The ETrade trading system is built upon BEA Systems Tuxedo, the leading mission-critical distributed application infrastucture in the world. This technology will allow ETrade to quickly adapt to growth by balancing their load to other processors in the network. Fidelity uses the same technology in many of their trading systems and reported last year that they could handle 10's of 1000's of concurrent users. Clearly this was forward thinking on Etrades part and a strategic advantage.
Go Etrade.
E*TRADE Accelerates Launch of Third Technology and
Customer Service Center Near Atlanta
Center Designed to Take E*TRADE and Its Customers Into Next Century With Increased Customer
Service and Support Capacity and More Than Three-Fold Increase in Server Processing Power
PALO ALTO, Calif., Jan. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- E*TRADE® Group Inc. (Nasdaq: EGRP - news) today announced that it has
accelerated its schedule for opening a third technology and customer service center, near Atlanta, Georgia, to be positioned for
increased demand for its online investment services. Scheduled to begin operation in late February, the new Alpharetta Center
is expected to provide another fault tolerant, fully redundant technology facility similar to E*TRADE's California-based Rancho
Cordovo and Palo Alto centers.
E*TRADE is accelerating the expansion of its customer service operations as another critical step in building its infrastructure
to support future growth.
''We believe that technology and service leadership will be the most important competitive differentiators as the online financial
services industry moves into the next millennium. The opening of the Alpharetta Center is a major milestone in our drive to
position E*TRADE as a blue chip electronic financial services company for the 21st Century,'' said Christos M. Cotsakos, CEO
and Chairman-Elect of E*TRADE Group. ''By making significant increases in both technology capacity and customer service
and support, we want to assure our customers that E*TRADE will keep pace with their demand for fast and reliable access to
the financial markets, information and tools they need to manage their investments.''
E*TRADE reported the addition of 132,000 new active accounts in the fourth quarter of calendar 1998, bringing total active
customer accounts to 676,000, more than double the number a year earlier. Transaction volume reached 2.8 million during the
three-month period, up 75 percent from the same period a year earlier.
The Alpharetta Center is a companion site to E*TRADE's existing Rancho Cordova and Palo Alto centers. The new center is
designed to support E*TRADE's anticipated growth by providing another state-of-the-art customer service and support facility,
as well as more than a three-fold increase in E*TRADE's server processing power and capacity.
''As indicated by the opening of the Alpharetta Center, E*TRADE is making a major commitment to expand customer service
to meet the needs of the electronic financial services marketplace,'' said Kathy Levinson, President and Chief Operating Officer
of E*TRADE Group. ''We know that reliable customer support is essential to building and maintaining a leadership position in
our industry.''
''The Alpharetta Center builds on E*TRADE's commitment to technology leadership. All three of our technology centers
incorporate E*TRADE's new patent-pending Stateless Architecture(SM). This is an advanced multi-tiered client-server
architecture designed to provide our customers with a technology infrastructure that excels in flexibility, scalability, security
and reliability,'' said Debra Chrapaty, President and Chief Operating Officer of E*TRADE Technologies, the company's
technology division.
About E*TRADE
A leading branded provider of online investing services, E*TRADE has established a popular destination Web site for
self-directed investors. The Company offers independent investors the convenience and control of automated stock, options
and mutual funds order placement at low commission rates.
In addition, E*TRADE has a suite of value-added products and services that can be personalized, including portfolio tracking,
real-time stock quotes, Smart Alerts, market commentary and analysis, news, investor community areas and other information
services. E*TRADE was ranked the number one overall online brokerage service in two consecutive quarterly reviews
conducted by Gomez Advisors, a leading independent authority devoted to online financial services (Q3/Q4 1998).
In October 1998, the E*TRADE Web site also was named the number one online investing site in an international survey of the
industry's top 20 Internet brokerage firms by Lafferty Information and Research Group, a global provider of high-value and
business information research.
Investors can access E*TRADE at www.etrade.com on the Internet and through many other electronic channels and online
services, including AOL (Keyword: E*TRADE). E*TRADE Securities Inc. (Member NASD/SIPC), and its parent company,
E*TRADE Group Inc., are headquartered in Palo Alto, Calif.
Important Notice
E*TRADE is a registered trademark of the Company. All other Trademarks are properties of their respective owners. The
statements contained in this news release that are forward-looking are based on current expectations that are subject to a
number of uncertainties and risks, and actual results may differ materially. The uncertainties and risks include, but are not
limited to, changes in market activity, market acceptance of the new E*TRADE destination web site, anticipated increases in
the rate of new customer acquisition, the conversion of new visitors to the site to customers, seasonality, the development of
new products and services, the enhancement of existing products and services, competitive pressures (including price
competition), system failures, economic and political conditions, changes in consumer behavior and the introduction of
competing products having technological and/or other advantages. Further information about these risks and uncertainties can
be found in the information included in the annual report filed by the Company with the SEC on Form 10-K (including
information under the caption ''Risk Factors'') and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q.
SOURCE: E*TRADE Group Inc. |
