IBSN is First to Offer FIX Protocol 4.4; New Protocol Offers Clients Enhanced Capabilities for Fixed Income Securities and Derivatives.

Business Editors

LAKEWOOD, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 27, 2003

IBSN, Inc. today announced it is the first company to support the draft version of the Financial Information eXchange (FIX) Protocol version 4.4.

IBSN now supports all of the draft protocols' message types, including improvements for handling fixed income securities and derivatives, as well as overall enhancements to allocation and trade-capture messaging, and multi-leg instrumentation support.

IBSN was able to implement the FIX 4.4 draft libraries in less than one week. The company's technology also supports translations between the new 4.4 protocol and older versions of FIX. These capabilities will benefit IBSN's institutional and retail-focused client base, especially those who trade in fixed income.

IBSN integrated the new version of FIX, which was issued by the FIX Protocol, Ltd. (FPL) on February 18, 2003, into all of its products and services, including Dominet, which offers a single connection to market makers and exchanges, and uses FIX as its native protocol language. The company can translate between any of the other FIX versions, as well as CMS, CTCI or any other proprietary formats.

"We'll be able to make the changes to our libraries very quickly to implement the modifications from the next draft and then the final specification," said PC Drew, IBSN's Manager of Client Services. "If clients want to try the new version ahead of the release of the final spec, we can support them."

FIX is a public-domain specification that defines, manages, and promotes an open protocol for real-time, electronic communication between industry participants, while complementing industry standards. The final version of FIX 4.4 will be released on April 30, 2003. IBSN and NASD are expected to jointly provide some fields they developed to support the Alternative Display Facility (ADF) FIX Translation System.

"The ability to adopt new message formats and functionality quickly and easily is a hallmark of IBSN's advanced technology and service offerings," said Colin Clark, CEO of IBSN. "It is one of the reasons why IBSN is consistently selected for mission-critical, revenue-centric operations by top organizations across the financial services industry."

Mr. Clark added, "IBSN's communications and integration solutions enable the company to bring clients to market, regardless of complexity, in a fraction of the time and overhead that it would take any other vendor in the industry."

About IBSN, Inc.

IBSN provides a full suite of integration and order-routing solutions designed to help financial services companies substantially decrease the time and costs associated with enabling straight through processing, internal integration, counter-party connectivity and order routing. IBSN's products enable companies to connect electronically with trading partners, facilitate electronic trading, integrate back, middle, and front office systems, and achieve straight through processing objectives. IBSN's newest offering, Dominet, is a full-service order routing network that provides connectivity and handles FIX connection and certification, order routing, and message transformation, enabling participants to simplify electronic trading, speed time to market, and manage connectivity costs. More information on IBSN can be found at www.ibsncentral.com.