Oracle and LODESTAR

On April 24, 2007, Oracle announced our agreement to acquire LODESTAR Corporation ("LODESTAR"), a leading provider of meter data management and competitive energy operation solutions. We expect the transaction to close in May 2007, subject to certain closing conditions. Until such time, each company will continue to operate independently.

LODESTAR delivers best-in-class meter data management, commercial and industrial (C&I) billing, load research, load forecasting and pricing, load profiling, and settlement and transaction management solutions to the utilities industry. The strengths of LODESTAR's solutions for utilities are planned to be combined with Oracle's industry leading database, middleware, and enterprise applications, including Oracle Utilities applications acquired through SPLWorldGroup. Combined, we plan to deliver the most comprehensive suite of mission critical operational systems for all segments of the utilities industry, combining meter data management, load profiling, pricing, marketing, sales, customer care, billing, analytics and management of the networks, work force, assets, and business to business transactions. We are also committed to supporting our respective customers, which include over 2,500 utilities worldwide, and 10 of the top 10 Global electric and gas companies.

On 6/1/2007, Oracle completed the acquisition of LODESTAR Corporation.

LODESTAR Corporation encompasses over 25 years of industry experience, spanning a customer base that includes the largest electricity and gas companies around the world. Our partnerships with these companies have allowed LODESTAR to stay in the forefront of the industry with leading energy software solutions.

Recognized globally for our suite of applications, LODESTAR Customer Choice Suite (CCS) is the cornerstone of many energy companies' mission critical applications. The CCS advantage lies in the ability to provide scalability and flexibility. Most solutions to date cannot handle the complexity involved in handling energy data. Thus, resources are consumed where they could be better utilized elsewhere. Because LODESTAR has applications that require configuration only around customer specific requirements, a business reduces expenditure as well as install time.

LODESTAR understands a business' need to forge ahead competitively. This is why we are dedicated to offering the industry software solutions that easily integrate into the entire enterprise. Our applications work easily with other third party packages and can easily be changed by your internal staff or with the help of a LODESTAR implementation specialist.

Chris Hamilos, Chairman and CEO had the vision to create a component-based suite of products to address the demands imposed by the ever-changing and dynamic energy markets worldwide. The first product to manage load research was introduced by LODESTAR Corporation (as part of TASC) in 1978. Since that time we have evolved our offerings into more than 10 different products that include portfolio management, financial management, pricing, billing, contract management, transaction management and more.
We lead with boldness, passion, speed and innovation. Our focus is to continuously provide the technology that makes a difference. We offer flexibility, efficiency, knowledge and over 70 years combined experience in our management team.

Source: www.oracle.com & www.lodestarcorp.com

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