Bridgewater Systems Announces Prepaid Service Control Solution for WiMAX

Enables flexible support of prepaid services based on time and usage quotas

Bridgewater Systems (TSX: BWC) today announced the availability of a WiMAX prepaid service control solution which allows service providers to seamlessly support prepaid data services for WiMAX subscribers. The solution builds on Bridgewater's leadership in 3GPP2-compliant prepaid solutions, and the company's broad set of WiMAX solutions designed to help service providers accelerate the introduction and support of new services, including on-demand services. 

The Bridgewater® solution allows service providers to offer multiple types of WiMAX prepaid services including time and usage prepaid quotas based on a range of parameters such as bytes, downloads and messages. The solution can detect usage quota breach conditions, enabling the service provider to offer self-service "top up" capabilities before accounts are depleted, thereby improving service continuity and reducing the potential for revenue leakage. 

The WiMAX prepaid service control solution allows WiMAX service providers to offer on-demand prepaid services immediately, with support planned for policy and charging control (PCC), a standards-based online charging initiative currently being finalized within the WiMAX Forum®. The solution supports RADIUS session-based accounting with planned support of RADIUS flow-based accounting as the market matures with industry support for multiple types of rating methodologies. 

The WiMAX prepaid service control solution is provided by the Prepaid Integrator, an optional module for the Bridgewater Systems AAA Service Controller, the company's industry-leading WiMAX service control solution. Proven in numerous service provider networks including tier 1 WiMAX deployments, the AAA Service Controller offers broad interoperability for a range of prepaid billing platforms and mixed network environments. 
"Prepaid support is a critical capability, enabling WiMAX service providers to compete with existing 2.5 and 3G broadband services, by offering services that appeal to under-served user segments who would not typically subscribe to regular monthly subscription plans," said Farshid Mohammadi, vice president product line management at Bridgewater Systems. "Bridgewater's industry-leading WiMAX service control solutions are being implemented in large-scale WiMAX deployments and trials around the world, enabling service providers to accelerate and de-risk WiMAX deployments, and differentiate with on-demand services such as prepaid offerings." 

About Bridgewater Systems 
Bridgewater Systems develops subscriber-centric service control solutions, including access control and policy management software for fixed, mobile and converged networks. Using Bridgewater solutions, global service providers can offer personalized services and experiences to their subscribers by maintaining a real time policy that controls how subscribers interact with networks, services, and their devices. Vendor-neutral and access network agnostic, Bridgewater's carrier-class solutions help global service providers launch new services faster, target them more accurately, and maximize profits by creating a decision point that brings dynamic subscriber context to controlling and merchandizing the subscriber interaction with IP-based services. More than 100 leading service providers around the globe including Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel, Bell Mobility and SmarTone-Vodafone trust Bridgewater's technology to help them deliver world-class services. www.bridgewatersystems.com 

Bridgewater, Bridgewater Systems and the Bridgewater Systems logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Bridgewater Systems Corporation. "WiMAX Forum" is a registered trademark of the WiMAX Forum. "WiMAX," the WiMAX Forum logo, "WiMAX Forum Certified," and the WiMAX Forum Certified logo are trademarks of the WiMAX Forum. All other company, product names and any registered and unregistered trademarks mentioned are used for identification purposes only and remain the exclusive property of their respective owners.