Earthport Regulatory News (EPO)

21 Nov 2006 09:00

Earthport PLC21 November 2006 21 November 2006 Earthport plc ("Earthport" or "the Company") Launch of IBM Websphere Platform A major step forward in the development of Earthport's international bankingnetwork, which supports the ability to make payments to over 190 countriesthrough 35 primary banking relationships with settlement capabilities in 19major currencies, is announced today, with the upgrading of its technologyplatform to a DB2/IBM Websphere architecture. The final phases of transferring onto the IBM Websphere platform will becompleted in the next month. The move enables Earthport to interface with anumber of additional automated banks and reinforces the Company's utilitynetworks in markets such as Malaysia, Eastern Europe, South Africa andSingapore. In addition, by adopting the IBM Websphere architecture, Earthportwill be able to accelerate integration with client systems and also reduceassociated development costs, significantly enhancing the Company's abilities toimplement new business functions. Earthport has committed to an end-to-end IBM solution, which is truly scalableand provides the Company with the foundation it requires to achieve its aim ofbecoming the money movement utility of choice. David Fife, the recently appointed CEO of Earthport, commented: "Combined withEarthport's recent selection to join the SWIFT network, this new investment isanother major step forward for us. Not only will it allow us to scale ourtransaction volume, it will do so on a web service platform that provides a newlevel of resilience and reliability to the network." For further information: David Fife, CEO - Earthport plc +44 20 7220 9700 Mark Ashurst - CanaccordAdams +44 20 7050 6740 Lulu Bridges/Paul Dulieu - Tavistock Communications +44 20 7920 3150 About Earthport Earthport plc is a UK-based, AIM listed, electronic payments and collectionsprovider. It has established banking and card processing relationships that areintegrated into the companies Universal Payments Network (UPN). Earthport offerstransaction services to businesses seeking an alternative to the high costinternational money transfer pricing. Earthport has invested significantly inits global network of banking relationships and continues to do so. It ispossible to make payments to over 190 countries and collect from over 35.Further information may be obtained from Earthport's website atwww.earthport.com This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange