XACCT Teams With Kenan to Provide Advanced Solution for Usage-Based Billing of IP Applications
October 27, 1998
SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE) via
NewsEdge Corporation --
Solution Integrates Comprehensive IP
Mediation
with IP Billing and Customer Care
XACCT Technologies Inc., which makes the
XACCTusage(TM) metering and mediation
solution for IP networks, announced today
that it has entered into a joint sales and
marketing agreement with Kenan Systems
Corp., the leader in billing and customer care
for IP services. Under the terms of the
agreement, XACCT and Kenan will integrate
XACCTusage with Kenan's Arbor(R)/Internet
comprehensive billing and customer care
solution.
A growing number of Network Service
Providers (NSPs) now realize that the basic
flat-rate model does not work for emerging,
value-added services such as IP telephony,
IP fax and streaming audio/video. Together,
XACCTusage and Arbor/Internet will enable
NSPs to generate accurate, usage-based
bills for these services based on detailed
information about applications, Quality of
Service (QoS), time of day and other
parameters.
"This agreement with Kenan gives XACCT a
great partner," said Eran Wagner, executive
vice president of strategic alliances at
XACCT. "It associates us with a very
forward-looking company that was one of
the first to put a stake in the ground in the
usage-based IP billing market. And it will
provide great opportunities for both
companies because our products are so
complementary."
Complementary Solutions
Arbor/Internet provides complete billing and
customer care solutions for next-generation
IP communications companies, allowing them
to effectively and profitably bring new
IP-based products to market. Service
providers can bill for complete product
packages that combine rate plans, recurring
and non-recurring costs, special discounts,
credits and promotions, and more.
XACCTusage provides the mediation interface
with the IP network, collecting and
aggregating accurate, detailed usage data
from multiple network elements and
applications to create XACCT Detail Records
(XDR(TM)), the IP equivalent of the Call
Detail Records (CDRs) generated by
telephone switches. The XDRs are used by
Kenan's Arbor/Internet to generate
transaction-based bills.
"Kenan and XACCT are at the forefront of a
new era of usage-based, event-based
Internet billing," said Tom Gramaglia, director
of Kenan Systems' Internet Business Unit.
"Kenan and XACCT are two innovative
companies with technologies that can
accelerate the growth of billable Internet
services. Kenan's IP billing solution already
enables leading IP service providers to offer
state-of-the-art pricing plans. Our
relationship with XACCT gives service
providers even more flexibility and control."
Multi-Source, Multi-Layer Architecture
XACCTusage is a flexible, scalable solution
that lets service providers precisely define
the IP session information they wish to
capture.
XACCT's multi-source, multi-layered
approach to data collection enables the
software to collect network usage data from
multiple network elements, including routers,
switches, firewalls and a variety of
application servers, spanning all layers of the
network from the physical layer to the
application layer. Real time, policy-based
filtering, aggregation and enhancement of
the transaction data produces accurate,
detailed records for customer bills.
Additionally, this information enables service
providers to accurately assess the costs
associated with the services they offer,
based on actual network resource
consumption. The architecture makes
XACCTusage an ideal solution for
multi-vendor, heterogeneous networks.
Automated Service Provisioning
NSPs can also automate end-to-end service
provisioning by using XACCTusage to mediate
between customer management systems and
the various network elements for service
activation, authentication and authorization.
This allows service providers to minimize their
service activation lead-times and start
capturing revenue immediately.
About Kenan
Kenan Systems Corp. is an award-winning
provider of software products and services
that answer the specific billing, customer
care, order management and
decision-support requirements of leading
single- and multi-service carriers in the IP
communications industry worldwide. Kenan
solutions allow service providers to grow and
enhance relationships with their customers,
promoting higher customer satisfaction and
retention.
With headquarters in Cambridge, Mass. and
offices throughout North America, Europe
and Asia-Pacific, Kenan Systems worldwide
customers include @Home Network, AT&T,
BellSouth, British Telecom, Casema, France
Telecom, GTE, Optus Communications,
PageNet, Time Telekom, Verio, Videotron and
WorldCom. Annualized revenues are more
than U.S. $100 million.
Additional information on Kenan Systems'
products and services may be obtained by
visiting or via e-mail at info@kenan.com.
About XACCT Technologies
XACCT Technologies Inc., was founded in
May 1997 and is headquartered in Santa
Clara. The company has established itself as
the market leader in the emerging IP
mediation market.
XACCT develops a new class of intelligent
software solutions that enable Service
Providers and enterprises to accurately
account and bill for metered services and
applications. XACCT markets its software
directly and through network systems
integrators to Service Providers and Fortune
1000 companies.
In addition, the company has entered into
partnerships with leaders in the network
infrastructure and customer care and billing
markets, including Cisco Systems Inc.;
Amdocs; Solect Technology Group; and
Kenan Systems Corp. A privately held
corporation, XACCT is funded by venture
capital investors. More information is
available at www.xacct.com.
Note to Editors: XACCTusage and XDR are
trademarks of XACCT Technologies Inc.
Arbor/Internet is a registered trademark of
Kenan Systems Corp.
The first company mentioned in the 13th
paragraph should read @Home network, with
an "at" symbol before the word "Home."
CONTACT: XACCT Technologies Inc. | Anil
Uberoi, 408/654-9900 x111 | anil@xacct.com
| or | Gallagher PR | Kim Kapustka,
510/749-6800 x202 | kim@gpr.com |
