NCR DATA WAREHOUSING SOLUTIONS LEAD IN "RED HOT" COMMUNICATIONS MARKET, YANKEE GROUP REPORT SAYS

NCR Corporation's data warehousing solutions meet the needs of communications companies better than those of competitors in a market expected to grow to over $11 billion by the year 2002, according to a recent Yankee Group research report. NCR's data warehousing offerings, based on its Teradata relational database, drew top scores for six of seven segments of the communications industry, according to Brian Murphy, Director of Telecommunications Computing and Research at the Yankee Group, a leading information technology market research firm. Among the areas where NCR drew top marks in the report were cellular phone providers, Internet service providers and cable television companies.

"NCR can build a comprehensive enterprise data warehouse or a single dependent data mart, or anything in between," Murphy said in the report. "The solution will depend in part on a carrier's history with data warehousing and on the segment of the telecommunications industry in which that carrier competes."

As they have shifted from simple service providers to becoming integrated carriers, communications companies have become more interested in data warehousing, the report said. As a result of this shift, the carriers are becoming increasingly customer-focused. Today's communications service providers (CSPs) are seeking to serve specific markets and preferences rather than provide a generic "one-size-fits-all" service.

Stemming largely from deregulation, the shift has opened up competition -- first in the long-distance market and more recently for local telephone service. As more carriers have entered the marketplace, there is a risk that they will all look the same to consumers, Murphy warned.

To stand out from the competition, carriers must look for ways to gain strategic business advantages in services, the report stated. These telcos will look to provide integrated services that satisfy a customer's full range of telecommunications needs, rather than disappear into a blur of companies -- all willing to simply connect the customer's phone call.

"As each company jockeys for an advantage in the marketplace," Murphy said, this trend toward services "will lead to renewed interest in the development of analytical applications as a primary competitive tool."

In addition, the Yankee Group report stated, the open marketplace means that carriers will all have the same basic data about customers and their calling patterns -- further raising the importance of having accurate, detailed information on customers and the capability to analyze it.

While most companies already have detailed knowledge about their customers, drawn from their own experiences, what they need is the ability to distill useful information from that experience. Analytical applications are the tools that can help carriers do this by combing through data. The need for such data warehousing applications and tools among carriers will rise dramatically in coming years, the report predicted.

According to the Yankee Group, among carriers worldwide, the market for analysis-based applications is estimated to rise from an estimated $7.42 billion this year to $8.38 billion in 1999. It will continue to rise to $9.46 billion in 2000 and $10.32 billion the following year before climbing to $11.32 in the year 2002 -- nearly a 53% rise from 1998.

In the report, NCR data warehouse products received the most top marks of any vendor, including top grades for meeting the needs of interexchange carriers, incumbent local exchange carriers and integrated carriers. Overall, Yankee Group gave NCR an average score of 1.14, outdistancing all other major vendors.

Analytical applications are what make data warehousing really pay off. Using a warehouse of detailed customer histories, a company can apply analytics to anticipate the needs of their best customers. With that information, they can create new ways of doing business with those customers, as well as find ways to run their business more profitably.

"Over time we believe that analytical applications will evolve from being valuable to being indispensable for telecommunications carriers," said Murphy.

The Yankee Group, (a subsidiary of Primark Corporation) is an information technology market research firm, which specializes in helping users and vendors link their technology strategy to their business strategy. Established in Boston, Massachusetts in 1970, it has built a solid reputation worldwide for analysis of the key issues in information technology. Yankee Group clients number more than 700, and represent a wide range of businesses and industries. Each year, the Yankee Group sponsors numerous technology- related conferences around the world. Additional information is available at http://www.yankeegroup.com

Primark Corporation (NYSE: PMK; PSE) is a global information services organization headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts. Primark provides financial, economic, and market research information services to the financial, corporate and government markets. Additional information is available at http://www.primark.com

NCR Corporation is a leader in data warehousing solutions, ATMs, point-of-sale, high performance scanners, and support services for retail, financial and national accounts markets. For more information, see http://www.ncr.com/