Microsoft and Fiserv Demonstrate Superior Scalability With Fiserv Internet Banking Solution.

Business Editors

REDMOND, Wash. & LINCOLN, Neb.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 28, 2000

Microsoft Corp. and Fiserv, Inc. subsidiary Information Technology, Inc. (ITI) today announced the results of their scalability tests, demonstrating that Fiserv PremierEcom Internet banking software, running on a Microsoft(R) Windows(R) platform, is capable of processing more than 225,000 transactions per hour. This and other results confirmed that PremierEcom can meet and exceed the processing demands of the largest Internet-based banks.

The tests, performed jointly by Microsoft and Fiserv at Microsoft's laboratories in Bellevue, Washington, proved that by taking advantage of the Microsoft Windows NT(R) 4.0 operating system, SQL Server(TM) 7.0, Microsoft Transaction Server and Internet Information Server, PremierEcom can process more than 5 million Internet banking transactions in 24 hours, while maintaining an average response time under 3.5 seconds. The software was able to maintain more than 8,100 concurrent Internet banking sessions, and linear scalability tests indicated that PremierEcom could support a base of 6 million customers - nearly five times the number of customers on the largest Internet banking base today.

"According to our lab personnel, PremierEcom was one of the most efficient, scalable applications we have seen utilizing the Microsoft Windows platform," said Bill Hartnett, Global Director of Financial Services at Microsoft. "Fiserv has clearly demonstrated that Microsoft technologies are robust, scalable and cost-effective for the financial industry and the Internet in particular."

"Based on its cost-effective, real-time integration alone, we've known PremierEcom was a home run Internet banking product since its introduction last year," said Michael K. Young, President of ITI. "We were certain it could support online institutions of any size, including the largest. What these tests proved is that PremierEcom is more than able to handle the pre-established volumes, with no loss of efficiency."

PremierEcom provides real-time customer relationship management, including bank-at-home balance and transaction information, funds transfer and bill payment, document and image distribution, account aggregation, new account acquisition, and interfaces that allow the use of personal financial management packages such as Microsoft Money. More than 250 financial institutions running on various Fiserv banking, thrift and credit union host systems have licensed PremierEcom since the beginning of the year.

Lab tests were performed on Web servers utilizing Intel Pentium III 550MHz Xeon processors. The tests were executed using Microsoft's Web Application Stress Tool and simulated a variety of Internet banking activities. These scripts were based on statistics from existing PremierEcom customers. The activities were comprehensive and included combinations of customer logins, account lists, account inquiries, transaction lists, payment lists, payment inquiries, payment changes and logoffs.

"Our methodology was to start with a single-processor Web server and track performance incrementally, up through eight quad-processor Web servers," Young said. "Through this approach, we were able to prove that PremierEcom scales linearly, simplifying the process of configuring the appropriate hardware for a financial institution."

Microsoft's Premier Support for Developers certified that Fiserv PremierEcom met Microsoft's benchmark standards and that the results exceeded all objectives set by Fiserv and Microsoft before the lab visit. Fiserv and Microsoft will publish a comprehensive white paper, PremierEcom Scalability, that details the methodology used, the test results and the overall success of the effort. The white paper will be available on the Microsoft, Fiserv and ITI Web sites.

Fiserv, Inc. (Nasdaq: FISV) is an independent, full-service provider of integrated data processing, information and management systems, serving more than 10,000 firms in the financial industry. The company is headquartered in Brookfield, Wisconsin, and can be found on the Internet at www.fiserv.com.

Information Technology, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Fiserv and the leading provider of integrated software solutions for America's financial institutions. Headquartered in Lincoln, Nebraska, ITI provides the latest in products and services, complemented by the banking expertise needed to help financial institutions meet aggressive time-to-market objectives. Consulting services include evaluating clients' needs for overall business process design and project management.

More than 3,600 institutions, including banks, thrifts, credit unions and finance companies, have selected ITI's Premier II suite of integrated software to process core banking applications. ITI offers over 50 additional software solutions that include Internet banking, management information, data warehousing, document processing, image-based check and document management, and platform automation systems. More information about the company can be found on the Internet at www.ITIwNET.com.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT) is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software - any time, any place and on any device.

Microsoft, Windows and Windows NT are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.

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