NetCracker Expands its Service Management Offering with Service Inventory Module

Combined software and services offering will allow service providers to accelerate the transition to converged services

Waltham, Mass. – September 27, 2005 – NetCracker Technology, the global solution leader enabling service providers to deliver and manage converged services, today announced the availability of its Service Inventory module as part of the company's offering for Service Management. With NetCracker, service providers can comprehensively manage fulfillment and assurance aspects of converged services, including provisioning and activation, customer impact analysis and cost management.

"The marketplace is demanding real time, bundled services and Communications Service Providers (CSPs) must deliver these converged, complex services cost effectively to stay competitive," said Sanjay Mewada, vice president, Telecom Consulting & Research, The Yankee Group. "There is a real market need for solutions that allow CSPs to deploy and manage services quickly and effectively while optimizing their network and service resources."

As service providers look to launch converged services offerings, Service Management becomes a critical need. The ability to combine component services from the different infrastructure silos to create an end user service in an expedient and flexible manner is critical to their success. NetCracker's Service Inventory is designed to address this growing need among service providers. It includes a Service Catalog that identifies the different combinations of component services that can be used to create the end user service. In addition, it contains the configurations of all planned and installed services thereby enabling changes to the existing service or the accurate provision of additional converged services.

NetCracker's strong Solution Delivery capabilities combined with the Service Inventory, Service Provisioning & Activation, Customer Impact Analysis and Telecom Cost Management modules deliver the comprehensive Service Management capability service providers are looking for in their quest for converged services offerings.

"Our Service Management offering provides the comprehensive solution to address the critical needs of conceiving, deploying and managing converged services over both legacy and next generation infrastructures," said Andrew Feinberg, president and CEO of NetCracker. "We developed this powerful solution to meet the needs of several of our most innovative customers. It is now being deployed by several Tier 1 carriers around the globe, and we are excited to offer it to the rest of the market."

About NetCracker Technology

NetCracker Technology, a subsidiary of NEC Corporation, is the leading provider of Telecom Operations and Management Systems to Communications Service Providers worldwide. www.NetCracker.com.

NetCracker is a registered trademark of NetCracker Technology Corp. All other company or product names mentioned in this media alert may be trademarks or registered trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.

About NEC Corporation

NEC Corporation is one of the world's leading providers of Internet, broadband network and enterprise business solutions dedicated to meeting the specialized needs of a diversified global base of customers. NEC delivers tailored solutions in the key fields of computer, networking and electron devices, by integrating its technical strengths in IT and Networks, and by providing advanced semiconductor solutions through NEC Electronics Corporation. The NEC Group employs more than 140,000 people worldwide. For additional information, please visit the NEC website at: http://www.nec.com.