Press Release

IBM Announces STP WorkBench for e-Business Delivers Solutions for Next Generation Securities Processing

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 3, 2001--IBM today announced the availability of the IBM Straight Through Processing (STP) WorkBench for e-business to help global securities companies meet a range of business and regulatory requirements, including T+1, and move toward the industry goal of continuous transaction processing.

The IBM STP WorkBench is a modular set of offerings comprised of consulting, re-engineering and integration services as well as hardware and software components from IBM and select industry-leading software business partners. The IBM STP WorkBench helps broker/dealers, global custodians and investment managers settle trades more quickly, reduce costs, lower operational risks and improve customer service. The IBM STP WorkBench leverages IBM technology to support the integration of new functions and existing systems operating on a variety of platforms.

Cross-border trades, fluctuating transaction volumes and electronic trading networks are rapidly transforming the global securities industry. The IBM STP WorkBench helps financial markets participants move from a fragmented securities processing environment, typically characterized by geographic and proprietary technology boundaries with high levels of batch processing, into an enterprise-wide continuous processing infrastructure. The IBM STP WorkBench is a component-based approach allowing participants to prioritize investments in areas that are most critical to their business strategy.

``Straight Through Processing enables more than just shortened trade settlement cycles and T+1,'' said Tom Shaw, Director, Straight Through Processing, IBM Global Financial Markets. ``Our clients and the entire securities industry are asking us to help them create a flexible, cost efficient infrastructure that enables e-business expansion, globalization, improved risk management capabilities and better customer relationship management. Creating an infrastructure that provides for continuous processing and real-time access to enterprise data is the key to meeting these business challenges. Today IBM is announcing the tools to help global securities companies look at continuous processing as a strategic initiative rather than just a regulatory imperative.''

Industry Leading IBM and Business Partner Technologies

Through Web-enabling and integration technology, middleware, enterprise data management software, server technology and critical securities processing applications, the IBM STP WorkBench helps customers build on their existing technology assets to create scalable, message-based systems that reduce trade-to-settlement cycle times. From assessment workshops to enterprise-wide integration services, the IBM STP WorkBench offers a range of solution offerings from which participants can choose and prioritize STP investments to meet their most critical business requirements.

The IBM STP WorkBench includes a range of consulting offerings, including STP workshops for executives, STP readiness assessments, STP diagnostic work and STP architecture planning, which are built on IBM's widely-deployed intellectual capital and securities operations blueprints and process models

The IBM STP WorkBench for e-business is supported by a global team of IBM securities operations architects, technology architects, business transformation consultants and systems integration professionals.

``The IBM STP WorkBench's global deployment enables IBM and our partners to provide clients with a truly global perspective of industry requirements, best practices and local challenges,'' continued Shaw.

IBM technology products including MQSeries messaging middleware, DB2 Universal Database, WebSphere application server and eServer form the foundation of the IBM STP WorkBench. Their scalability, reliability and manageability meet the demanding requirements of the global securities industry. These technologies are at the core of both the infrastructure and application component offerings of the IBM STP WorkBench, facilitating enterprise integration and therefore continuous global processing.

Applications from industry-leading software developers form the application layer of the IBM STP WorkBench for e-business. They include:

Access International - Access International's Global Product Suite (GPS) provides the securities master application and supporting data model in the IBM STP WorkBench for e-business. Access International's GPS creates a standard definition of product data that can be used by clients to enable rapid application development and facilitate high levels of integration among the application components that make up the IBM STP WorkBench for e-business. Access International's GPS builds on key IBM technologies including WebSphere, DB2, MQSeries and eServer zSeries.

Financial Fusion - Provides a scalable set of adapters to enable institutional connectivity for FIX, SWIFT and GSTPA. Financial Fusion adapters enhance the messaging services of the STP WorkBench, utilizing Java and XML-based technology to accommodate multiple protocols. These adapters offer seamless integration with an MQSeries messaging infrastructure.

One-Ten - One-Ten's product suite Salerio e2e fulfills critical application components of the IBM STP WorkBench for e-business for investment managers and their outsourcing partners. The One-Ten offering provides industry-leading modular STP transaction processing that enables electronic trade confirmation, electronic trade delivery, electronic settlement tracking, treasury confirmation and settlement; asset and cash reconciliation and corporate actions. Salerio provides a rich selection of industry adapters. Underlying One Ten's Salerio e2e product suite will be IBM's MQSeries technology and IBM's scalable eServer.

OST Business Rules Limited - Provides the accounting rules component, including financial and business process rules, of the IBM STP Workbench for e-business for broker/dealers, custodians and investment managers. By creating a rules-based accounting environment within the WorkBench, OST and IBM will help participants better manage financial risk. The OST and IBM offering will enable participants to build consistency and control by having a single set of accounting rules and policies globally. The combined offering also provides improved financial control by ensuring that a full audit trail and exception report can be created from the ``source to target.'' The solution is integrated with IBM's MQSeries, MQSeries Integrator, DB2 and IBM's highly scalable eServer.

PaceMetrics - PaceMetrics Ltd.'s PaceMaker provides the operations monitoring component of the IBM STP WorkBench for e-business for broker/dealers, custodians and investment managers. PaceMaker improves market operational efficiency and control within and across organizations by providing pre-emptive trade status monitoring, real-time exception reporting, historical analysis, management reporting and benchmarking. IBM's MQSeries family of message-based middleware helps firms integrate PaceMaker across the enterprise.

SmartStream - SmartStream targets the reconciliation and investigation component of the IBM STP Workbench for e-business for broker/dealers, custodians and investment managers. Due to its proven highly scalable, integrated architecture, SmartStream is ideally positioned to support the financial services industry's move to centralization to implement efficient global operations. SmartStream's STP-ready reconciliation application, including a foreign exchange confirmation-matching module, supports STP by enabling cash and securities position reconciliation, multi-product transaction reconciliation and exception management in real time. The SmartStream Reconciliations offering is supported by IBM's highly scalable eServer.

SunGard - SunGard (NYSE: SDS - news), a global leader in integrated IT solutions and eProcessing for financial services, and IBM are working together to meet several application components of the STP WorkBench for custodians. The partnership expects to fulfill the requirements for such application components as real-time portfolio accounting and compliance, securities lending, cash and risk management and settlement processing. SunGard and IBM plan to support IBM's strategic technology underlying the STP WorkBench while utilizing IBM's STP integration services globally.

Wilco International - Wilco International's (NYSE:ADP - news) market-leading Gloss product range provides the back office securities processing and settlement component in the IBM STP WorkBench for e-business for broker/dealers. Together Wilco and IBM will help firms create a scalable architecture that allows exception-based processing and proactive workflow management for STP. IBM Global Services will provide Gloss implementation services for clients around the world.

About IBM

IBM's Financial Services Sector is the world's leading provider of comprehensive, integrated e-business solutions to the banking, financial markets and insurance industries. Working directly with its financial services customers, IBM develops and deploys mission-critical industry-specific technology solutions. Those solutions comprise the full range of IBM capabilities including consulting, software, hardware, research and services. Additional information about IBM can be found at www.ibm.com/solutions/financialservices.

IBM, the IBM e-business logo, Straight Through Processing (STP) WorkBench for e-business, DB2 Universal Database, WebSphere, MQSeries, MQSeries Integrator and eServer are all trademarks or registered trademarks of the International Business Machines Corporation in the United States and other countries. The IBM eServer brand consists of the established IBM e-business logo with the descriptive term ``server'' following it.

All other company names, products and logos are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

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     IBM
     Jennifer Atkins, 914/642-5414
     jatkins@us.ibm.com