugh Roberts, presenting the award as chairman of the World Billing Awards judging panel, said, “We introduced the ‘Best Revenue Assurance / Revenue Management Project’ award this year not only as a reflection of the increasing role that revenue assurance is playing in delivering operational effectiveness but also to increase awareness of this amongst the global service provider community. We were delighted that the competition in this new category was so fierce, and the winners are indeed worthy of industry acknowledgement. In the case of the MTC Group deployment, the Judging Panel were particularly impressed by the fact that Connectiva were able to demonstrate some arduous proof of concept requirements and Total Cost of Ownership benefits prior to being awarded the contract, and that the solution was selected and implemented successfully on the basis of scalability, adaptability and with continuous functional change in mind.”

“We are honored to receive this award,” said Mark Trudeau, CEO of Connectiva Systems. “Progressive telecom operators like the MTC Group, who want to maximize the lifetime value of their customers, understand the value of getting visibility over their revenue chain. ONEREViEW(TM)’s unique process-based approach to revenue assurance helps them achieve this objective.”

Venkatesh Jandhyala, Group Revenue Assurance Manager, MTC Group said, “We are delighted to share this winner’s award with Connectiva Systems. Our achievement is a product of the RA philosophy gaining company-wide acceptance and working with a vendor who shares a commitment to our corporate values and objectives. We hope that our success will prompt other operators to take up the challenges of revenue assurance seriously and partner with a good vendor to ensure successful outcomes. This is indicative of our goal to control our revenue cycle and minimize revenue loss, thereby enhancing value for all shareholders in the MTC Group.”

Intec Billing Reinforces Russian Telecom OSS Market Presence With New Moscow Office

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Intec Telecom Systems, a leading OSS/BSS software vendor for fixed, mobile and next-generation networks, has opened a Moscow office to serve both Russia and the wider CIS. This local presence is a response to Intec’s high-profile customer base in the region, and to the considerable growth potential of the area.

“Intec has performed well in Russia and the CIS, with a series of major wins over the last couple of years,” said Intec CEO, Kevin Adams. “The growth of both fixed and mobile services across the regions is driving operators to review their support systems and, in many cases, initiate new OSS/BSS projects to deal with escalating subscriber volumes and advanced services.”

The Ministry of Information Technologies and Communications of the Russian Federation has recently approved rules, called the ‘interconnection rules’, with substantial impact on many areas of the telecommunications industry in Russia. Key areas relate to capacity, licenses for international long distance traffic, voice over IP traffic and interconnect pricing. Intec InterconnecT is compatible with these requirements and is helping its customers to fully meet their regulatory obligations.

VimpelCom, an established Intec InterconnecT billing technology customer, added Intec DCP (Dynamic Charging Platform), Inter-mediatE multi-service mediation and InterconnecT Optimised Routing in 2005, to support delivery of advanced mobile services to one of the world’s largest subscriber bases of more than 32 million customers.

Golden Telecom, Inc. chose Intec’s market leading carrier-to-carrier billing application, InterconnecT, in May 2004, to enable multiple, complex, dynamic and ever-increasing partnership agreements.

“Our customer footprint is spreading across both Russia and the CIS, as leading carriers recognise the need for next-generation solutions capable of handling large customer volumes,” added Intec EMEA MD, Peter Deane. “Our new Moscow office is based on the Intec policy of locating expertise and resources close to the customer, and will enable us to serve both new and existing clients from a central location, at a time when the region is undergoing deregulation of the international & long distance market, new legislation and developments such as CPP (calling party pays).”

WorldSpace Selects Portal Software to Support Global Satellite Radio Service

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Portal Software, Inc. (Pink Sheets:PRSF), the premier global provider of billing and Revenue Management solutions for telecommunications and media markets, announced today that WorldSpace, one of the world leaders in satellite-based digital radio services, selected Portal to provide billing and Revenue Management solutions for its global operations. Through its subscription-based service, WorldSpace broadcasts news, sports, music, and educational programming to satellite radios in over 130 countries including India, China, South Africa, the Middle East, and countries in Western Europe.
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FairPoint Selects New Telecom Billing Platform

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FairPoint Communications, Inc. (NYSE: FRP) today announced that it will transition from its current telecom billing provider to a new telecom billing provider. As a result of FairPoint’s settlement with its current telecom billing provider, the conversion process is expected to be completed at very little additional cost to the Company.

FairPoint’s current billing provider has contracted to sell the software underlying the Company’s current telecom billing system and has agreed not to add any new customers to its service bureau platform. FairPoint has selected Mid America Computer Corporation (MACC) as its new provider of billing services. The MACC-Customer Master platform is currently running in 223 independent telecommunications companies.

FairPoint estimates that the cost to convert all of its companies to the new telecom billing service provider will be approximately $5.5 million. FairPoint is due to receive $4.0 million from its current billing provider, and will not be required to pay $1.2 million in accrued but unpaid conversion fees. FairPoint expects to complete the conversion process for most of its companies by the middle of 2006, with all companies being converted by early 2007.

“We expect a much smoother conversion because we now have an experienced telecom billing partner in MACC and a seasoned project team who know what to anticipate as we move through this process,” said Gene Johnson, CEO for FairPoint. “Our experiences have taught us to choose vendors who have an intimate knowledge of our industry. MACC has been in operation in telecommunications billing for over 30 years. They know our business and we know them well. Our Midwest companies have been operating on the legacy MACC platform for years, so our confidence in MACC is high. In addition, MACC has dramatically increased the functionality of its platform since we initially looked at it several years ago, making it a leader in the telecommunications billing industry.”

The MACC-Customer Master platform includes features that will allow increased opportunities for FairPoint. These include enhanced target marketing capabilities, customized bills, and clear organization of customer data to assist customer service, sales and technical personnel. MACC’s systems and processes are known for good quality assurance and effective change management.

About FairPoint
FairPoint is a leading provider of communications services to rural communities across the country. Incorporated in 1991, FairPoint’s mission is to acquire and operate telecommunications companies that set the standard of excellence for the delivery of service to rural communities. Today, FairPoint owns and operates 28 rural local exchange companies (RLECs) located in 17 states, offering an array of services, including local and long distance voice, data, Internet and broadband offerings.

Umniah Taps HP OpenView OSS for Service Activation and Convergent Billing

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Umniah, as a new GSM/GPRS/EDGE operator in the Jordan market, has proven its capabilities by acquiring 200,000 plus subscribers in its first three months of operation.

To gain market share, Umniah simplified and accelerated service activation and provided flexible convergent billing for its pre- and post-paid subscribers. Working with HP, Umniah deployed HP OpenView Service Activator to automatically configure network equipment to set up and manage mobile services.

The solution enabled Umniah to deliver and provision new services more quickly — and consolidate provisioning on a single platform, which reduced cost and complexity. The HP solution also linked directly to Umniah’s customer relationship management (CRM) application, so subscribers can customize services in real time.

With HP OpenView Internet Usage Manager, Umniah can mediate all billing data, pre- and post-paid, into its billing system and CRM application.

“Umniah is committed to providing its customers with the fast, easy activation of services and billing flexibility that other operators lack. The HP OpenView solutions and OSS expertise have been a key part of that effort,” said Michael Dagher, managing partner, Umniah. “By delivering new services to customers faster, with the billing choices they want, Umniah can provide a better customer experience — and reduce our own operational costs.”

Indosat Deploys Comptel Online Mediation Solution

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Comptel Corporation, a leading convergent mediation, charging, provisioning and network inventory software vendor, has deployed Comptel Online mediation solution for SMS services to Indosat a leading telecommunication and information provider in Indonesia. The system was delivered by Comptel jointly with PT Lintas Teknologi Indonesia and Comptel’s associate company Tango Telecom. The value of agreement has not been announced.

Comptel Online Mediation solution for SMS is based on Comptel OnlineLink® and Comptel SMSLink™ products using Tango Telecom’s signalling technology with network level pre-delivery control function for SMS services. The solution enables Indosat to perform flexible online charging for all SMS traffic and services. In addition it provides an instant SMS delivery architecture with full scalability to meet the demanding requirements of the Indosat network. Solution provides capability to massively increase the capacity, performance and flexibility of the existing SMS infrastructure.

The system has successfully handled in excess of 106 million SMS attempts over the two days of recent Eid Al Fitr celebration which creates the highest peak traffic of the year in Indonesia. The system has provided higher quality of service to Indosat’s customers during the busy period that is challenging the network capacity.

The solution was chosen by Indosat after rigorous, fair and highly competitive evaluation and it was deployed in timely fashion. The solution has been integrated effectively across multiple sites utilising Indosat’s existing infrastructure. The new SMSC architecture is implemented with sophisticated real time charging and rating capability and is able to provide advanced new services rapidly to Indosat’s growing customer base. Furthermore, the solution improves effectively the promptness of the SMS deliveries, which is essential to improving further the ever important customer satisfaction.

“We are delighted to be able to announce the deployment of our market leading Online Mediation solution with Indosat, one of the largest such deployments worldwide. It is a key vote of confidence in the Comptel OnlineLink and Comptel SMSLink products, and we look forward to strengthening our cooperation with Indosat and to helping them to consolidate their position as a leading operator in the huge Indonesian market”, said Kari Miettinen, Vice President and head of Comptel’s APAC business, Comptel Corporation.

“Lintas has played the key role of system integration for this project. Key success factors for this large project have been our long relationship with Indosat, our competent local resources and the robust and advanced technology provided by Comptel and Tango and also I am proud of the team that worked round the clock with the Indosat team to ensure that solution was implemented on-time and supported during the critical period”, said Subagia Handaja, President Director, Lintas Teknologi Indonesia.

Syndesis Netprovision Achieves IP Service Delivery Breakthroughs

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Syndesis, the worldwide leader in Convergent Service Delivery Management solutions, today launched new enhancements to its IP solutions that dramatically simplify and expand the ability of communications service providers to create and deliver high-margin IP services, including Triple Play, IP-VPNs, IPTV, VoIP and many others.

The enhanced IP functionality is available in the award-winning Syndesis® NetProvision™ 5.0 product line and reaffirms Syndesis’ leadership in the ever more critical IP service delivery management space. Syndesis’ unique offerings provide Convergent Service Delivery Management, combining industry best practices for IP service implementation with the power and legendary effectiveness of Syndesis’ industry-leading provisioning and discovery solutions.

The IP service delivery management enhancements are available today and include:

IP Solution Extensibility: An environment for the rapid creation or modification of services, combining the immediate advantages of a robust off-the-shelf IP solution set with flexible extensions to address specific tailoring for the most customized of carrier environments.

IP Configuration Management: Supporting new equipment commissioning and router configuration management, to leverage network investment more quickly and deliver services to market earlier.

MPLS Traffic Engineering: Delivering MPLS-based traffic engineering capabilities to enable service providers to maximize network efficiency and turn more capacity into revenue-generating services.

Beyond MPLS VPNs: Extending beyond MPLS VPNs to support alternative VPN technologies such as IPSec and GRE.

Having pioneered VPN and IP services deployment with companies like Cisco, Bell Canada, Telecom Italia and SBC, Syndesis is the service delivery solution of choice for IP services at leading carriers worldwide.

“There is no question that IP services are fast becoming a primary source of revenue for the communications industry,” said Chris Swan, SVP Sales, Marketing and Alliances for Syndesis. “The question today is which CSPs will effectively clear the hurdles to long-term IP success and, as a result, go on to dominate the IP services markets. Carriers must strive to provide an always-on environment, where customers can access whatever they need, whenever and wherever they need it, by plugging into a network or community of services. Powered by Syndesis, this vision is quickly turning into a reality.”

“Communications service providers’ business over the next five years depends on their cost-effective growth of IP-based services such as VoIP, IPTV, mobile content and IP-VPN,” said Larry Goldman, founder and analyst at OSS Observer. “Automated configuration and service fulfillment is an essential step for CSPs to scale the service deployments to generate significant new revenue.”

Syndesis’ IP capabilities and success will be highlighted in a Light Reading webinar on Wednesday, November 30th at 12pm ET. The webinar, entitled “Managing the Complexity of IPTV deployment,” will address issues of relevance to all types of service providers, be they large nationals or smaller regional providers.

LEAD IP Announces Advanced ISDN Services for Its IP-Telephony Access Solution

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LEAD IP Systems Ltd, an innovative developer and supplier of IP-Telephony access solutions for broadband service providers, has introduced a new set of ISDN services for IP-Telephony operators.

One of the unique ISDN services is the Advice-Of-Charge (AOC) which allows the operator to provide billing information and metering services to hotels, hospitals, call centres etc. allowing customers to preserve capital investment in their internal billing systems.

Supporting AOC for both ETSI and Italtel standards, metering as well as currency formats, LEAD’s PowerGate CPE locally generates metering messages to the customer’s billing system.

Additional ISDN services such as DDI (Direct dialling into PBX extensions), MSN (Multiple numbers), Caller-ID, Trunk hunting and Trunk grouping, provides an IP-Telephony solution which fully replaces existing ISDN lines.

“We found out that ISDN installation tends to be more complex than POTS one. LEAD’s PowerGate CPE includes a built in ISDN wizard which indicates potential wiring, PBX or ISDN configuration errors.” said Oded Tubias, LEAD product manager, “This dramatically reduce the installation period and allows customers an easy and transparent switch from existing Telco lines to the alternative IP-Telephony access service.”

The PowerGate can further synchronise itself to existing Telco ISDN lines, offering multi-source service to the PBX – both traditional and IP. PowerGate comes in with 2 BRI (PowerGateD2+) or 4 BRI (PowerGateD4+) supporting 8 simultaneous calls per CPE with additional cascading of more units using the sync channel.

About LEAD IP Systems
LEAD IP Systems Ltd. an innovative developer and supplier of IP-Telephony access solutions for broadband service providers. LEAD provides an advanced multi-service Telephony, telecommunications systems and technologies for service creation, provisioning, management, SIP SoftSwitch and billing mediation. LEAD IP’s strategy is to offer breakthrough solutions that lavarage service providers services. The Company’s premier product, LEADsystem(TM), empowers service providers to create and provision new and differentiated revenue-generating services, rapidly and with the lowest Total Cost of Ownership and upfront investment. LEAD IP Systems Ltd., headquartered in Misgav, Israel, is a wholly owned subsidiary of LEAD Corporation Inc. located in, part of the BATT Corporation group.

OnFiber Wins Capacity Magazine Wholesale Telecommunications Award for Best U.S. Metro Operator

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OnFiber Communications, Inc., the premier source for purpose-built networks, today announced that it has won the Capacity Magazine Wholesale Telecommunications Award for Best U.S. Metro Operator.

The awards panel judged OnFiber to have the strongest overall metro offering across the U.S. The decision was based on five key criteria — network quality and performance, network reach, speed to market, pricing strategies and infrastructure investments. The panel of judges included industry thought-leaders, including: Camille Mendler, vice president of the Yankee Group; Stephen Young, research director of OVUM; Judy Reed Smith, CEO of Atlantic-ACM; Mark Kemp, CEO of TelCap and publisher of Capacity; and Eira Haywood, editor of Capacity.

The awards ceremony was held on November 21st, at the European Telecommunications Congress in Amsterdam. Accepting the award on behalf of the company was Jeri Wolf, senior vice president of operations and construction for OnFiber.

“It is always an honor to be recognized by influential members of our industry,” said Jeri. “OnFiber is made up of exceptional individuals dedicated to a common goal — customer loyalty. Because our goal is to deliver highly reliable and secure network services on time, every time, every employee does whatever it takes to make sure our customers are happy. That is what makes OnFiber stand out.”

In December, Capacity Magazine will publish an awards supplement to the magazine that features all the winners of the Capacity Magazine Wholesale Telecommunications Awards.

About Capacity Magazine
The only monthly publication that focuses on the latest business techniques and strategies for bringing innovation and efficiency to the wholesale telecommunications industry. We bring together operators, carriers, service providers, metro-fiber providers, system integrators, equipment providers, OSS providers and end users. Capacity magazine is a must-read for all companies striving to maintain competitive advantage and achieve optimal business performance within the telecommunications community. Capacity offers a powerful, focused and unique marketing vehicle to reach the most senior level within the wholesale industry.

About OnFiber Communications, Inc.
OnFiber provides high performance fiber networks for the world’s most respected companies. Fortune 1000 corporations, global telecom giants and the Internet organizations that define the Web, all rely on OnFiber’s infrastructure. The company’s unique process, AdaptiveBuild™, produces individually designed, built and managed metropolitan and wide-area solutions. Because OnFiber’s networks are created for specific application and service needs, enterprises and telecommunications providers benefit from security, reliability and performance that is purpose-built. OnFiber owns networks in major cities throughout the US and offers a full suite of transport technologies including Wavelength, Ethernet and SONET. For more information please visit www.onfiber.com or call 1-866-ONFIBER.

OnFiber, Coil Design, AdaptiveLink and AdaptiveBuild are trademarks or registered trademarks of OnFiber Communications, Inc. in the US. All other products or service names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

SYNDESIS AND PARTNERS WITH ALCATEL TO DEMONSTRATE ITS TRIPLE PLAY BSS/OSS SOLUTION

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Convergent Service Delivery Management Accelerates Service Fulfillment, Creates Dynamic Customer Experience

TELEMANAGEMENT WORLD – Dallas, TX, November 9, 2005 – Syndesis provides a critical component of Alcatel’s (Paris: CGEP.PA and NYSE: ALA) revolutionary Triple Play management solution, which is being demonstrated today in a specially hosted “by-invitation-only” event for attendees of TeleManagement World 2005.

This live demonstration, which showcases the IPTV application of Alcatel’s full Triple Play BSS/OSS solution, will be permanently hosted at Alcatel’s Plano-based Operational Support Systems Integration Laboratory – the world’s largest lab dedicated to Triple Play and IPTV.

Alcatel has integrated Syndesis’ award-winning NetProvision service delivery management solution, including automated provisioning and activation, into Alcatel’s new Triple Play BSS/OSS solution. These solutions enable communications service providers worldwide to immediately transform their networks, successfully launch services in real-time and deliver a truly dynamic customer experience.

“Today’s enlightened customers expect fast and accurate service delivery, uncompromising quality and the ability to manage their own services,” said Chris Swan, SVP Sales, Marketing and Alliances for Syndesis. “Backed by the power of partners like Syndesis, the Alcatel Triple Play BSS/OSS solution makes this a reality.”

The BSS/OSS applications that are the cornerstone of Alcatel’s Triple Play solution will enable service providers to quickly deploy Triple Play services, grow their revenues, monitor service quality and compete more effectively.

TeleManagement World takes place November 7 – 10 at the Adam’s Mark Hotel and Convention Center in Dallas, Texas. Syndesis is exhibiting at booth 326. Additional information is available from the TeleManagement World website at: http://www.tmforum.com/browse.asp?catID=2398.

About Syndesis (www.syndesis.com)
Syndesis is the leader in Convergent Service Delivery Management, empowering the world’s leading Communications Service Providers to deliver new network experiences for their customers. Renowned for customer success, in-depth network expertise and off-the-shelf support for more technologies and equipment than any other OSS software developer, Syndesis is the vendor of choice in deployments at more than 20 major service providers worldwide including Bell Canada, Cingular, MCI, Qwest, SBC, Sprint, Swisscom, Telecom Italia, Telefonica Empresas, TELUS and Verizon Wireless. Billions of dollars in service provider revenues from millions of new data services are processed through Syndesis platforms annually. A privately held company, Syndesis is profitable and is the recipient of numerous awards and widespread industry recognition for innovative technology, highly responsive customer service and groundbreaking solutions.

About Alcatel
Alcatel provides communications solutions to telecommunication carriers, Internet service providers and enterprises for delivery of voice, data and video applications to their customers or employees. Alcatel brings its leading position in fixed and mobile broadband networks; applications and services, to help its partners and customers build a user-centric broadband world. With sales of EURO 12.3 billion and 56,000 employees in 2004, Alcatel operates in more than 130 countries. For more information, visit Alcatel on the Internet: http://www.alcatel.com.

Convergys Expands Relationship with Time Warner Cable

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— Convergys agreement with Time Warner Cable is expanded to include Infinys software and Convergys professional services —

(Cincinnati; November 8, 2005) – – Convergys Corporation (NYSE: CVG), a global leader in providing customer care, human resources, and billing services, announced today an expanded software licensing agreement with Time Warner Cable. Under terms of the agreement, Time Warner Cable is expanding its billing software agreement to include a license for Infinys[tm], Convergys’ modular, convergent business support system software. Additionally, Convergys will provide professional services including implementation, integration, and systems migration work, in support of Time Warner Cable’s existing billing software.

Time Warner Cable is the second largest cable operator in the United States serving 10.9 million customers. Convergys currently supports 20 of Time Warner Cable’s 31 divisions with its fully convergent ICOMS software that provides customer management and billing support for the company’s cable television, broadband Internet access, and cable telephony services. Convergys also provides professional services to Time Warner Cable including data center and disaster recovery consulting.

“Convergys’ future product roadmap for Infinys, and its professional consulting services, will provide Time Warner Cable with the ability to expand our bundled service offerings like cable telephony more efficiently and effectively,” said Frank Boncimino, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer of Time Warner Cable.

“Convergys values our longstanding relationship with Time Warner Cable and will continue to provide the superior functionality and flexibility Time Warner Cable requires as it continues to deliver advanced products and services to the market,” said George Vonderhaar, President of Convergys’ Mobile and Cable Solutions Group.

Convergys will provide Time Warner Cable with the ability to offer additional and more flexible products and services to its customers and speed its time to market for those services. In addition, the advanced capabilities of Infinys will provide Time Warner Cable with the opportunity to broaden its multi-service bundling, product offerings, pricing, and billing to better support the company’s voice, video, and data residential and business customers.

With its Infinys software and its broad portfolio of professional and consulting services, Convergys leads the communications industry in the deployment of real-time convergent billing — including the Quadruple Play [tm] of video, voice, data and wireless — for cable, wireless, satellite, and wireline service providers around the world. ICOMS can be integrated with Infinys to further expand the convergent capabilities of cable broadband operators to include wireless and content settlement services in a low-risk and cost-effective manner.

With more than 20 years of experience in billing and customer care, Convergys combines its broad portfolio of professional and consulting services, deep technical and operational expertise, and award-winning Infinys software to solve its clients’ complex BSS and CRM business problems. Convergys is outthinking and outdoing [tm] on behalf of its clients every day.

About Time Warner Cable
Time Warner Cable owns and manages cable systems serving subscribers in 27 states, which include some of the most technologically advanced, best-clustered cable systems in the country with more than 75 percent of the Company’s customers in systems of 300,000 subscribers or more. Utilizing a fully upgraded advanced cable network and a steadfast commitment to providing consumers with choice, value, and quality customer care, Time Warner Cable is an industry leader in delivering advanced products and services such as video on demand, high definition television, digital video recorders, high-speed data, wireless home networking, and Digital Phone. Time Warner Cable is a subsidiary of Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX).

About Convergys
Convergys Corporation (NYSE: CVG) is a global leader in providing customer care, human resources, and billing services. Convergys combines specialized knowledge and expertise with solid execution to deliver outsourced solutions, consulting services, and software support. Clients in more than 60 countries speaking nearly 30 languages depend on Convergys to manage the increasing complexity and cost of caring for customers and employees. Convergys serves the world’s leading companies in many industries including communications, financial services, technology, and consumer products.

Convergys is a member of the S&P 500 and a Fortune Most Admired Company.

Headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, Convergys has more than 62,000 employees in 68 customer contact centers, three data centers, and other facilities in the United States, Canada, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. For more information visit www.convergys.com

(Outthinking, Outdoing and Infinys are trademarks and Convergys and the Convergys logo are registered trademarks of Convergys Corporation.)

TTI Telecom Demonstrates Its Latest Security and Mediation Solutions at TeleManagement World 2005

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TTI Team Telecom International Ltd. (NASDAQ: TTIL) (‘the Company’), a global supplier of Operations Support Systems (OSS) and Business Support Systems (BSS) to communications service providers, announced its attendance at this year’s TMW (Nov. 8-10) in the Adams Mark Convention Center, Dallas TX. Visitors to booth #226 will learn how TTI Telecom helps its clients strengthen security, accelerate response times and reduce operational costs.

TTI Telecom will be answering questions regarding their latest line of innovative telecom OSS solutions and showing their industry proven fault and performance solutions. The TTI Telecom team will also discuss ways to leverage the power of convergent networks, and present live demonstrations of its modular Security, Provisioning and Mediation products.

TTI Telecom’s team will be on hand to discuss service providers’ challenges in protecting today’s network from internal and external security threats. TTI Telecom will also be highlighting the role of OSS in the prevention of both malicious and accidental damage to the network.

TTI Telecom is also participating in the TeleManagement World Catalyst Showcase MTOSI Triple Play demo. This Multi-Technology Operations Systems Interface catalyst demonstrates a solution for service providers looking to integrate selected OSS products from multiple vendors in a timely, vendor-independent manner. TTI will be showing a live demo of its MTOSI standard based API’s.

TTI Telecom’s live demonstrations of its Security, Activation and Mediation products will illustrate how these products improve activation success rates and service provisioning speeds, allow for proactive service assurance, and enable service providers to effectively manage both the network layer and the service layer in multi-domain networks. The TTI Telecom Team will be focusing on showing the following products:

SecureAccess
Manages, Inspects, Controls and Analyzes all users with direct network element access via a centralized secured AAA (Authentication, Authorization & Audit) solution providing complete control over anyone who deals with your network.

Activate
Automates network activation commands enabling zero touch provisioning with online monitoring and problems resolution. Real multi technology cross-domain support enabling immediate revenue generation and rapid ROI.

Mediation Studio
Simplify your network connectivity utilizing TTI’s flexible bi-directional mediation platform. Enabling libraries lifecycle management supporting a variety of protocols connecting to network elements and OS/EMS systems. Easy to use administration GUI and version management enables quicker and uncomplicated integration.

Intec participates in TeleManagement World IPTV demonstration

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Intec Telecom Systems, a leading OSS/BSS software vendor for fixed, mobile and next-generation services, joins a leading group of vendors in demonstrating the interoperability of their products under the TeleManagement Forum’s (TMF) NGOSS programme.

The “Managing IPTV Services with NGOSS” catalyst, featured in the TeleManagement World Catalyst Showcase in Dallas, 08-10 November, addresses the challenge of real-time provisioning and service billing for advanced video over IP (IPTV) services. It focuses on automated, user-based service enablement for voice, video and data (triple play) over IP with residential access via DSL technologies.

Service providers face major challenges in on-demand activation, rating and charging when deploying advanced IP services. In today’s highly competitive markets pricing is always under pressure, so the costs associated with acquiring and keeping customers must stay as low as possible. The problem is that the more advanced the service – such as IPTV – the more complex it is to manage.

Intec, renowned for supporting carriers’ telephony operations, is already working on a number of IPTV initiatives with carriers around the globe. Intec solutions enable service providers to manage the business of interactive television by transforming user requests into revenue opportunities, such as content, advertising, viewer polling, a la carte programming, and online purchase fees.

Visitors to the TMW Showcase will be able to view a demonstration of a subscriber-based IPTV scenario, which begins with a subscriber logging into a service provider web portal to order IPTV service. The request is verified and authorized, the service is activated, and the service policy package is displayed to the subscriber via the web portal. The subscriber then orders a video on demand, such as a movie, and the request flows through to the activation and billing systems. When the order is placed, the inventory system is queried for resource availability and the appropriate resources are provisioned as needed. The subscriber then views the video item and the web portal displays the real-time billing information.

Intec IPTV, only a portion of which is featured in the demonstration, includes functionality for:

Charging for events in real time;
Activating services;
Managing content partners;
Active mediation and session management;
Interactive self-care.
Intec along with telco software and system providers Broadhop, Cisco Systems, Cognizant Technology Solutions, Digital Fairway, Fujitsu, Spirent Communications and Telcordia are participating in the demonstration of provisioning and activating IPTV services. The IPNM Catalyst project is sponsored by BT and IPDR.org.

Intec Lanches IPTV Solution

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Intec Telecom Systems, a leading OSS/BSS software vendor for fixed, mobile and next-generation networks, has launched its new, pre-integrated IPTV solution, Intec IPTV. Intec IPTV addresses key service provider challenges surrounding customer interaction and the management and charging of IPTV services. These include rating, charging and balance management for different payment models; real-time service activation and provisioning; interactive customer self-care; and content partner management for revenue sharing and settlement. Intec IPTV, which is available immediately, is already undergoing deployment at a major carrier in Asia Pacific, a region that is leading the world in the rollout of IPTV services, according to industry analyst Informa.

Unlike the traditional unidirectional model of broadcast TV, IPTV creates new revenue opportunities for service providers such as customised advertising, on-demand programming, on-line purchasing, viewer polling, and content downloads. This interactive, real-time, personalised capability entails a huge impact on an IPTV carrier’s existing OSS and BSS. The Intec IPTV solution builds on the company’s global expertise in OSS/BSS to create a comprehensive, pre-integrated solution that supports the business model for this new television experience. Critically, Intec IPTV can be installed alongside, and integrate with, existing systems to minimize disruption and time-to-market.

“IPTV is the next stage in the evolution of communications – one provider for all services, from voice to the most sophisticated interactive entertainment offerings,” said Rick Woods, Intec vice president of product management. “Intec solutions have always been at the heart of our customers’ business and operational support systems. Intec IPTV helps create the business model our customers will need to allow them to compete in a new era of communications and to ensure they are realising maximum revenue from their network resources and the new opportunities that IPTV brings.”

Critical to the adoption of IPTV by consumers is the ability of the service provider to differentiate its IPTV offering from traditional television services and providers. Viewer interaction and service customiaation are seen as the keys to driving widespread consumer adoption. Intec IPTV enables both viewer management and package management directly through the TV interface, allowing consumers to interactively change their profiles and services, as well as enabling such capabilities as real-time voting.

On-demand services, more advanced than those currently offered by traditional television service providers, are also critical elements of a successful IPTV offering. The proven, real-time capabilities of Intec IPTV support the management and delivery of all types of on-demand digital services as well as complementary offerings such as payment wallets, gift certificates, and TV voting. The popularity and attractiveness of these latter offerings will stimulate customer spend and demand for additional products and product bundles, thus driving the proliferation of the IPTV service model.

The personalisation and interactivity of the IPTV experience is expected also to trigger a new generation of targeted digital advertising. Through Intec IPTV, viewing statistics can be collected as part of the IPTV customer record, generating a wealth of market intelligence that can be offered to advertisers as an incentive and value-add service. Accurate user data helps increase advertising placement through tailored campaigns and subsequently the success of that advertising by allowing the advertiser to target viewer interests. Combined with new content partnership models supported by Intec IPTV, the solution allows service providers to take a complete, targeted offering to potential advertisers.

Intec IPTV includes functionality for:
Charging for events in real time;
Activating services;
Managing content partners;
Active mediation and session management;
Interactive self-care