ServiceCentral Announces Distribution Agreement with Spirent Communications
Relationship Will Enable Wireless Service Providers and Manufacturers to Reduce Service Errors, Simplify Training and Collect Additional Data for Product Analysis
ATLANTA †July 9, 2002 -- ServiceCentral Technologies, Inc., a leading provider of service management solutions, today announced a reseller agreement with Spirent Communications, a wholly owned business group of Spirent plc (LSE: SPT, NYSE: SPM). The agreement enables ServiceCentral to resell Spirentâ€s universal programming applications to help service organizations reduce training expenses and product deployments costs, and improve employee productivity and efficiency.
ServiceCentral will market Spirentâ€s Universal Product Support Tool (UPST) and its multi-port version, the Universal Multi-Phone Programmer (UMPP), to its customers in the wireless handset industry. These solutions provide an automatic way to conduct handset programming and repairs and deliver fast, accurate customer service. Each wireless handset manufacturer has multiple handset models, and each model currently requires a specific support tool. The Spirent tools run on a single personal computer and are controlled via a common user interface. Service personnel perform programming and repairs by connecting each handset to the Spirent tool, selecting the handset model from a pull-down list, and choosing the applicable updates to perform. Spirentâ€s tools automatically detect the software version and Preferred Roaming List (PRL) on each handset and apply the requested updates, which can also include restoring factory settings. With the Spirent tools, ServiceCentralâ€s customers can eliminate the need for service depots and retail service counters to keep track of an unmanageable number of support tools, reduce costly errors and enable non-technical personnel in retail stores to perform maintenance updates quickly and efficiently.
In addition to reselling the universal programming applications, ServiceCentral will integrate its Diagnostic Collect software into the Spirent UPST and UMPP software. The Diagnostic Collect software stores a database of information collected from each handset during the update, or “flashing,” process. The software mines information from the Spirent database, enabling service providers and service centers to collect key data from the flashing process for incorporation into work order management, warranty claims, market research and business intelligence reporting.
“There is a lot of synergy between our companies,” said Gene Kientzy, Director of Product Development at Spirentâ€s Forth Worth facility. “This agreement adds a lot of value for our potential joint customers. We also look forward to extending our coverage into other air interface technologies through this new distribution channel.”
“Using Spirent and ServiceCentral applications, our customers not only have a way to improve their service levels, they can also extract valuable market data to determine where to focus product marketing and product development activities,” said Thornton Muir, CEO of ServiceCentral. “We are pleased to offer our customers an additional way to achieve value from the end-to-end returns and repair process for handsets, from the point of sale through the repair/logistics center.”
About ServiceCentral Technologies
ServiceCentral Technologies delivers true enterprise-level service chain management solutions for companies, bringing order, management and visibility to the complex business processes associated with managing and supporting product service operations. ServiceCentral applications help companies experience improved customer service, streamlined operations and increased profits. For more information, visit www.servicecentral.com, or call (404) 870-7070.
About Spirent Communications™
Spirent Communications is a worldwide provider of integrated performance analysis and service assurance systems for next-generation network technologies. Spirent's solutions accelerate the profitable development and deployment of network
equipment and services by emulating real-world conditions in the lab and assuring end-to-end performance of large-scale networks. For more information, visit www.spirentcom.com.
Spirent Communications is a wholly owned business group of Spirent plc, an international network technology company. Spirent plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange (ticker: SPT). The company is also listed on the New York Stock Exchange (ticker: SPM; CUSIP number: 84856M209). For more information, visit www.spirent.com.
For more information contact:
Steve Teel, ServiceCentral Technologies, (404) 870-7070, steve.teel@servicecentral.com
Rebecca Boucher, Spirent Communications, (732) 544-8700, rebecca.boucher@spirentcom.com
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