DSET Buys Konark Inc., Broadens Solutions for CLECs.

BRIDGEWATER, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 1, 1999--

DSET Corporation has purchased Konark Inc. and related technologies for approximately $3.5 million. Konark is a privately held software company based in San Ramon, California.

The purchase will give DSET full ownership of two electronic-bonding gateways that the company had been reselling in addition to a new product called Electronic Access Ordering. For competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs), the new product speeds portions of the process of ordering high-speed access circuits from an incumbent local exchange carrier, such as Southwestern Bell, which in turn enables a CLEC to turn on new service for customers more rapidly.

Completed on September 30, the transaction should be accretive in the fourth quarter of 1999 and is expected to be accretive in successive years.

Working closely with the Konark team for the past nine months, DSET had been reselling Konark's electronic bonding gateways under the names ezLongDistance and ezTroubleAdministration. These gateways enable DSET to provide solutions for what is known as the "post-order" market segment.

ezLongDistance facilitates passing information electronically between carriers that enables the carriers to change a customer's long-distance provider in a matter of days, rather than weeks. ezTroubleAdministration facilitates passing trouble ticket information from a CLEC to the incumbent local exchange carrier to alert them that one of the CLEC's customers has a problem with their phone service. When the problem is resolved, the incumbent will send a message back through the gateway to the CLEC so customers can be notified and, hopefully, remain satisfied.

This is DSET's second acquisition in nine months. In January 1999, DSET acquired certain software assets of Network Programs, LLC, repackaged the acquired assets, and began marketing them as the ezSubscribe suite of "pre-order" solutions, which now includes five different products. These complemented the suite of six "ordering" gateways known as ezConnect that had been built by DSET. With the two "post-order" gateways from the Konark purchase, soon to be marketed under the ezCare brand, DSET now has an overall suite of solutions that includes 13 products. Eleven of these products are shipping now.

The company also indicated that it would be shipping over 10 trading partner interfaces before the end of the year.

"We're working hard to provide CLECs with solutions that help them get their business up and running as quickly as possible so they can achieve their market-share goals," said Bill McHale, president and chief executive officer of DSET. "Our acquisition of Konark is another positive step in that direction. From providing sales quotes to ordering local loops and solving service problems, DSET offers a broad range of solutions that can provide immediate value to a CLEC and its customers."

About DSET:

DSET Corporation is a leading provider of software solutions created specifically for the global telecommunications marketplace. The DSET suite of electronic-bonding gateways is designed to interconnect the operations support systems (OSSs) of competing service providers that must trade information and share network capabilities to provision a growing range of services for customers. DSET's local number portability solutions also play a key role in enabling business and residential customers to change service providers without changing their local phone numbers. Network equipment suppliers worldwide use DSET application development tools to build software applications that manage network components and support new services. DSET is headquartered in Bridgewater, New Jersey, and the company's Web site can be viewed at www.dset.com.

Statements regarding financial matters contained in this press release, other than historical facts, are forward-looking. Since all statements about DSET's plans, estimates, and expectations are based on current projections that involve risks and uncertainties, and are subject to change at any time, the company's actual results may differ materially from expected results. Investors should consider these risks and uncertainties, which are discussed in documents filed by DSET with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These documents identify important factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those contained in the projections or forward-looking statements. DSET expressly disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements.

DSET and the DSET logo are registered trademarks of DSET Corporation.