FORE Systems, ACE*COMM Enter Agreement to Develop ForeView Accountant
PITTSBURGH -- FORE Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: FORE), a global supplier of networking solutions based on an Intelligent Infrastructure(TM), today announced it has formed an alliance with ACE*COMM Corporation (Nasdaq: ACEC), a leading global supplier of billing and network operations support products, to develop the ForeView(R) Accountant, a new network module that will generate billing information from FORE Systems' line of ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) switches. Under the terms of the agreement, ACE*COMM will provide cutting edge billing data collection, warehousing and analysis tools that will be incorporated into FORE's ForeView suite of network management applications to generate, track, format, analyze, and distribute billing information for enterprise and service provider networks.
For enterprise network applications, the module will enable the allocation of usage costs to network users. For service provider networks, ForeView Accountant will become a component that will enable the provider to offer flexible billing options, reduce network costs for the users, normalize network usage and feed the carrier's existing billing and customer care systems with standard AMA (Automatic Message Accounting) records.
The new feature significantly enhances the functionality of FORE's ForeView network management solution. Last year, FORE announced an alliance with Stanford Telecom that resulted in modeling fault and performance management applications that supplement the network management capabilities already available to FORE users from ForeView, providing a rich tool set for managing ATM networks.
"This alliance with ACE*COMM allows us to expand on our already advanced network management capabilities that we offer customers," said Ron McKenzie, vice president of strategic marketing at FORE Systems. "ACE*COMM has a successful track record of working with both large enterprise and public network clients. ForeView Accountant will complement our existing and planned network management offerings by providing advanced billing that scales to very large networks and provides standard outputs like BellCore AMA records required by service providers."
"We're pleased to partner with FORE Systems, an industry-leading provider of ATM solutions," said George Jimenez, president of ACE*COMM. "With the increased competitiveness among today's service providers, each is striving to offer the best quality of service at an affordable price. The ForeView Accountant will give service providers a competitive edge by cost-effectively and easily collecting, storing, processing, analyzing, and delivering billing information for their customers."
The ForeView Accountant module is expected to be available in the third quarter of 1998.
About ACE*COMM
ACE*COMM (Nasdaq: ACEC), of Gaithersburg, Maryland, provides operations support systems (OSS) products for networks deployed by telecommunications service providers, such as post, telephone and telegraph companies (PTTs), wireless carriers, competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs), incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs), national and international long distance carriers, and other public and private carriers worldwide. The company also markets service and network provisioning systems to telcos and large enterprises operating data and voice networks. ACE*COMM's products perform such functions as billing data collection, billing, customer care, network performance management, alarm processing, and network traffic management for some of the largest carriers and enterprises in over 40 countries. The company incorporates the latest in scaleable, multi-tier systems, data warehousing and real-time data access technology, in its products for carriers and enterprises worldwide. ACE*COMM is a registered ISO 9001 quality standard company. For more information, look for ACE*COMM on the Internet at acecomm.com.
About FORE Systems
FORE Systems is a leading global supplier of networking solutions based on an Intelligent Infrastructure designed to handle the networked applications of today and tomorrow.
FORE's Networks of Steel(TM) deliver the increased capacity, reduced complexity and unparalleled flexibility and scalability necessary to build networks that last. Thousands of enterprise and service provider customers worldwide have put FORE Systems' solutions at the heart of their networks.
For more information on FORE's Networks of Steel, call 888-404-0444 or visit the FORE Systems web site at www.fore.com.
This press release contains forward-looking statements with respect to products, partners, customers and other matters. Please refer to the Annual Report on Form 10-K filed by FORE Systems with the Securities and Exchange Commission in June, 1997 for a discussion of risks that could cause actual results to differ materially from such statements.
All FORE Systems' editorial information and graphics can be found on NEWSdesk, the high-tech Internet Network at newsdesk.com.
FORE Systems and ForeView are registered trademarks of FORE Systems, Inc. Intelligent Infrastructure and Networks of Steel are trademarks of FORE Systems, Inc. All other brand or product names are trademarks of their respective holders.
/CONTACT: Rich Borden, Public Relations Manager of FORE Systems,
724-742-7716, or fax, 724-742-7742, or e-mail, rborden@fore.com, or Lori
Pemberton, Investor Relations of ACE*COMM, 301-721-3123, or fax, 301-721-3001, or e-mail, lpembert@acecomm.com/
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