HP Provides Multimillion-dollar Tariffing Solution for Leading UK Digital Mobile-phone Network, Mercury One 2 One.

Hewlett-Packard Company today announced it is delivering a multimillion-dollar tariffing solution for Mercury One 2 One in the United Kingdom.

The new system, which is based on open, client/server technology, will provide the digital mobile-communications-network operator with increased customer capacity and tariffing flexibility. This fast-track project was initiated in July 1995 and is scheduled to be completed within just seven months.

One 2 One, owned equally by U S West and Cable & Wireless, uses high-capacity DCS 1800 digital technology to provide mobile-communications services to more than 300,000 customers. One 2 One says it offers the most competitive mobile phone call rates in the UK, including free local calls and free voice mail.

As prime contractor, HP's Professional Services Organization (PSO) is coordinating the delivery of $3.3 million worth of HP services, hardware and software to One 2 One and is managing software-application provider CBIS, a subsidiary of Cincinnati Bell, Inc. HP is acting as project manager, designing the solution architecture and network, defining the platform configuration and providing client/server consulting.

In the highly competitive, deregulated UK communications market, One 2 One must have flexible and powerful tariffing systems to enable it to compete effectively. The new HP system addresses this need and is scaleable to cope with future growth.

"Looking at our rate of growth, we recognized that we needed a new system to increase capacity and flexibility and to provide a sound, scaleable platform for the future. We needed a reliable partner to deliver a solution quickly and without disrupting our business," said Dick Foy, One 2 One director of finance. "HP professionals demonstrated that they understood our business problem and had the technical skills to design and implement an effective solution.

"The new system will enable us to make use of our existing hardware and will leave us with the option of replacing other business-critical systems, such as billing and customer care, in the future."

At the heart of the new tariffing system is an HP 9000 Model T500 corporate business server, based on HP's industry-leading HP-UX(1) operating system, running CBIS Advantage application modules and the Oracle RDBMS. The HP server captures call-data records (CDRs) from Ericsson mobile switching centers (MSCs) over X.25 via a front-end HP 9000 Model K400 server.

The new tariffing system analyzes the CDRs and calculates appropriate tariffs and charges. The data is batched and then transferred to the existing billing system, which runs on an Amdahl mainframe. Here, the bills are printed and mailed to customers.

The HP server also communicates directly with One 2 One's customer-care system, which runs on an existing IBM AS/400 computer. At the beginning of the project, HP helped One 2 One evaluate tariffing software applications. The rating module of CBIS Advantage was selected to interface Advantage with the existing customer administration and finance systems of One 2 One.

Mercury One 2 One is a joint venture partnership equally owned by Cable & Wireless and U S West, Inc. Mercury Personal Communications Limited, a partner in One 2 One, is licensed as a public telecommunications operator providing switched voice and data communications services to users of mobile telephones.

HP Professional Services Organization provides open, client/server technical consulting, education and systems-integration services to help customers around the world meet their challenges in today's fast-changing business environment. HP's professional services consultants apply their own experience, leverage HP's knowledge base in client/server computing and draw on partner resources to deliver end-to-end enterprise-technology solutions that are open and flexible.

HP is the world's leading supplier of open enterprise computing and is the second-largest computer supplier in the United States, with computer revenue of $25.3 billion in its 1995 fiscal year.

Hewlett-Packard Company is a leading global manufacturer of computing, communications and measurement products and services recognized for excellence in quality and support. HP has 102,300 employees and had revenue of $31.5 billion in its 1995 fiscal year.

Information about HP and its products can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.hp.com. -0-

NOTE TO EDITORS:

(1) HP-UX 9.X and 10.0 for HP 9000 Series 700 and 800 computers are X/Open(tm) Company UNIX 93 branded products. X/Open is a trademark of X/Open Company Limited in the UK and other countries.

UNIX is a registered trademark in the United States and other countries, licensed exclusively through X/Open Company Limited.

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