Business Editors

OMAHA, Neb.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 7, 2003

ACI Worldwide (Nasdaq:TSAI), a leading international provider of enterprise e-payment solutions, today announced that its WINPAY24(TM) payment processing application for retailers is now available on the Stratus(R) ftServer(R) 6500 fault-tolerant server. ACI and Stratus Technologies have signed an alliance partnership agreement to jointly market and promote their solutions in sales opportunities where high availability is a key selection criterion.

ACI performed benchmark testing for WINPAY24 running on the Stratus ftServer 6500 system. This Intel processor-based server is the computer industry's first four-way SMP fault-tolerant server for enterprise-class Microsoft Windows Advanced Server computing environments. The system is configurable with either dual- or triple-modular redundancy, delivering the industry's highest level of reliability for applications where business continuity and continuous data processing are critical. The family of Stratus ftServer systems also includes the entry-level 3300 and mid-range 5240 servers, providing two-way SMP fault-tolerant capabilities.

ACI's WINPAY24 is a feature-rich electronic funds transfer (EFT) processing application used by over 30 customers in the United States and Mexico to authorize and route credit, debit, gift, phone and loyalty card transactions; refunds; checks; and electronic benefits transfer (EBT) transactions.

"Given the need to extract the utmost performance and value from their technology investments, and zero tolerance for unreliability, the WINPAY24 application on an ftServer system is a compelling solution that retailers need to evaluate," said Philip Izzo, Stratus director of financial services marketing. "It will exceed their expectations in every regard."

Sheetz, Chain Store Guide's 16th largest convenience store operator in the United States, has already benefited from this partnership. Sheetz chose the WINPAY24 solution to accept and process all credit card, debit card, fleet card, and EBT purchases on an ftServer system serving more than 280 stores in five states.

"We were looking for a solution that could handle a variety of non-cash consumer payments and keep up with our aggressive growth," said Rich Steckroth, manager of business development and e-commerce for Sheetz. "WINPAY24 gives us the ability to accept EFT transactions and route them to the appropriate processor or gateway. By managing our transaction switching in-house, we can control costs and ensure our customers' transactions are handled quickly and efficiently."

WINPAY24, operating on a single four-way server, achieved a level of transaction throughput during benchmark testing that previously had only been possible in a clustered application environment. Operating on a single Stratus(R) ftServer(R) 6500 fault-tolerant system, WINPAY24 was benchmarked at over ten times the highest volumes required by any current customer. Using Windows 2000 Advanced Server and SQL Sever 2000, the test simulated a real world mix of the transactions retailers face every day, including credit, debit, EBT and check requests for authorization.

"ACI can now offer our WINPAY24 customers a cost-effective, fault-tolerant solution without the complexity and cost of clustering," said Charles Linberg, ACI's chief technical officer. "The entire application, including the database, was run on a single four-processor system. No application changes were required, the mixed workload was managed effectively and the continuous-processing features performed as advertised. We are very pleased with the results."

Stratus is the only server maker to disclose actual recorded "availability" levels for its products based on reported service incidents from the installed base. The ftServer Uptime Meter(SM) is updated daily and can be viewed at www.stratus.com/uptime/ftserver.htm. The data is based on operating experience of both the hardware and Windows 2000 operating system.

About Stratus Technologies

Originally founded in 1980, Stratus Technologies delivers continuously available platforms with unmatched operational simplicity, providing a compelling financial advantage to our customers. Stratus also licenses technology for continuous computing on Intel processor-based platforms to other global manufacturers. Stratus has been named by FORTUNE magazine as one of the 2002 "FORTUNE(R) 100 Best Companies to Work For." Stratus is a U.S. Microsoft Gold Certified Partner. For more information visit www.stratus.com.

About ACI Worldwide

Every second of every day, consumers are initiating electronic payment transactions--getting cash at ATMs, using debit and credit cards to make purchases in stores and on the Internet, banking by phone and PC, paying bills online. Over 30 billion times a year, ACI software is used to process these transactions, powering the world's online payment systems. ACI was founded in 1975 and pioneered the development of applications and networking software for online transaction processing. Today more than 500 customers in 71 countries use ACI supplied software. Visit ACI Worldwide on the Internet at www.aciworldwide.com.

Any statements in this press release regarding projected results are preliminary and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In addition, this press release may contain other forward-looking statements including statements regarding Transaction Systems Architects, Inc.'s ("TSA"), its subsidiaries or third parties' expectations, predictions, views, opportunities, plans, strategies, beliefs, and statements of similar effect. The forward-looking statements in this press release are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially.

For a detailed discussion of these and other risk factors, interested parties should review the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Company's Form 10-K filed on January 13, 2003, the Company's Form 10-Q filed on February 13, 2003 and the Company's Form 10-Q filed on May 15, 2003.