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SAN FRANCISCO, CA., January 20, 2004 - Dave Mulit, general manager of SPL WorldGroup’s Americas region, has announced the opening of the company’s first location in Canada. The Toronto area office is the company’s fifth office in the Americas and the fourteenth worldwide.

Heading the office will be software industry veteran Bob Hopkins, who recently joined SPL from J.D. Edwards Canada (now part of PeopleSoft®). Prior to his tenure at J.D. Edwards, Hopkins was National Director of Intergraph, Canada’s Utilities and Communications Division; he has also held senior positions with IBM Canada, Amdahl Corporation and Prime Computer/Computervision.

“There are some clear differences between customer care and billing needs in Canada and elsewhere,” noted Mulit. “Several provinces have moved more aggressively toward deregulation than have most of the US states. The Canadian approach to competition is distinct from those taken in Latin America, Europe, and the Asia/Pacific countries. During this period of rapid evolution, Bob Hopkins will help us keep SPL focused on the needs of our growing list of Canadian clients.”

"The new Canadian office is part of our global commitment to understanding and responding to our clients' unique needs,” said SPL CEO Harry Debes. "Energy, utility, and services businesses reflect the cultural and political characteristics of the countries they serve, and it's vital that their customer and billing systems readily accommodate those differences."

In joining SPL, Hopkins commented, "SPL is exactly what has been needed in the Canadian CIS marketplace. We offer a great lineup of award-winning products and services, top-ranked systems integration partners, 20+ years of experience in customer care and billing, as well as all-important vendor stability. I couldn’t be happier with the opportunity to do a first-class job for Canadian utilities and services companies."

In addition to expanding the use of SPL’s flagship CorDaptix™ customer care and billing system throughout Canada, Hopkins will assist PeopleSoft Canada in marketing the PeopleSoft CIS system, which is developed and supported on PeopleTools®, by SPL.

The new SPL office is located just outside Toronto in Markham, Ontario; the phone number is 905-201-5054.

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About SPL
As the world leader in customer care and billing software, SPL WorldGroup helps energy and service companies achieve excellence in billing, customer care, sales and marketing. Using outstanding technology and its unparalleled implementation success record, SPL helps its clients attract, nurture and maximize the value of their customers. From prospect management, billing and customer care through quoting and credit and collections, SPL provides energy, water and service companies with strategic options for managing residential, commercial and industrial customers in both regulated and competitive markets, across multi-product service lines. Led by an experienced and visionary management team, and in partnership with the world ’s leading systems integrators and technology innovators, SPL’s 600 professionals in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific dedicates themselves to providing value to clients by implementing solutions that fit the specific needs of energy, water and service related companies and building long-term relationships based on confidence and trust.

Visit SPL WorldGroup at www.splwg.com or call 1-973-539-6268 (New Jersey), 1-866-468-6775 (San Francisco), or, within the US and Canada, 1-800-275-4775.

2003 SPL WorldGroup, Inc. All Rights Reserved. SPL WorldGroup, SPL, and CorDaptix are trademarks owned by SPL WorldGroup B.V. or its subsidiaries. SPL WorldGroup and SPL are registered as trademarks in the United States and in certain other jurisdictions. All other brand, product and company names herein are used for identification purposes only and are the property of their respective owners.