Alcatel Embeds Versant's ODBMS and FTS

Versant Corporation a leading provider of middle-tier infrastructure technology, announced the selection of its Object Database Management System (ODBMS) and Fault Tolerant Server (FTS) for Alcatel's 1000 Series of multiservice, multimedia platforms.

Using Versant's object-oriented technology, Alcatel is developing a Data Handling Application (DHA) for its new and existing 1000 Series systems, the large central office switches used by telecommunications service providers. This application is designed to enhance decision-making and increase flexibility by building intelligence into the switch fabric using an open, standards-based platform. The new DHA will handle the telecommunications data as well as related processing and management information such as digital analysis, routing and access to subscriber information. Benefits of DHA will also include increased capacity and simplified management for operators with easy-to-use, standards-based CORBA and Java interfaces.

"Before choosing Versant for this application, we tested several relational and object database management systems for an 18 month period of time," said Martine Lapierre, vice president, Fixed Alcatel E10 Business Unit. "As part of the evaluation we checked Versant's real-time performance while simulating a very large database with various object profiles. Our choice of Versant was based on their high availability features including FTS and online replication as well as their open systems architecture with multi-threading and multi-session capabilities. Our present product development substantiates the decision we made in choosing Versant."

"The agreement signed with Alcatel is exemplary, once again proving the ability of Versant to provide high performance and availability for a customer's significant database volume and stringent number of transactions per second," said Adrian Jones, Vice President, European Operations, Versant Corporation. "The win also demonstrated our ability to serve as a partner with a prestigious organization such as Alcatel. And Alcatel's customers will benefit because the increased flexibility will help them bring new products and services to market more quickly."

Alcatel is a world leader in the high-speed access and transmission market, and a major player in the area of telecommunications and Internet. The company builds next generation networks, delivering integrated end-to-end voice and data networking solutions to established and new carriers, as well as enterprises and consumers worldwide. With 120,000 employees and sales of approximately $23 billion in 1999, Alcatel operates in more than 130 countries.

About Versant Corporation

Since the company's founding in 1988, Versant Corporation has led the industry in providing highly scalable and reliable object management solutions for complex, enterprise-level systems. Customers in the telecommunications, financial services, transportation, and defense industries have depended on Versant ODBMS for large-scale applications such as yield management, fraud detection, real-time data collection and analysis, and operation support systems (OSS). Today, Versant has taken that technology and applied it to another large-scale solution, helping customers build their e-business and Internet infrastructure where scalability, performance and fast time-to-market are critical success factors. Additional information about Versant and its products may be obtained by phone at 510-789-1500 or at www.versant.com.

Contact Elizabeth Hoff of S&S Public Relations for Versant Corp, 800-287- 2279 or 847-955-1700, elizabeth@sspr.com.