Ascade increases Telenor collaboration

Ascade increases Telenor collaboration Telecom software company Ascade out of Stockholm, Sweden, today announces that it has signed a contract with Telenor Global Services in Norway. The contract is a continuation of the collaboration that started with a framework agreement signed between the Telenor Group and Ascade in the summer of 2002. Telenor Global Services has chosen Ascade's market-leading telecom software solution Carrier Cockpit(TM) to manage and operate their business of buying, routing, pricing and selling international voice minutes. "We are very much looking forward to the cooperation with Ascade", says Terje Haufmann, Director of Products at Telenor Global Services AS in Oslo. "We believe that Carrier Cockpit(TM) supports not only our existing international voice business, but we strongly believe that Carrier Cockpit(TM) will support and strengthen also our future product strategies as a voice carrier on the international telecommunication market." Ascade's solutions enable telecom carriers worldwide to maximise profits by managing their international voice business more effectively. Ascade's market-leading software, Carrier Cockpit(TM), empowers telecom professionals in the wholesale and traditional voice carrier business to streamline and automate all aspects of international voice minute operations, from buying and routing to pricing and selling. In the summer of 2002, the Telenor Group signed a framework agreement with Ascade which included possible implementation of Carrier Cockpit(TM) at the companies within the Telenor Group. The first implementation started at Telenor Business Solutions in Sweden (former Telenordia) in the autumn of 2002 and now Telenor Global Services AS in Norway has chosen Ascade and Carrier Cockpit(TM) to manage and operate its international voice business. The implementation and integration projects have already started. Except for the standard implementation of Carrier Cockpit(TM), a switch interface to Telenor's Alcatel switches is included in the implementation. "The extended collaboration with Telenor really proves that Carrier Cockpit(TM) is the market-leading software solution for managing international voice traffic. The fact that Telenor increases its cooperation with us is a sign of a good relationship and gives proof that customers are pleased with Carrier Cockpit and with Ascade as a business partner. We believe this is a major step towards Carrier Cockpit(TM) becoming the standard software for carriers to manage and operate their international voice business" says Ascade's CEO, Christopher Grahn. Carrier Cockpit(TM) is a sophisticated IT-solution enabling telecom operators worldwide to cut costs and lift productivity by optimising and automating the management and operation of international voice minute trading. It also contains extensive management support to help keep track of everyday activities and indicators. Carriers worldwide are saving millions of Euros yearly, by using Ascade's Carrier Cockpit(TM) Telenor: Telenor is a Norwegian telecommunications group with extensive and fast growing business operations in a number of countries in Europe and Southeast Asia. The company is Norway's leading distributor of voice, information, knowledge and entertainment through a broad range of modern communications services. Telenor became a listed company in December 2000. Ascade: Ascade is a Swedish telecom software company that has been profitable since start in 1997. The company is totally dedicated to developing solutions for the telecom operator wholesale industry. Among Ascade's current customers are market leading international operators such as Swisscom of Switzerland, Telenor of Norway and Finnet International of Finland. In addition to existing customers, Carrier Cockpit(TM) is currently also being evaluated by a number of major operators worldwide. Shareholders of Ascade are the founders, SEB Företagsinvest, CapMan and the employees of Ascade. Ascade AB Stockholm 12th of February 2003 For further information, please contact: Patrik Ferlenius, Vice President, Sales, Ascade AB Tel: +46-8-616 73 00, e-mail: patrik.ferlenius@ascade.se Lars Kullberg, Vice President Customer & Business Development, Ascade AB Tel: +46-8-616 73 00, e-mail: lars.kullberg@ascade.se Terje Haufmann, Director Trading, Telenor Global Services AS Tel: +47 67 89 00 00, email: terje.haufmann@telenor.com ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by Waymaker http://www.waymaker.net The following files are available for download: http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2003/02/12/20030212BIT00760/wkr0001.doc http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2003/02/12/20030212BIT00760/wkr0002.pdf