ALLTEL INFORMATION SERVICES LAUNCHES GLOBAL FINANCIAL MARKETS GROUP LITTLE ROCK, Ark., March 29 /PRNewswire-Asianet/ -- ALLTEL (NYSE: AT) Information Services announced today the formation of a new strategic Global Financial Markets group, which will target strategic information technology (IT) opportunities with the largest global financial services institutions. This group will complement the company's existing global sales efforts. Tom Kielty will serve as managing director for the group. In his more than 20 years of financial services business operations experience, Kielty has partnered with some of the world's largest financial services firms to developand implement strategic business plans that create new opportunities and competitive advantages through technology. "With the development of this new Global Financial Markets group, we are setting a specific business focus and allocating resources to pursue business opportunities with the largest, most influential financial services companies in the world," said Phil Sutphin, president of ALLTEL Information Services' financial services organization. "We will work to be involved with these companies differently than our traditional leveraged banking strategy, where we supply core banking technology assets like operations, outsourcing and software. We want to become involved with these companies in creative, innovative ways that drive their business growth. "The evolving trend toward globalization and consolidation in the financial services industry provides enormous opportunities for our company. ALLTEL is creating this dedicated business group to focus on developing and delivering business solutions to the very largest financial services organizations. This is where the bulk of the IT business opportunity resides." ALLTEL Information Services has partnered with some of the largest U.S.- based financial services companies, including Bank of America and First Union, to consolidate and integrate information technology platforms to meet aggressive merger and acquisition strategies. ALLTEL has emerged from those engagements with business operations expertise, software and services excellence, and a proven ability to execute and deliver results demanded by large financial services institutions. "We are uniquely positioned to provide value to the global financial markets, based on our long-term experiences with some of the world's leading domestic and international players," Kielty said. "Our expertise and proven track record in managing rapid technology change, infrastructure transition and overall operations efficiency is unparalleled." Organizational changes within ALLTEL Information Services have been made to support this initiative, including the consolidation of the various strategic consulting practices. Marketing, sales and delivery resources have also been reassigned to the Global Financial Markets team. ALLTEL Information Services, with customers in 48 countries, provides information processing management, outsourcing services and application software to the financial, mortgage and telecommunications industries. ALLTEL is a customer-focused, information technology company that provides wireline and wireless communications and information services. SOURCE ALLTEL CONTACT: Steve Eddington, Corporate Communications, 501-220-5469, or email, [email protected], or George Smith, Media Services, 501-905-8117, or email, [email protected],both of ALLTEL Web site: http://www.alltel.com