Arantech Raises $10M

NICE, France -- Arantech(tm) (www.arantech.com), the world's leading provider of end-to-end mobile customer experience management (CEM) software for operators, today announced a new growth strategy to expand its global presence, having recently secured $10 million in a second round of private equity funding.

With the new funding, Arantech plans to expand its presence in the US and Asian markets and has appointed a Vice President North America, Cathal McGloin. Born in Ireland, Cathal was former CEO and founder of Performix Technologies and built the company into a leading vendor of Employee Performance Management Solutions with revenues in excess of $11m. Living in Boston, Cathal has been working in the US for a number of years and is a member of the North American Advisory Board of Smurfit Business School at University College Dublin, Ireland.

Once the company has established a leadership position in the US market, it plans to expand into Latin America. Arantech also plans to grow its presence in Asia Pacific, having set up an office in Hong Kong in December 2004, to drive new business development and margin growth. The office is headed by Kervin Go, who has worked in the telecommunications industry for the past twelve years in Asia Pacific and Japan, working most recently for Dorado Software and Orchestream.

Arantech's product suite - AranAssure(tm) - is the only solution for wireless operators that addresses the entire customer experience management process to the level of the individual customer, corporate, service or location. AranAssure uses real-time data transaction flows and aggregation and modeling techniques for detailed and ranked analysis that guarantees measurable customer revenue growth and recommends optimal customer experience configurations that speed adoption of data services over any network and device.

Mr. Brendan McDonagh, CEO of Arantech said, "Our recent funding provides for a broader customer reach and an expanded global footprint which will enable us to solidify our position as the world leader in CEM software solutions and standards. Our vision is to be the defacto standard solution for Operators worldwide to use Customer Experience to drive revenue growth and market differentiation."

In a separate release:

NICE, France -- Arantech(tm), the world's leading provider of mobile Customer Experience Management (CEM) software for operators, today announced that Vodafone Ireland, the leading mobile operator in Ireland, recorded a significant Return on Investment (ROI) in its first year using AranAssureTM as their Service Management platform. The company also recorded significant improvements in GPRS and customer performance in a short period as a direct result of using Arantech's software, which enables Vodafone to ensure they continue to provide a superior customer experience for their subscribers.

Using technology from Arantech, Vodafone has introduced a truly customer-centric service management system based on every customer's experience of the network and within 12 month annualized ROI, increased ARPU, and cost savings from greatly increased customer management effectiveness. Root Cause Analysis (RCA) was reduced from hours to minutes and corporate account problem resolution improved significantly in a short timeframe.

AranAssure(tm), the first CEM solution on the market, deployed at Vodafone Ireland in April 2003, uses real time data transactions flows, data aggregation and modeling techniques for detailed and ranked analysis that guarantees a measurable upward shift in customer revenue, user productivity and speedier adoption of data services. This solution has allowed Vodafone to differentiate itself in the market by ensuring the customer remains satisfied and by offering an objective measure of this satisfaction to corporate clients through Service Level Agreements (SLAs). It also enables proactive management of unacceptable customer experiences by providing the information needed to correct problems when they occur. This information, not currently available in other wireless networks, allows Vodafone to increase usage of services and reduce the operational cost of managing these services.

Liam Butler, Director of Networks, Vodafone Ireland commented, "AranAssure(tm) enables real-time monitoring of our customers experiences while using the Vodafone network. This knowledge allows us to quickly identify and solve problems before they affect customers and to offer proactive customer care, all to ensure that the experience associated with Vodafone's total offering remains one of the highest quality. By implementing AranAssure(tm), we expect to even further strengthen our position as Ireland's most popular network."

Brendan McDonagh, Co-Founder and CEO of Arantech said, "We are delighted that Vodafone Ireland is seeing a significant return on investment using AranAssure(tm) which is in turn leading to increased revenues and improved levels of customer satisfaction. In the highly competitive landscape of mobile telephony, we believe the winning formula is to focus on the customer. Vodafone Ireland has by their choice of AranAssure proven that they intend to maintain their leading position in the Irish market place."

Arantech