PrediWave Unveils New Subscriber Management System at Broadband Plus Show.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

BroadBand Plus 2002

Booth #5026

ANAHEIM, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 5, 2002

PrediWave

-- Proprietary Design Delivers Lowest Deployment Costs In The Cable And Satellite Industries

-- System Offers Convenience For Subscribers Through Its "Virtual Bank" As Well As Scalable Growth Options For Operators

PrediWave(TM), a global pioneer in providing cost-effective and bandwidth-efficient technologies for the delivery of video-on-demand (VOD), iTV and PVR, has developed its own comprehensive, proprietary Subscriber Management System (SMS) to enable cable and satellite DBS operators to handle backend billing and record tracking for a fraction of the cost of currently available options. Unveiled today at the Broadband Plus Show in booth #5026, this scalable system grows as demand increases and new subscribers are brought online -- and does it economically, with minimal start-up costs. BroadbandPlus -- The New Western Show runs from December 3-6 in Anaheim, California at the Anaheim Convention Center.

"Our new Subscriber Management System is a highly sophisticated data management and authorization platform that is easy to operate and inexpensive to implement for the cable operator," said Tony Qu, President of PrediWave. "Its innovation, flexibility, customization, reliability and modular deployment are its greatest assets. We believe that it further cements PrediWave's reputation for providing cost-effective, revenue-generating technology to the global television distribution industry."

The common practice today in the cable industry is to either outsource customer billing/tracking management at a substantial cost-per-subscriber or purchase an expensive, high-end software package. PrediWave made the decision to develop its own proprietary SMS to ensure their customers received a highly scalable and low-cost solution to effectively service their needs. Designed as a component of PrediWave's complete Digital Broadband Delivery System for both cable and DBS, the PrediWave SMS is built on a distributed database, rather than a centralized architecture. This unique modular approach enables operators to start with a single node, adding additional nodes and layers of management and security, as they are needed.

One unique feature of the PrediWave SMS is the "Virtual Bank" capability. Subscribers can now interface with their financial institutions to make automatic payments -- saving them time while providing a convenient payment option. Another industry first is the "Automatic Fall-Over and Fail-Back" feature. Should a network component or server fail, a backup automatically takes over without any manual intervention. This fail-back feature ensures that once the errant component is either repaired or replaced, it is once again brought online without interrupting service. Complete redundancy is built-in to ensure there is no single point of failure.

The PrediWave SMS supports a complete range of business applications -- basic cable, premium channels, VOD, SVOD, telecom, cable modem -- as well as multilingual subsystems. For example, an international distributor can use PrediWave's comprehensive and flexible SMS to monitor and operate its business across multiple regions and countries. Additionally, the SMS can be programmed to allow up to four different layers of management hierarchy and access.

Here is a look at the some of the specific features of PrediWave's dynamic new SMS:

-- Subscriber Information Management

-- Subscriber Account Management

-- Service Product Management

-- Billing Management

-- Conditional Access Control

-- Financial Institution Management

-- Cable Head-end Management

-- Reporting Management

-- System Management

ABOUT PREDIWAVE

PrediWave delivers a complete video on demand (VOD) and iTV solution for cable and is the only provider of a turnkey solution for satellite. The company delivers any content "on demand" to an unlimited number of customers simultaneously, initially featuring integrated video on demand (VOD), digital television (DTV) broadcasting, video on request (VOR) and personal video recording (PVR) capabilities. It uses the existing technology infrastructure of today's cable and DBS systems for a simple, cost-effective solution with minimal capital investment. This revolutionary delivery system can be expanded to include a range of services including interactive TV, streaming media, games and high-speed Internet access. PrediWave's groundbreaking approach offers head-end servers and bandwidth capacity scaled according to how many movies an operator plans to deliver, not how many points of delivery. In late 2001, PrediWave entered the Chinese marketplace and successfully deployed its initial trial system with Beijing Cable Company (BCTV). Earlier this fall, PrediWave and Fujian Cable Company established an agreement to provide PrediWave's cable VOD services to 4.6 million Fujian customers from now through 2003. Founded in 1998, the company is headquartered in Fremont, CA, with offices in Beijing, China and San Jose, CA. For more information, visit www.prediwave.com.