Press Release

Bankserv Signs With Stratus For Continuously Available Servers To Support Its Wire Transfer And ACH Payment Solutions

ISV Agreement makes BankServ Solutions available with ftServer fault-tolerant, Windows 2000-based system

October 28, 2002 - MAYNARD, MA — Stratus Technologies, Inc., maker of the world's most reliable servers, announced today that it has signed an Independent Software Vendor (ISV) Agreement with BankServ, a leading U.S. provider of payment solutions for financial services companies, retailers, and online banking.

The agreement enables BankServ to offer its customers Stratus® ftServer® systems, the industry's most reliable Intel processor-based server platform. Customers of BankServ's extensive suite of payment solutions can now be assured of running their business-critical operations on servers that provide the highest levels of reliability and uptime.

"BankServ has supported aggressive growth with aggressive IT infrastructure investments, a world-class data center, and advanced development tools that give them a distinct edge responding to customer needs," said Philip Izzo, director of Business Development, Financial Services at Stratus. "They fully appreciate the mission-critical nature of the services they provide their customers, and offering ftServer systems is indicative of their commitment to unfailing service."

BankServ is considered a market leader in wire transfer, electronic check, and ACH solutions for financial institutions, Internet and other businesses. BankServ markets its domestic and international wire transfer solutions packaged as both a software and service bureau (ASP) solution. The Global Funds Exchange System (software) and Global Funds Exchange Network (ASP) run on a Windows 2000 and Oracle platform and serve financial institution wire-transfer customers with a need for high performance and high availability.

"The value of transactions and volumes of data controlled by our payment systems at any given time are enormous, and even a momentary lapse in processing on our customers' hardware can have serious financial and service repercussions for them," said Randy Gutierrez, BankServ's Chief Technology Officer and Wire Transfer Services General Manager. "The safeguards and security we design into our software solutions can now be fully complemented with servers that have proven themselves to consistently perform above the rest. And yet, the Stratus ftServer family is affordable, as well as unique in its simplicity to own, operate and manage."

The ftServer line includes a range of models, configurations, and performance, including an entry-level system with a starting price under $20,000. Last month, Stratus announced the powerful, enterprise-class ftServer 6500 system, the industry's first 4-way SMP fault-tolerant server for Windows 2000 Advance Server computing environments. This server is approximately one-third less expensive that a Unix cluster and one-fifth the cost of a Hewlett Packard NonStop™ server, and it delivers uptime performance superior to Intel processor-based clustered servers.

Stratus is the only server maker to disclose actual recorded "availability" levels for its products based on reported service incidents from the installed base. The ftServer Uptime MeterSM is updated daily and can be viewed on Stratus' Website at www.stratus.com/uptime/ftserver.htm. The data is based on operating experience of the hardware and the Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server o/s over the most recent six months.

At the BAI -Wire Transfer Show (October 28-29, New York City), BankServ will demonstrate its Global Funds Exchange (GFX) system on the highly affordable and compact Stratus ftServer 3210 fault-tolerant server. GFX is a highly scalable, secure and low-cost solution for managing domestic wire transfers, book entry securities and SWIFT international messages.

About Stratus

Originally founded in 1980, Stratus Technologies designs, sells, and supports fault-tolerant computer servers for operations where uninterrupted processing, business continuity, and reliability are important. Through its 24-7 Technologies Division, Stratus also licenses technology for continuous computing on Intel processor-based platforms to other global manufacturers. Stratus has been named by FORTUNE magazine as one of the 2002 "FORTUNE® 100 Best Companies to Work For" and by Upside magazine among the "UPSIDE Hot 100 for 2002." Stratus is a U.S. Microsoft Gold Certified Partner. For more information, visit www.stratus.com.