Open Solutions Launches Level Two of the Open Community Network.

Business Editors

GLASTONBURY, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 7, 2000

E-commerce & Internet banking product offers

Community Financial Institutions increased revenue streams

Open Solutions, a provider of enterprise and e-commerce solutions for community banks and credit unions, announced the launch of Level II of its Open Community Network (OCN) eCommerce model, a set of enabling software and services designed to create commerce and community around the banking transaction. This service offers financial institutions the only private labeled destination network that provides business-to-customer e-commerce, Web-based financial management, co-branding with nationally recognized partners and suppliers, business-to-business e-commerce, business procurement, community news and information and convenient Internet shopping.

Chairman & CEO of Open Solutions, Louis Hernandez, Jr., said, "The release of Level II continues Open Solutions' strategy of positioning banks and credit unions at the center of Internet-based commerce. The Open Community Network, which was released in February 2000, has already garnered industry success and offers an opportunity to revolutionize the whole practice of community institutions offering financial services via the Web. Our services enable banks and credit unions to not only survive but to thrive. Open Solutions provides tools that allow retail and commercial customers and members to access a market place for financial, as well as non-financial, services in a highly integrated secure environment. At the same time they are also realizing benefits from shared revenue from online purchases. OCN is an example of how banks and credit unions can succeed in the online world."

Open Solutions' combination of Internet banking and a business-to-business or business-to-consumer supplier community network is currently offered in an ASP (Application Service Provider) model hosted for the financial institutions by Open Solutions. To date, more than 30 institutions throughout the United States have signed on for this new approach to e-commerce and Internet banking.

Level II of OCN offers many new features that further enable financial institutions to provide complete e-commerce services to their commercial and retail customers and earn revenue from these transactions as they are processed through the institutions' branded Web site. Consumers using the Open Community Network can make multiple vendor purchases in a single transaction from the safety of their bank or credit union's Web site, and for each of those transactions, the institution shares in the revenue generated.

        Other Level II features include:  --  Consolidated shopping cart: provides shopping with multiple     suppliers using a single sign on and check out process;  --  One-time registration: no need to register at each supplier's     site, the consumer registers once at the financial institution's     own Web site;  --  Multiple payment options: consumers can use different payment     methods per supplier (i.e., Credit Card, Debit Card, Direct     Debit);  --  Shipping flexibility: consumers can specify different shipping     addresses per supplier;  --  Usage tracking and documentation: financial institutions have     access to usage reports for research purposes;  --  Spending control options: financial institutions' commercial     customers can set purchase limits for their employees who use the     network; and  --  Highly customizable: financial institutions can customize the look     of their site, control the links on the community page as well as     sign up local merchants to participate in the network. 

OCN marries two concepts: e-commerce and Internet banking. The OCN incorporates three distinct components: e-Commerce Mart(TM) (integrates partners, suppliers and community resources online), e-Commerce Banker(TM) (Internet banking) and The Complete Banking Solution(R) or The Complete Credit Union Solution(R) (core processing) all of which can be licensed and implemented separately. The e-Commerce Mart(TM) component allows bank customers and credit union members to make Internet purchases and access community information from the safety of the financial institution's Web site. To further facilitate online purchases, Open Solutions has signed partnerships with numerous nationally recognized vendors to offer shoppers marked discounts on purchases made from an OCN Web site.

Hernandez continued, "Our goal is to usher in a new way of thinking for financial services and the Internet. An institution's Web site does not have to be just a cost center. Our customers' Web sites are profit centers. More than any other technology provider, we are returning community financial institutions to the center of community commerce by allowing them to fulfill their role as the most trusted financial intermediary."

Unlike portal strategy solutions that send customers away from the site, retail and commercial customers never leave the bank or credit union's branded Web site. Mike Nicastro, Open Solutions' vice president of Marketing and Business Development, said, "It's a well documented fact that consumers trust their banks and credit unions. The Open Community Network maximizes that trust for financial institutions by extending it into the online world. No one else in financial services is offering end-users or institutions the types of conveniences that OCN delivers. We want to show our customers an affordable, revenue generating concept that will serve the institution and the community of consumers served by the institution."

About Open Solutions

Open Solutions Inc. offers the Open Community Network (OCN) a comprehensive technology platform that integrates electronic commerce with Internet banking and enterprise processing applications. OCN consists of three primary components:

e-Commerce Mart(TM) (eCM), an electronic commerce platform facilitating business-to-business and business-to-consumer transactions between nationally recognized partner-suppliers and a financial institution's customers in addition to promoting a financial institution's unique local identity.

e-Commerce Banker(TM) (eCB), a fully featured Internet banking product specifically designed to provide a financial institution's end-users with a trusted access point to financial information.

The Complete Banking Solution(R) (TCBS) and The Complete Credit Union Solution(R) (TCCUS), OSI's open architecture real time relational database enterprise processing applications that support a financial institution's entire core processing requirements.

OSI's combination of enterprise processing applications, electronic commerce and Internet banking enables community banks and credit unions to use technology and the Internet to expand their customer relationships and generate new, profitable revenue streams.

For more information on Open Solutions, or its financial product line, contact Michael Nicastro at (860) 652-3158, via fax at (860) 652-3156, or email mnicastro@opensolutions.com. Visit its Internet site at (www.opensolutions.com).