NARUS and Whitecross Join Forces

NARUS Inc, a pioneer and leading provider of Internet Business Infrastructure (IBI) solutions and WhiteCross Systems Inc, a leading and most innovative Application Service Provider for business intelligence solutions, announced an alliance to bring hosted IBI applications to Internet Protocol (IP) service providers. The applications combine the industry-leading NARUS Semantic Traffic Analysis (STA) Platform with WhiteCross' ASP (WX/ASP) Services, to offer Usage Pattern Analysis (UPA), a suite of solutions that enable IP service providers, for the first time, to make better business decisions based on a comprehensive understanding of their customers' actual usage patterns and preferences.

Leveraging core technologies from both companies, UPA delivers a suite of business intelligence applications and services through which IP service providers will be able to increase growth and profitability by: Understanding customers' usage of the network; Developing targeted value propositions at Internet speed; Identifying customers' ever-shifting usage patterns and preferences to identify new potential revenue sources; Spotting fraud and abuse, and; Implementing and monitoring the success of differentiated billing plans; The announcement coincides with the release today of NARUS Intelligence 2.0, a new Web-based reporting tool with over 60 pre-defined reports that profile IP services usage. (See separate press release: www.NARUS.com).

Usage Pattern Analysis - A Key to Service Provider Success Today, most IP service providers lack detailed information about their customers' network usage, in terms of the services they use and the quality of their experiences. In the increasingly competitive IP services market, such data is essential in order to understand customer preferences, provide proactive customer care, reduce churn, and develop new revenue sources. The WhiteCross/NARUS (WX/NARUS) UPA solution fills this key need, by extracting detailed usage data from IP service networks in real time, and processing that data via a suite of reporting and analysis tools in a high-performance, secure hosted environment. A recent Yankee Group report estimates that the market for infrastructure and tools to support business planning, fraud analysis, operations support, and other IBI applications will near $3.5 billion by 2004.

"The IP service provider market is moving at a breakneck pace, with new services, billing plans and business models being developed literally on a moment's notice," said Mark Stone, president and COO of NARUS. "To remain viable, IP service providers must understand their customers in order to continuously innovate and serve their needs. Combining NARUS' ability to extract detailed customer usage information off of high-speed IP networks with NARUS' and WhiteCross' powerful data analysis tools gives our service provider customers the solutions to make the right business decisions."

Leverages Unique Core Capabilities from NARUS and WhiteCross The WX/NARUS solution is based on the NARUS STA Platform and the WhiteCross Data Exploration Server (WX/DES). NARUS STA captures revenue-grade, application layer usage information directly off high-speed IP networks, in real-time. It reconstructs user sessions and passes the information into a hosted environment equipped with WX/DES hardware and an expert consulting staff. The WX/DES provides a scalable platform with the power to perform rapid analysis on large volumes of usage data at the speed of thought. The WX/DES can analyze terabyte data sets in seconds, making it uniquely suited to the UPA needs of large service providers.

A Suite of Services, from Out-of-the-Box Reports to Full Custom Solutions Clients can choose from a range of services, from standard reporting using the pre-defined reports available with NARUS Intelligence, to complex analytical services that utilize WhiteCross' extensive expertise in providing custom data analysis for communications service providers. The combined solution gives IP service providers the ability to analyze customer-usage patterns to the finest level of detail across thousands of services, millions of customers and billions of transactions. Example reports and services include: Usage Reporting - Shows penetration and bandwidth use for Web, email, VoIP, video, and other applications; Customer Segmentation - Identifies groups that can be targeted with new billing plans; · Customer Profiling - Identifies high value (and high cost) users, as well as spammers and other potential abusers; Content Reporting - Identifies most popular Websites and potential content partners; Network Usage - Profiles network performance and aids capacity planning.

Secure, Reliable Hosting Minimizes Impact on IT Staff The WX/NARUS UPA Solution is hosted in WhiteCross data centers in the US and Europe, and delivered via the WX Application Service Provider (ASP) business model. The WX/NARUS hosted solution frees customers from the worry of maintenance, implementation and management of analytical applications, and enables them to gain the benefits of UPA within hours of installing the system.

"We are excited to be partnering with NARUS to deliver a combined solution that will allow our mutual customers to manage their businesses in a truly proactive manner," said Chris Barfield, CEO of WhiteCross. "The joint WX/NARUS offerings enable IP service providers to understand what is occurring in their customer base, and in the market, before their competitors. Armed with the detailed data and the analytical capabilities we provide, service providers can formulate compelling offerings and build effective relationships to tap into the emerging needs of their current customers and to attract new customers. Bringing together NARUS' STA technology and WhiteCross' technology and services creates an unbeatable combination."

Pricing and Availability

The joint WX/NARUS UPA solution is available immediately. Customers should contact their NARUS or WhiteCross Sales Representative for more information.

About WhiteCross

WhiteCross Systems is known as a pioneer and leader in the area of large-scale data analysis including reporting, data-mining and data exploration. WhiteCross has proven the ability to analyze large-scale databases using its Data Exploration Server (WX/DESÔ), which powers its analytic outsourcing service, WX/ASP. WhiteCross allows organizations to outsource the analytic process, freeing them from the tremendous financial, time and human expenditures commonly associated with large-scale data analysis.

WhiteCross Systems supports and extends its customers ability to grow their businesses with the market leading WX/DES platform and a staff of experienced consultants. WhiteCross consultants use their knowledge of large-scale data analysis to augment the experience of clients' personnel. Further information on WhiteCross is available on the Internet at www.whitecross.com.

About NARUS

NARUS, a leading provider of Internet business infrastructure (IBI) solutions, gives IP service providers the flexibility to implement and manage new services and business models profitably, and at will. NARUS' solutions are based on the company's Semantic Traffic Analysis (STA) technology, which captures comprehensive customer usage data directly from carrier-grade networks and transforms it into actionable information. The patent-pending STA technology, which is the only technology that provides complete visibility for all Internet applications, is the foundation for applications that range from decision support to IP billing mediation. NARUS is a founding member of the Internet Protocol Detail Record (IPDR) initiative, along with AT&T, TeleStrategies, and many others. Privately held and based in Palo Alto, CA, NARUS investors include Frontier Internet Ventures Inc, a subsidiary of Frontier Communications, MediaOne Ventures, a division of MediaOne Group, Mayfield Fund, Walden Ventures, Chase Capital, and others. The company's Web address is www.NARUS.com.

Contact for NARUS Inc, Debra Hamilton Sterling Communications 415-749-6550 dhamilton@sterlingpr.com, for WhiteCross Systems, Sara Nicole Combs Greenough Communications Group Inc 617-451-0021 scombs@gcgpr.com.