Convergys Goes End-to-End With Infinys

CINCINNATI -- Convergys Corporation (NYSE: CVG), the global leader in integrated billing, employee care, and customer care services, announced today the introduction of Infinys[tm]. With this flexible, modular, and convergent solution, Convergys clients gain a customer-focused, service management approach to their operational processes, enabling them to automate and integrate their order fulfillment, customer service management, and billing functions across multiple product and service offerings while reducing the cost of delivering services to their customers.

Convergys will unveil Infinys at the Billing World 2003 show this week in Miami. Infinys' integration of Convergys' Geneva[tm] rating and billing engine and Convergys' Cygent[r] customer order management capability will be demonstrated to attendees at the show. Additional Infinys capabilities are delivered through the integration of optional components for customer care and Web self-care, mediation, settlement, provisioning, inventory management, and service activation functions.

With Convergys' Infinys, communications companies can accelerate the delivery of new services and bundles, supported by robust order management, provisioning, rating, and billing. For example, a wireline service provider can use Infinys to provide a single bill and a single view of the customer account for a convergent service package consisting of local and long distance voice, broadband, and mobile services. With Infinys, Convergys clients - ranging from wireline to wireless and cable service providers - have the capability for unlimited market innovation in their packaging of voice, data, video, and content for their residential and business customers.

"The ability of Infinys to support convergent billing across such diverse communications segments as wireless, cable, and long distance is unique in the industry," said Daniel Longfield, OSS/Telecom Analyst, Frost & Sullivan. "Designed to coexist with legacy billing and customer care environments, Infinys provides a seamless migration path for a communications company to improve the operating efficiency of its business and operational support systems while mitigating risk and lowering the total cost of ownership. And, with its advanced CRM integration capability, Infinys enables Convergys clients to optimize their operational performance while reducing the cost of integration with CRM platforms."

Functionality highlights of Infinys include:

"Convergys' Infinys solution picks up where conventional point solutions break down, enabling service providers to drive profitability while they gain a customer-focused, service management approach to their operational processes at lower cost," said Jeff Gordon, Convergys Senior Vice President, Product Development & Management. "Because Infinys is based on our component-based Next-Generation Framework and uses industry standard technologies, including Web-service-enabled interfaces, service providers can easily integrate Infinys into their current environments. This gives them an immediate and affordable capability to quickly launch new bundled services along with the future-proof investment protection they need to grow in scale and complexity over time."

In support of its Infinys market offering for wireline service providers, Convergys is announcing several strategic solution alliances with industry-leading service fulfillment providers, which will further automate the provisioning process. These alliances with Syndesis, Granite Systems, and Cramer Systems enable Convergys' Infinys clients to optimize resource utilization, accurately assign and design services, and accelerate service activation. Integrated provisioning options for Infinys include:

Convergys also will pursue joint marketing and sales efforts through these solution alliances to accelerate the roll-out of its Infinys market offering for wireline service providers.

In a separate release:

VIENNA, Va. and BATH, U.K. -- Cramer Systems announced a global strategic alliance with Convergys (NYSE: CVG) that will see the billing giant offering Cramer's market-leading Inventory Management products to top tier telecoms service providers as part of Convergys' new Infinys[tm] market offering for wireline service providers.

Convergys' new Infinys solution delivers a fully convergent customer management and billing solution for communications companies., enabling faster delivery of new services and bundles at lower cost. Convergys will market and deploy Cramer4, offering a comprehensive OSS/BSS solution that extends Convergys' functional capabilities into the mission critical area of Inventory Management.

Cramer4 is a comprehensive network Inventory Management solution for top-tier telecoms service providers in the wireline, wireless and data sectors. Unlike conventional "inventory as a database" solutions, Cramer 4 automates and actively manages inventory-centered processes such as service fulfillment and network implementation.

"As part of our world-class Infinys solution, Convergys has selected industry leading service fulfillment providers to help our customers automate the provisioning process," said Jeff Gordon, Convergys senior vice president, product development & management. "In this regard, Cramer Systems - whose Cramer4 inventory management solution is market-leading and proven with many top tier providers -- is a clear choice for the Infinys solution."

"This alliance with Convergys provides an important new channel for Cramer, further broadening our reach as a global player serving Tier 1 operators," said Cramer CEO Jerry Crook. "As Cramer's recent Tier 1 wins show, the world's leading operators are today approaching Inventory Management as a strategic application, the core component of their OSS, and the key to a turnaround in efficiency and costs. That's what Cramer brings to the Convergys relationship, and to telecoms operators." In a separate release:

TORONTO -- Syndesis, the company that brings networks to life globally, today announced that it has been chosen by Convergys (NYSE:CVG - News), the global leader in integrated billing, employee care, and customer care services, to supply its carrier-class provisioning and activation solutions for Convergys' new Infinys(TM) market offering for communications service providers. Infinys from Convergys delivers a fully convergent customer management and billing solution for communications companies, enabling faster delivery of new services and bundles at lower cost.

"Convergys selected Syndesis to provide its market-leading provisioning and auto-discovery components for Infinys after extensively researching the capabilities needed to meet the requirements of the world's leading carriers," said Jeff Gordon, Convergys Senior Vice President, Product Development and Management. "As part of our world-class Infinys solution, we chose partners with a carrier-class set of products, carrier-class operations and proven ability to provide the best customer-focused operational support in the industry. In this regard, Syndesis was an obvious choice for Convergys."

Pre-integrated provisioning options for Infinys are available for Syndesis NetProvision(TM) and Syndesis NetDiscover(TM). NetProvision automates provisioning, activation and maintenance for the new network - across multiple vendors, network technologies, and network layers. NetDiscover automates network discovery and identifies and classifies inconsistencies between providers' BSS/OSS and the actual end-to-end services and networks they manage, facilitating stranded asset and revenue recovery.

"We are pleased to be working with Convergys and feel our complementary expertise will translate into world-class solutions for the world's largest service providers," said David Nyland, Senior Vice President of Global Operations for Syndesis. "Convergys has built an outstanding reputation in numerous industries for its billing, employee care, and customer care services. And Syndesis has proven itself time and again in mission critical environments, over multiple product releases and through many years of experience with Tier 1 customers such as SBC, Telecom Italia, Bell Canada and Swisscom. Pre-integrating the Convergys and Syndesis offerings within the customer-centric Infinys solution enables companies to drive their networks and achieve lower total cost of ownership as well as faster time-to-market." In a separate release:

MANCHESTER, N.H. -- Granite Systems, the leading communications software provider of Service Resource Management (SRM) solutions, announced today a Global Strategic Alliance with Convergys Corporation (NYSE: CVG) to offer components of Granite Systems' Xng(R) System with Convergys' new Infinys(TM) market offering for wireline service providers. Convergys' new Infinys solution delivers a fully convergent customer management and billing solution for communications companies, enabling faster delivery of new services and bundles at lower cost.

With the integration of the Xng System into Infinys, Convergys clients have access to a comprehensive solution that automates network and service provisioning based on accurate inventory, synchronized in real time with the network, regardless of technology. Integrating seamlessly into the Infinys solution through its open, J2EE-based architecture and BDL API, the Xng System provides a multi-layer, multi-technology data repository for all of the physical, logical and bandwidth resources required to manage a carrier's network, along with a rich set of design and assign features for configuring services. The complete network resource and service configuration management solution allows carriers to reduce operating costs and efficiently provision new services, ultimately driving additional revenue opportunities.

"As part of our world-class Infinys solution, Convergys has selected industry leading service fulfillment providers to help our clients automate the provisioning process," said Jeff Gordon, Convergys senior vice president, product development & management. "In this regard, Granite Systems -- with its open architecture and the automation and service provisioning capabilities inherent in the Xng System -- was a clear choice for the Infinys solution."

"Partnering with Convergys provides an excellent vehicle for Granite Systems to expand its automation and service provisioning capabilities, as well as generate additional revenue streams through the Convergys channel," said John E. P. Borden, president and CEO of Granite Systems. "Having been identified by Convergys as a leading provider in the space and a solution that can easily integrate into their Infinys solution validates our open-interface technology strategy and demonstrates our extreme capabilities of supporting a high level of pre-integration."

Convergys Corp.

Cramer Systems Ltd.

Syndesis Ltd.

Granite Systems Inc.