ALLTEL, Five Paces join forces to provide "Total Solutions" for electronic banking.

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 27, 1996--ALLTEL Information Services, Inc., and Five Paces, Inc., have joined to provide a comprehensive solution for financial services companies around the world that want to offer their customers secure financial services on the Internet. The solution is a flexible, open combination of secure software, technical support, and processing, implementation and consulting services.

As part of the agreement, ALLTEL is providing on-site management of Five Paces data/call center in Atlanta. In addition, ALLTEL has secured the rights to license and customize Five Paces' secure Internet banking application, Virtual Financial Manager(TM) (VFM), for all of ALLTEL's financial customers worldwide.

The agreement between the two companies is significant because it creates the immediate capability for all ALLTEL financial customers and prospective customers to begin offering their services over the Internet in a secure environment. This solution also enables any financial services company to customize its Internet offering and to outsource management of data and call centers, network services and systems integration.

Under the terms of the agreement, ALLTEL is operating and maintaining the data and call centers for Five Paces' and ALLTEL's customers. ALLTEL is also licensed to use VFM at any location worldwide to process any ALLTEL customer. VFM may be implemented by outsourcing to the data center or as an in-house solution.

Five Paces and ALLTEL will integrate VFM to ALLTEL's financial services applications, building upon ALLTEL's service delivery architecture. Also, ALLTEL will utilize the Secure Web Platform software developed by SecureWare, Inc., Atlanta. Founded in 1986, SecureWare provides security technology and products for computer systems and networks, and is the developer of the trusted operating system technology used by the U.S. Department of Defense and other military intelligence agencies.

"As we continue to deploy our strategy of focusing on business-based solutions, our relationship with Five Paces clearly fits the model we have established to provide our clients with appropriate technology as they seek to capitalize on future trends," said Collins Andrews, president of ALLTEL Information Services-Financial Services Division. "Financial services companies of all sizes will be looking for comprehensive, cost-effective solutions to alternative delivery, and this alliance gives these companies more options than any other service currently available."

"ALLTEL is the perfect partner," said Michael C. McChesney, chief executive officer of Five Paces. "The company's knowledge of banking and its wide range of business solutions, when combined with our VFM software, offer financial institutions a viable alternative to the less flexible delivery models in use today."

"Together, we provide the financial software, as well as the computer interface, customer service representatives and the technical support staff for banks who want to conduct secure business over the World Wide Web without allocating extensive financial and employee resources."

McChesney noted that in addition to Five Paces' relationship with ALLTEL's financial services division, ALLTEL's global division also will play a significant role as Five Paces takes its VFM software international.

The key advantages of selecting Virtual Financial Manager over proprietary client-based on-line banking software were explained by James S. "Chip" Mahan, III, chairman and chief executive officer of Cardinal Bancshares, the Lexington, Ky.-based parent of Security First Network Bank, FSB, http://www.sfnb.com, the world's first Internet bank.

"VFM allows banks, large and small, to maintain a direct link with their customers and control the financial products and services they offer," Mahan said. "This system allows banks to update the customer interface at any time to reflect changes in rates and product offerings without the expense and inconvenience of issuing software updates to all of their customers because all information is stored on the bank's own server."

Also, because the Five Paces system is browser-based, customers are not limited to using one specific computer on which banking software has been loaded. Instead, customers can access their bank from any PC with a secure Web browser, as well as future browser devices such as television, screen phones and personal digital assistants (PDAs).

Five Paces, Inc., Atlanta, http://www.fivepaces.com, is a turnkey solution company dedicated to helping financial institutions offer products and services over the Internet in a secure environment. In addition to developing on-line banking and financial management applications, Five Paces also provides marketing support, training, implementation, project management and outsourcing, allowing banks of all sizes to offer their services over the Internet, without allocating extensive financial and employee resources.

Security First is a wholly owned subsidiary of Cardinal Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CARD), a $668 million bank holding company. As previously announced, Cardinal plans to spin off Security First, at which time Security First will acquire Five Paces. This acquisition will occur as part of a series of transactions whereby Security First also will recapitalize itself through a sale of stock to two of America's leading super-regional bank holding companies, Wachovia Corp. and Huntington Bancshares, as well as Area Bancshares Corp.

ALLTEL Information Services, with customers in 42 countries around the world, provides information processing management, outsourcing services and application software to the financial, mortgage, healthcare and telecommunications industries. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of ALLTEL Corporation (NYSE:AT), a telecommunications and information services company.

CONTACT: ALLTEL Information Services, Inc.

Holly Tilley, 501/220-5212

or

Five Paces, Inc.

Kim Humphreys, 404/320-4230

Ken Hoskins, 502/584-8787