Bridgewater Systems Upgrades Its Prepaid Data Solution

[August 09, 2004]

Bridgewater Systems Upgrades Its Prepaid Data Solution

Bridgewater Systems?, a leading provider of wireless data service fulfillment and assurance solutions, today introduced an upgrade to its Prepaid Data Solution, which enables service providers to offer prepaid download services to their subscribers.

(See today�s related announcement: Cricket Licenses Bridgewater Systems� Prepaid Data Solution to Enable Prepaid CDMA2000 1x Data Services)

The new upgrade, which is compatible with Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless (BREW) from Qualcomm, enables service providers to offer prepaid services including games, wallpaper, ringtones and other downloads to their subscribers by integrating BREW download servers with prepaid billing systems.

Bridgewater Systems� Prepaid Data Solution is unique in that it integrates with a wide range of prepaid voice and data billing systems and network equipment that a service provider may already have in place. In addition, the offering integrates with applications, such as multimedia messaging services (MMS) and --- now � BREW download services. This eliminates the need for application or network upgrades and protects service providers� current investments.

�BREW represents a clear revenue generating opportunity for service providers by allowing them to sell subscribers some of the most popular wireless content such as games, ringtones, wallpaper, etc. Key revenue generation challenges for service providers include determining how users pay for BREW content and the ability to sell content to prepaid users,� said Mike King, senior industry analyst at Gartner Inc.

According to Ed Ogonek, president and CEO of Bridgewater Systems, �Service providers are discovering tremendous subscriber interest for prepaid data services. Our BREW upgrade for the Prepaid Data Solution now enables them to tap into additional revenue-producing download services that are extremely popular with subscribers.�

The following key features are included in the Prepaid Data Solution:
? Works with all types of PDSN/Home Agents (HA) that either support or do not support prepaid usage counting.
? Offers real-time counting and rating of data traffic (real-time metering) with an appropriate PDSN/HA.
? Supports both time-based and byte-based prepaid quotas.
? Immediately deployable with simple migration to a standards-based solution in the future.
? Enables the offering of session suspension capabilities.
? Provides low balance notification with configurable thresholds.
? Provides automatic session redirection to credit recharge facilities (if supported by the PDSN/HA).
? Provides prepaid event auditing.
? Integrates with third-party prepaid billing systems using plug-ins. Bridgewater Systems will create plug-ins for intended prepaid billing systems.
? Enables the deployment of the Prepaid Data Solution with the AAA Service Controller or as a standalone component with a third-party RADIUS Server.

The Prepaid Data Solution upgrade is available immediately. It consists of a software module and professional services. Pricing is based upon an expected return on investment of less than one year.

Bridgewater Systems' CDMA Highlights
Bridgewater Systems is an established leader in the CDMA2000 1x marketplace, supporting the roll out of 17 CDMA2000 1x networks throughout the Americas (including 75% of Tier 1 providers in North America). Its authentication, authorization and accounting (AAA) systems support more than 30 million provisioned users and nearly 200,000,000 transactions per month. The company is an active contributor to standards development in the IETF and 3GPP2 -- focusing on AAA (RADIUS, Diameter), prepaid, and Wi-Fi/CDMA integration.

About Bridgewater Systems (www.bridgewatersystems.com)
Bridgewater Systems provides dynamic IP and data service fulfillment and assurance solutions. The Bridgewater Systems product suite includes its market-leading authentication, authorization and accounting (AAA) system and other modular products that provide provisioning, mediation and real time management of network resources. Unlike traditional OSS vendors, Bridgewater Systems' proven products deliver on-demand data services, extensive revenue capture capabilities, out-of-the-box value and can be deployed in weeks -- instead of months.

Bridgewater Systems solutions are currently deployed by more than 25 global service providers, including Verizon Wireless, Bell Mobility, Covad and Telia. Founded in 1997, Bridgewater Systems is a privately held company.

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