ASCL Ascential Software - Common Stock (MM)

NSTAR Powers Operational Efficiency with Data Integration Solutions from Ascential Software Ascential QualityStage and Ascential DataStage Help Energy Delivery Company Improve Business Performance WESTBORO, Mass., Dec. 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Ascential Software Corporation (NASDAQ:ASCL), the enterprise data integration leader, today announced that NSTAR (NYSE:NST), Massachusetts' largest investor-owned electric and gas utility, is using Ascential Software enterprise data integration solutions for projects involving customer and geographic data quality and an enterprise data warehouse. These IT initiatives have helped NSTAR improve customer satisfaction levels by generating rapid service outage analyses. In turn, NSTAR can provide timely outage information to customers. NSTAR is an energy delivery company primarily engaged in the transmission and distribution of energy. The company serves approximately 1.4 million customers in Massachusetts, including approximately 1.1 million electricity customers in 81 communities and 300,000 gas customers in 51 communities. Ascential QualityStage(TM) is the foundation of NSTAR's data quality management infrastructure. With Ascential QualityStage, customer location information is transformed into reference data for dispatchers to analyze when addressing service outages. Dispatchers use this transformed data to view customer calls on a graphical overlay of NSTAR's distribution network, and provide customers with more information on where the problem is occurring and how long it will take to restore power in the affected areas. NSTAR uses Ascential DataStage(TM) to transform data and build its enterprise data warehouse to support the information needs of the entire company. This includes standardizing customer address information and generating data metrics for executive analysis. By leveraging the Ascential Software solution, the company maintains accuracy, consistency and trust in its data across the organization, so business decisions are made in confidence. "Reliability and cost are the most important factors when it comes to meeting the needs of our customers," said Mannie Goldberg, director, Data Resource Management, NSTAR. "With the Ascential Software data integration solution, we have succeeded in faster identification of outage areas, helping decrease operational costs and increase customer satisfaction." "Consolidation and globalization in the utilities industry drive companies such as NSTAR to continue to improve information sharing and establish reliable data processes," said Thracy Varvoglis, executive director of industry solutions at Ascential Software. "By partnering with Ascential Software, NSTAR has developed a repeatable data quality process that will be realized across the organization." Ascential QualityStage, a core component of Ascential Enterprise Integration Suite(TM), provides a powerful framework for developing and deploying data investigation, standardization, enrichment, probabilistic matching and survivorship operations. For use in transactional, operational, or analytic applications, in batch and real-time, the same services are seamlessly deployed to facilitate data validation, cleansing or master data entity consolidation for customers, locations and products. Ascential DataStage, another component of Ascential Enterprise Integration Suite, enables companies to tightly integrate enterprise information, regardless of the sources, targets and timeframes. Whether an organization is building an enterprise data warehouse to support the information needs of the entire company, building a "real-time" data warehouse, or integrating multiple source systems to support strategic business systems such as CRM, SCM, ERP, BI/analytics and e-business, Ascential DataStage helps enable the success of enterprise data integration initiatives. About NSTAR As Massachusetts' largest investor-owned electric and gas utility, NSTAR has been transmitting and delivering electricity and natural gas for more than 100 years. We serve nearly 1.4 million residential and business customers in over 100 Eastern Massachusetts communities. NSTAR's regulated subsidiaries have more than 3,200 employees. NSTAR transmits and delivers electricity to more than one million customers in the City of Boston, and 80 other communities in Eastern and Central Massachusetts. NSTAR also delivers natural gas to more than 300,000 homes in 51 communities. For more information about NSTAR visit http://www.nstaronline.com/. About Ascential Software Ascential Software Corporation (NASDAQ:ASCL) is the leader in enterprise data integration. Customers and partners worldwide use the Ascential Enterprise Integration Suite to confidently transform data into accurate, reliable and complete business information to improve operational performance and decision-making across every critical business dimension. Our comprehensive end-to-end solutions provide on demand data integration complemented by our professional services, industry expertise, and methodologies. Ascential Software is headquartered in Westboro, Mass., and has more than 3,000 customers and partners globally across such industries as financial services and banking, insurance, healthcare, retail, manufacturing, consumer packaged goods, telecommunications and government. For more information call 1-800-966-9875 (508-366.3888 if calling from outside the US or Canada) or visit the Ascential Software website at http://www.ascential.com/. Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This release contains forward-looking statements based on current expectations or beliefs, as well as a number of assumptions about future events, and these statements are subject to important factors and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements in this release address a variety of subjects including, for example, the functionality, characteristics, quality and performance capabilities of Ascential Software's products and technology; results achievable and benefits attainable through deployment of Ascential Software's products and provision of services; and improvements in operational performance and decision-making, the ability of Ascential Software's products to provide a powerful framework for developing and deploying data investigation, standardization, enrichment, probabilistic matching and survivorship operations; the ability of Ascential Software's products to facilitate data validation, cleansing or master data entity consolidation for customers, locations and products and the ability of Ascential Software's products to integrate enterprise information, regardless of the sources, targets and timeframes. The following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in these forward-looking statements: the ability of the company to expand its market share; growth rates for the enterprise data integration software market; general business conditions in the software industry, the technology sector, and in the domestic and international economies; rapid technological change in the markets served by the company; dependence on international operations; global and geopolitical instability; compliance costs associated with regulations to which the company is subject, including the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, and the impact of such regulations; and difficulties that the company may experience integrating technologies, operations and personnel of completed or future acquisitions. For a detailed discussion of these and other cautionary statements, please refer to the filings made by Ascential Software with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including, without limitation, the most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. Ascential Software disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statements made herein to reflect any change in Ascential Software's expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions, or circumstances on which such statements are based. Ascential Software is not responsible for statements attributed to third parties within this release or in any materials referenced herein. Partnerships described herein shall be deemed to be strategic alliances only, and shall not imply the power of either partner to bind the other partner or to incur obligations on behalf of the other partner. All rights reserved. Ascential, Ascential DataStage, Ascential QualityStage and Ascential Enterprise Integration Suite are trademarks of Ascential Software Corporation or its affiliates and may be registered in the United States or other jurisdictions. Other marks are the property of the owners of those marks. DATASOURCE: Ascential Software Corporation CONTACT: Chas Kielt of Ascential Software Corporation, +1-508-599-7256, ; or Mary Keith of Porter Novelli, +1-617-897-8281, Web site: http://www.ascentialsoftware.com/ http://www.nstaronline.com/

Copyright