Alogent Is First to Drive IBM 3890/XP Check Sorters Natively with Server Technology.

Business Editors

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 6, 2002

Product positions banks to supplement and eventually replace mainframe

systems while reducing cost and improving efficiency

Alogent Corp., a provider of payment transaction processing solutions for global financial institutions, remittance processors, and payment processors, announced that Sierra Clearing, its server-based accelerated item processing product, can now run IBM's 3890/XP (3890) high-volume document transports.

IBM 3890 devices are prevalent in the United States, and are in use for high volume check processing at 80 percent of the top 100 U.S. banks, and have traditionally been controlled by IBM's mainframe-based Check Processing Control System (CPCS).

"IBM's 3890 has been a mission-critical element of the banking industry for many years and will continue to play an important role into the 21st century," said David Medeiros, director of global payments at TowerGroup. "Coupling this hardware workhorse with new open systems technology opens up a whole new dimension for item processing."

With this latest capability of Sierra Clearing, 3890 users can avail themselves of these benefits:

-- Reduce cost, including recurring fees associated with mainframe use, by
offloading tasks related to sorter performance from mainframes to cost
effective server platforms;

-- Reduce the cost and lead-time of change implementation by leveraging Sierra
Clearing's built-in business rules engine through a simple Windows point and
click interface, instead of writing custom legacy code;

-- Reduce cost and enhance flexibility by using Sierra Clearing to capture,
validate, and manage information from 3890s, as well as high volume sorters
made by Unisys Corporation and NCR, through a common interface; and

-- Improve efficiency, quality and deadline compliance by leveraging Sierra
Clearing's unique ability to reduce processing errors, and accelerate
timelines.

"This is a significant step for the item processing industry," said Steve Ledford, president, Global Concepts, a leading payment systems consulting firm. "It means that users of IBM 3890 sorters can now avail themselves of the versatility, economy, acceleration, and error reduction provided by Sierra Clearing's server-based technology."

An independent validation test performed by Global Concepts confirmed Sierra Clearing's ability to run image-enabled 3890s at rated speeds. The test included initial capture pass and image lift, amount entry, item correction, balancing, power encode and transit repass for multiple blocks. The test also affirmed Sierra Clearing's versatility and ability to run multiple types of transports using a common interface. A copy of the validation test report is available at www.alogent.com.

William Randlett, Alogent's software architecture development manager, said, "We were able to integrate the 3890 as effectively because we were building on flexible core architecture designed for high-volume processing and scalability. Senior software architect Jeff Chinander led a focused effort that was the fusion of years of check processing experience, advanced development tools, and an adaptable application framework."

This announcement is a key step in Alogent's strategy to allow top tier banks to supplement and eventually replace their check processing mainframes. It follows the September 2001 release of Sierra Clearing's version 3.3 which featured full integration with CPCS. Sierra Clearing offers the selective implementation of a wide range of workflows, enabling a bank to evolve from mainframes to open systems at their own pace.

"Our vision is to change the shape of paper payments processing by providing solutions that result in dramatic cost reductions and quality improvements for every customer," said Brian Geisel, founder and CEO of Alogent Corporation. "With this capability we are well on our way to revolutionizing an industry typified by inflexibility, by bringing to bear the multifaceted capabilities of open systems. We have also been careful to offer our customers a migration path to the server-based efficiencies of a full Sierra solution, while leveraging their investment in existing hardware and software assets."

About Alogent

Alogent develops and delivers open-architecture item processing software to banks, billers and payment processors who want to make payment processing more efficient and more profitable. Alogent specializes in high speed, high-volume transaction processing on server based platforms that process both paper and electronic payments. Alogent's solutions for front office deposit automation and accelerated central item processing are scalable and based on the Microsoft Windows, SQL Server, DNA and XML architecture.

For additional information, please visit the company's Web site at www.alogent.com, or contact Alogent at these locations: US Headquarters: 4005 Windward Plaza, Second Floor, Alpharetta, GA 30005; Ph: 770.752.6400; Fax: [phone] or UK/EMEA Sales & Support: Ninth Floor, St. Alphage House, 2 Fore St, London EC2Y 5DA England. Ph: [phone]; Fax: [phone].