New Release of ACI Worldwide's BASE24 Software Now Available; BASE24 6.0 Includes EMV and Multicurrency Support.

Business Editors & Technology Writers

OMAHA, Neb.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 23, 2001

ACI Worldwide (Nasdaq:TSAI), a leading international provider of enterprise e-payment solutions, announces general availability of BASE24(R) 6.0--the latest release of ACI's world-class BASE24 software for processing electronic payment transactions. BASE24 6.0 represents the culmination of a project lasting more than two years and includes key enhancements that support the processing of transactions involving Europay, MasterCard and Visa (EMV) compliant smart cards, multicurrency, and architectural enhancements to support the continued evolution of e-payment technology.

More than 350 financial institutions, retailers and processors worldwide use BASE24 to acquire, route and authorize online e-payment transactions through physical and virtual channels such as mobile phones, PCs, ATMs, merchant Web sites and traditional retail outlets. More than twenty customers are currently implementing release 6.0. They include Lloyds TSB, Barclaycard and Nationwide in the United Kingdom; CEKAB and FSPA in Sweden; Commercial Bank of Greece; ABSA Group in South Africa; and Banca Sella in Italy.

Enhancements in the new release fall into three main categories: EMV support, multicurrency support, and architectural expansion.

EMV Support

Increasing fraud and counterfeiting activity are driving card issuers and acquirers to migrate from magnetic stripe to more secure chip-based cards. Card associations have begun to mandate the migration in some regions using card technology that conforms to EMV standards. BASE24 6.0 has been enhanced to acquire EMV transactions from ATM and POS devices, authenticate transactions via interfaces to security models, and route and authorize EMV transactions while linking to Visa, Europay, and MasterCard's BankNet, MDS and Maestro networks as well as national networks such as LINK in the UK.

Multicurrency Support

New delivery channels allow consumers to shop and bank almost anywhere in the world. To support this trend, BASE24 6.0 provides multicurrency support that allows a BASE24 user to acquire transactions in different currencies and apply them to accounts being operated in many currencies. There is no limit to the number of currencies that can be used, allowing financial institutions to migrate through currency change (as has been the case for ACI's European customer base moving to the Euro) and allowing financial institutions and network providers to operate centralized processing centers that cover multiple countries and currencies using a common BASE24 platform.

Architectural Expansion

Release 6.0 includes architectural enhancements that make it easy for customers to add new transaction types, device interfaces and functional enhancements in the future as e-payment technologies evolve. New services can be added with minimal system impact, resulting in faster time to market for BASE24 users, improved customer service, and reduced expense. BASE24 6.0 is also the platform for future enhancements such as Triple DES support and Remote Initial Key Download.

"BASE24 6.0 is the culmination of years of investment by ACI to keep our software best in class," said Mark Vipond, president of ACI Worldwide. "BASE24 runs many of the world's most demanding online e-payment systems, processing more than 6 million transactions in a single day for some customers--and last year processing more than 20 billion transactions for users worldwide. Our customers demand the best, and we are committed to providing them with features and performance that are second to none."

BASE24 operates on Compaq NonStop Himalaya servers to provide scalable, 24/7 processing power for e-payment systems.

About ACI Worldwide

Every second of every day, consumers are initiating electronic payment transactions--getting cash at ATMs, using debit and credit cards to make purchases in stores and on the Internet, banking by phone and PC, paying bills online. Twenty billion times a year, ACI software is used to process these transactions, powering the world's online payment systems. ACI was founded in 1975 and pioneered the development of applications and networking software for online transaction processing. Today more than 2,000 customers in 78 countries use ACI supplied software. Visit ACI Worldwide on the Internet at www.aciworldwide.com.

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