Posted: 12/2002

new products

Billing Online UK Launches
Three-tiered Tariffing

Billing Online UK Ltd. has launched
a three-tiered tariffing product, to eliminate the risk of liability and bad
debt and to offer revenue assurances to carriers selling prepaid call time. The
software, which works by recording multiple real-time call detail records (CDRs),
allows a credit-risk operator that has been rejected by a carrier to buy minutes
from Billing Online on a prepaid basis, which resells them from the carrier that
originally rejected the operator.

The operator can purchase a master
account from Billing Online, which holds a prepaid float of funds for an
estimated amount of usage on a monthly or weekly basis. When a consumer buys a
prepaid calling card at the retail price and uses it, the operator’s account is
automatically debited at cost. At the same time, Billing Online holds an account
with the carrier, which is also debited, but at a wholesale price. All members
of the supply chain thus automatically receive revenue as the prepaid card is
bought and used.

Billing Online UK Ltd./XAL
117-123 King St., Knutsford
Cheshire WA16 6EH
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 0 1565 65 10 40
www.xal.co.uk

NexGen Releases Automated 800
Collect Feature

NexGen Carrier & Switching
Service has released a new 800 collect option for prepaid calling cards under
the Gyro Communications Inc. brand name. A customer dials in and hears,
"Please enter your PIN number now, or if you wish to make a collect call,
dial 0." Before the user exhausts the card’s calling time, the feature
prompts, "Your card is out of minutes, to continue this call on a collect
basis, press zero now." The collect feature also works after the card is
exhausted.

The operator adds the prompts and
circuit routing to its switch and NexGen provides toll-free, dial-up access to
its operator services platform or a T1. Each call an operator’s switch
identifies as collect will be routed to NexGen’s operator services center, which
intercepts and processes the collect call.

The operator services center pays $6
per collect call that originated from the operator’s switch. In a prelaunch
trail, a half to one percent of prepaid card callers used the automated collect
services, says NexGen. That means that at 500,000 calls per month, at least
2,500 of them will be collect, translating to an additional $15,000 in revenue,
the company explains.

The software gives operators access
to CDRs on the Web. The site can be partitioned so that distributors only see
the CDRs at the percentage commission the operator chooses, and only on cards
they personally distribute.

NexGen Carrier & Switching
Service
1715 Village Blvd., Suite 208
West Palm Beach, FL 33409
+1 561 471 1953

Blackstone Unveils Self-Service
e-PIN Distribution Center

Blackstone
Calling Cards Inc. has unveiled the Blackstone Communication Center, which makes
prepaid e-PIN products available to consumers around the clock. Plus, the
owner/operator has the ability to earn additional revenues by staffing the
center to sell postpaid cellular contracts, cellular telephones and accessories
from a variety of providers, including AT&T Wireless, Cingular Wireless,
Tracfone Wireless Inc., Verizon and T-Mobile U.S.A. Inc./VoiceStream.

The center is unlike traditional
vending machines or retail operations; it does not store live inventory, but
delivers electronic PINs for the prepaid products upon payment. It adds a
biometric reader and camera, and every credit and/or debit card transaction
requires a fingerprint and photograph prior to the prepaid product being
dispensed.

It is available in a variety of
color options and due to its innovative design; it can easily be configured for
any location and/or space.

Blackstone Calling Cards Inc.
11600 N.W. 34th St.
Miami, FL 33178
+1 800 639 9590
www.blackstoneonline.com

Epson Introduces Thermal Card
Printer

Epson America Inc. has introduced
its new M-VT101 thermal card printer for printing prepaid calling cards on
credit card-sized media. The card is typically pre-printed on one side with high
quality, full-color graphics, while the thermal side is printed with transaction
details at point-of-sale activation (PoSA). The M-VT101 prints high-resolution
text and graphics on thermal coated plastic media or thermal paper stock at a
clear 203 x 203 dpi resolution. Optical sensors determine the correct card
positioning to ensure accurate and consistent printing and, using simple ESC/POS
commands, text and graphics can be positioned on the card quickly and
accurately. Windows drivers are available.

Printing thermal cards on demand
costs approximately 2 cents per card, versus 20 cents to 25 cents each for
plastic cards, says that company.

Epson America Inc.
3840 Kilroy Airport Way
Long Beach, CA 90806
+1 562 981 3840
www.pos.epson.com

Simplified Launches NexStep
Program

Simplified Development Corp. has
announced Simplified NexStep, a growth-strategy program for small and midsize
telecom service providers and distributors of prepaid cards. The base offering
is the Simplified NexStep prepaid platform, which can be purchased for less than
$100,000 and includes all software licenses and server hardware to control up to
760 ports (32 T1s) or 720 ports (24 E1s) — enough to run 7 million to 8 million
minutes of traffic per month, or 50,000 calls per day (for a five-minute average
call).

As companies grow beyond the maximum
ports license for the NexStep platform, the NexStep Program offers predefined
pricing and migration to Simplified Ventana, a converged voice and data services
platform. Existing NexStep hardware and software integrate seamlessly with
Simplified Ventana, which provides advanced network and business management
applications. In addition to the enhanced operations Simplified Ventana
provides, a new switch, router or server hardware from a variety of vendors can
be added.

Simplified Development Corp.
11100 Metric Blvd., Suite 770
Austin, TX 78758
+1 800 819 8333, ext. 425.
www.simplified.com