Integris Telco, Entricom Announce Partnership to Provide Carriers World-class Telephone Number Management.

Business/Technology Editors

ORLANDO, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 21, 2001

Integris Telco, a leading provider of integrated solutions for the telecommunications industry, and Entricom, an innovative company providing telephone number management software, today announced a broad partnership aimed at helping carriers manage their inventory of telephone numbers.

The two companies will demonstrate their solution at the Billing World show that opens here on June 26. (booth #941).

Under terms of the initial agreement, the two companies will support each other's products and services through joint sales and marketing efforts and teaming on projects with telecommunications carriers.

Integris Telco, which provides complete consulting and systems integration services, will help carriers integrate the entriNumber(TM) Application Suite from Entricom, which provides telecommunication carriers with tools for managing the public resource of telephone numbers.

Studies indicate that unless something is done to preserve the 10-digit telephone numbers in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP), they will be exhausted sometime between 2006 and 2016. The driving factor creating this number exhaustion is inefficiency of utilization - industry research indicates that telecommunications carriers currently utilize less than 50 percent of the telephone numbers within their inventory. As a means of extending the life of the 10-digit telephone number and ensuring that number resources remain available to all carriers, the NANP Administrator recently implemented new methods mandated by the FCC for issuing, tracking and reclaiming unused telephone numbers, something the Web-based entriNumber(TM) applications enable carriers to do flexibly and efficiently.

"This announcement represents the initial step in a partnership combining the skills and expertise of a leading integrator having worldwide telecom experience with our unmatched number management software", states Rick Applegate, President and CEO. "This partnership fills a void in the marketplace and provides a very timely solution to a growing number management need."

James Moore, general manager of Integris Telco's North American Operations, said: "The whole area of telephone number management is becoming increasingly critical to telecommunications carriers due to the requirements of pooling, porting and associated regulatory reporting that affects all carriers in North America. With the FCC watching closely, these carriers need to manage their inventory of numbers as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible. Entricom's entriNumber Application Suite offers carriers a wonderful tool for number management, and we're thrilled to be able to offer it to our customers."

As a result of the FCC mandate, telecommunications carriers are required to change the way they request, receive, and manage their telephone numbers. Legacy systems are not designed to manage number resources according to the FCC mandates. If a carrier does not have accurate FCC reports on file, it can be denied additional telephone numbers, impacting both customer service levels and the bottom line.

The entriNumber(TM) Application Suite is Entricom's flexible number management software that allows carriers to select any combination of entriNumber application modules to tailor an entriNumber solution to their specific number management needs. Applications include: entriNumber(TM)-NRUF (Number Resource Utilization Forecast); entriNumber(TM)-Code Request (COCAG/10K); entriNumber(TM)-Block Request (TBPAG/1K Blocks); entriNumber(TM)-Operations (FCC-compliant Number Reservation System); entriNumber(TM)-Portability (Local Number Portability - Service Order Administration); entriNumber(TM)-911 and entriNumber(TM)-MSAG Validation; and entriNumber(TM)-LIDB/CNAM. The entriNumber applications can be a standalone solution or integrated with carriers' existing systems.

About Integris Telco

Integris Telco, a subsidiary of Bull Information Systems, is a leading provider of integrated solutions for the telecommunications industry, offering complete consulting and systems integration services. Integris Telco focuses on operational and business support systems, customer care and billing, order management, configuration and inventory management, and network management solutions. Integris is the leading telecommunications integrator in South America and a major player in the European marketplace. The company's North American headquarters is located in Billerica, Mass. with operations in Plantation, Florida and other sales offices around the country. The Integris North America address is www.us.integris.com/telco.

About Entricom

Entricom is a Seattle-based software company committed to providing telecommunication carriers with world-class technology to efficiently manage the public resource of telephone numbers. Entricom's approach to number management examines all of the ways in which number resources impact a carrier's operations and profitability, including the impacts of the FCC-mandated Number Resource Optimization. The entriNumber(TM) Application Suite is Entricom's flexible number management solution that allows carriers to select only the entriNumber modules needed to efficiently manage their number resources. For more information about Entricom and its products and services, please visit www.entricom.com.

Entricom also extends its number pooling knowledge to telecommunication carriers by providing NumberPooling.org, a single, comprehensive website for researching the impacts of Federal Communications Commission (FCC) mandated Number Pooling and reporting. For information on Number Pooling, please visit www.numberpooling.org.