CheckFree Resolves Intermittent Systems Disruption;
Customers Restored to Uninterrupted System Access as of Friday, April 30
ATLANTA, May 3 /PRNewswire/ -- CheckFree (Nasdaq: CKFR - news) reported today that it has identified and corrected the root cause of the system error that led some users of its electronic billing and payment service to experience intermittent problems accessing and using the system. The error affected consumers who both attempted to access electronic billing and payment services through Intuit's Quicken® or Microsoft Money personal financial management (PFM) software, and who bank at financial institutions that process transactions on the Company's newest processing system, Genesis. The problem could have affected up to about 20 percent of CheckFree's 2.8 million subscribers.
According to Chief Operating Officer Pete Sinisgalli, some consumers began experiencing intermittent service disruptions Monday, April 26. The Company resolved the problem on Friday, April 30, and spent the following three days closely monitoring system performance before publicly announcing the resolution.
''One of CheckFree's missions is to provide 'better than dial-tone' quality service, and we deeply regret having inconvenienced the financial institutions who are our customers, and the consumers who trust us, through those financial institutions, to manage their electronic payments,'' Sinisgalli said.
Commenting on the nature of the system disruption, Sinisgalli said, ''We traced the problem to application code in our middleware, which affected entry to the Genesis system. Such problems are extremely difficult to detect in simulated stress testing and are not unusual as growth occurs. What was unusual is the time it took for us to identify the problem, and then to quickly test and resolve it. We are preparing a thorough internal review of the system interruption and restoration events that occurred last week, so that we can continually improve the processes we have in place to ensure system quality and consumer confidence in our services.
''CheckFree's commitment to quality and reliability is the cornerstone of everything we do, and we deeply regret the inconvenience this service interruption has caused some of our customers. Everyone at CheckFree pledges to continue to strive to deliver services that exceed our customers' expectations for quality and reliability,'' Sinisgalli concluded.
About CheckFree
Founded in 1981, CheckFree (www.checkfree.com ), the operating subsidiary of CheckFree Holdings Corp., is the leading provider of electronic commerce services, software and related products for more than 2.8 million consumers, 1,000 businesses and 850 financial institutions. CheckFree designs, develops and markets services that enable its customers to make electronic payments and collections, automate paper-based recurring financial transactions and conduct secure transactions on the Internet.
SOURCE: CheckFree Corporation
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
