The new Sterling Commerce Service Bureau, coupled with the company’s leading Multi-Enterprise Finance Gateway (MEFG) will provide banks and their corporate customers with a complete end-to-end, SWIFTNet integration solution.  This solution will facilitate not only message format standards, but also the secure, reliable, global transport of data between SWIFT-member banks and their corporate customers.  
 
“We are pleased Sterling Commerce has extended its five-year partnership to include the SWIFTNet Service Bureau offering,” said Luc Meurant, head of the Corporate Access Program at SWIFT.  “This will more efficiently automate and simplify communications between our 8,000 members and Sterling’s 19,000 corporate communities, without needing to deploy additional expertise, software or infrastructure investment.”
 
“Last year, we announced MEFG as a collaborative gateway solution for payments and other bank-to-corporate communications,” said Matthew Marks, Industry Marketing Manager, Financial Services – Asia Pacific, Sterling Commerce.  “This year, we are further enabling that capability by providing corporate customers with direct connectivity to their banking partners via a SWIFTNet Service Bureau.  By closing this bank-to-corporate gap via a single network connection, banks will be able to help their customers improve cash control with more efficient integration and matching of supply chain events with related financial transactions, and their corporate customers will maintain greater visibility and control of their supply networks.”
 
Colin Kerr, senior analyst for the global payments research service at TowerGroup, said, “This is a significant step forward in linking the physical and financial supply chains, particularly for organisations of all sizes. Companies and banks alike will benefit from data translation and SWIFTNet connectivity services.”
 
The first release of the new Sterling Commerce Service Bureau is targeted for general availability in the first quarter of 2008.   

About SWIFT
SWIFT is the industry-owned co-operative supplying secure, standardised messaging services and interface software to over 8,100 financial institutions in 208 countries and territories. SWIFT members include banks, broker-dealers and investment managers. The broader SWIFT community also encompasses corporates as well as market infrastructures in payments, securities, treasury and trade. Over the past ten years, SWIFT message prices have been reduced over 80%, and system availability approaches 5x9 reliability - 99.999% of uptime.

About Sterling Commerce
Sterling Commerce, a subsidiary of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T), helps 80 percent of the FORTUNE® 500 thrive in a global economy by solving complex process integration challenges. The company's innovative software and services integrate customers' systems -- inside and outside the four walls of the enterprise -- so companies can conduct business without borders.  Sterling Commerce solutions help customers adopt best practices in e-sales, supply chain execution, payment processing and business-to-business integration. The solutions also give executives and front-line managers greater visibility inside and outside the enterprise in order to improve profitability, reduce costs and minimise risk.  With more than 30,000 customers worldwide, Sterling Commerce has unparalleled experience in financial services, retail, consumer packaged goods, manufacturing, supply chain, logistics, and telecommunications. More information on Sterling Commerce can be found at www.sterlingcommerce.com.au.