Sprint and Agnik Team on Advanced Data Mining for Enhanced Vehicle Performance Applications

M2M technology and cutting-edge software help people recognize driving patterns and take better care of vehicles to improve efficiency and safety

OVERLAND PARK, Kan.--()--Sprint (NYSE:S) and Agnik will work together to provide companies with advanced tools that analyze vehicle and driver performance data in order to make transportation safer and cleaner.

Agnik’s suite of software products provide powerful yet easy-to-use Web-based tools that transform data about vehicle activity and health into valuable insights, highly coveted by fleet owners and companies in the insurance and auto repair industries.

Agnik offers the insurance industry a full solution that captures vehicle and driver behavior with a small device that simply plugs into the vehicle’s diagnostic data port. It analyzes the data onboard the vehicle, and sends the resulting data analytics over the Sprint wireless network to a remote server that can be accessed by actuarial managers and policy holders with easy-to-use Web-based tools. Agnik MineDrive™ performs statistical data mining, clustering, segmentation, trend analysis and predictive modeling capabilities. Insurance companies may use this information to provide teen driver plans and safe driver rate plans with greater risk awareness than ever before.

For the auto repair industry, Agnik offers MineCar™, a product that combines the real-time telematics vehicle performance analytics with non-telematic data such as historical data about the car, lifestyle information about the car owner's interests, repair details and current market data about the car. Auto service companies can alert drivers in the early stages of a repair or when their care is scheduled for maintenance, in addition to other valuable business intelligence critical for effective customer relationship management.

And for better monitoring and management of fleet vehicles, Agnik offers MineFleet® advanced predictive vehicle data mining for dramatically reducing the operating costs. It includes computer modeling software for benchmarking and monitoring vehicle health, emissions, driver behavior, fuel-consumption and fleet characteristics.

Agnik also offers Vyncs™ for monitoring family vehicles. It is designed for a household with multiple cars (or a business with a small fleet) and offers an easy-to-use Web-based portal that enables the policyholder to track the location of the car for greater parental control. It also reports the mechanical condition of the car, generates maintenance alerts, provides estimates for repairs, offers personalized fuel savings tips and gives suggestions for improving driving styles.

“Sprint is excited to be working with Agnik, and this collaboration announcement underscores our commitment to making transportation safer and more efficient,” said Wayne Ward, vice president-Emerging Solutions Group, Sprint. “We have a dedicated team that fast tracks M2M solutions to market. So far, Sprint has certified hundreds of M2M solutions and has millions of devices running on its network today. Wireless monitoring is an example of how connected devices are changing every aspect of our lives.”

“Agnik is pleased to collaborate with Sprint in supporting Sprint’s offerings in the insurance and transportation-related markets,” said Dr. Hillol Kargupta, president-Agnik. “Agnik offers a comprehensive set of telematics products powered by our patented, onboard data-stream mining technology and wide range of analytic services for insurance, vehicle repair and consumer market solutions.”

Sprint Network Vision

To ensure that future demand for wireless connectivity will be met, Sprint has embarked on a multiyear initiative to provide an enhanced network experience expected to provide faster data speeds and improved voice quality, while creating network flexibility, reducing operating costs and improving environmental sustainability. The program, called Network Vision, involves the deployment of multimode base stations across many of Sprint’s cell sites throughout the country. As base stations are deployed, customers are expected to notice immediate improvements both outside and inside buildings, plus 4G LTE capability will become available. Sprint expects to complete Network Vision by the end of 2013.

About the Sprint Emerging Solutions Group

With more than a dozen years of experience with M2M, Sprint has been at the forefront of this wireless industry revolution, teaming with and supporting a large and diverse portfolio of innovative companies to create smarter wireless solutions that change the way people work and live. In 2010 Sprint opened the Sprint M2M Collaboration Center in Burlingame, Calif., a hands-on, interactive lab where ideas knowledge and technology unite to produce wirelessly enabled M2M concepts and products. Last year Sprint also introduced the Sprint Command Center, a Web-based portal that allows businesses with Sprint wireless-connected products the ability to manage, activate and de-activate each device. Sprint’s M2M leadership has earned prestigious third-party validation – including the top-ranked North American M2M provider (and second-ranked carrier overall among 12 global service providers) by Analysys Mason, and the Frost & Sullivan 2011 Customer Value Enhancement Award in North America for Machine to Machine Communications. To learn more about Sprint’s M2M offerings, visit www.sprint.com/m2m.

About Sprint Nextel

Sprint Nextel offers a comprehensive range of wireless and wireline communications services bringing the freedom of mobility to consumers, businesses and government users. Sprint Nextel served more than 56 million customers at the end of the first quarter of 2012 and is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including the first wireless 4G service from a national carrier in the United States; offering industry-leading mobile data services, leading prepaid brands including Virgin Mobile USA, Boost Mobile, and Assurance Wireless; instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. Newsweek ranked Sprint No. 3 in its 2011 Green Rankings, listing it as one of the nation’s greenest companies, the highest of any telecommunications company. You can learn more and visit Sprint at www.sprint.com or www.facebook.com/sprint and www.twitter.com/sprint.

About Agnik

Agnik is a data analytics company for distributed, mobile and embedded environments. Agnik's core product offerings are in the area of vehicle performance data mining. It offers MineFleet® for commercial fleets, MineDrive™ for the insurance market, Vyncs™ for the consumer market and MineCar™ for the car repair industry. Agnik's core analytic offerings span a wide spectrum including vehicle health, maintenance, driver behavior, emissions and location services. Agnik has a strong track record of working with major publicly held companies and government organizations in bringing innovative telematics products to the consumer and commercial market. Agnik is a recipient of the 2010 Frost & Sullivan Enabling Technology of the Year Award and 2010 IEEE Top-10 Data Mining Case Studies Award. Agnik's technology is based on years of research by its co-founders in this area. Agnik's president is an IEEE Fellow, winner of IBM Innovation Award, winner of National Science Foundation CAREER Award among others. For more information about Agnik, please visit www.agnik.com or www.facebook.com/agnikllc and www.twitter.com/agnikllc.

"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995

This news release includes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the securities laws. The statements in this news release regarding network performance, coverage and capabilities, business and network efficiencies, migration of services new technologies, timing of deployment, and products and services, as well as other statements that are not historical facts, are forward-looking statements. The words “estimate,” “project,” “forecast,” intend,” “expect,” “believe,” “target,” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are estimates and projections reflecting management’s judgment based on currently available information and involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those suggested by the forward-looking statements. With respect to these forward-looking statements, management has made assumptions regarding, among other things, development and deployment of new technologies; efficiencies and cost savings of multimode technologies; customer and network usage; customer growth and retention; service, coverage and quality; availability of devices; the timing of various events and the economic environment. Sprint Nextel believes these forward-looking statements are reasonable; however, you should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which are based on current expectations and speak only as of the date of this release. Sprint Nextel is not obligated to publicly release any revisions to forward-looking statements to reflect events after the date of this release. Sprint Nextel provides a detailed discussion of risk factors in periodic SEC filings, including in its annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended Dec. 31, 2011.

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Contacts

Sprint
Randy Spolter, 703-592-8507
randal.spolter@sprint.com
or
Agnik
Kakali Sarkar, 410-290-0146
kakali@agnik.com

Release Summary

M2M technology and cutting-edge software help people recognize driving patterns and take better care of vehicles to improve efficiency and safety

Contacts

Sprint
Randy Spolter, 703-592-8507
randal.spolter@sprint.com
or
Agnik
Kakali Sarkar, 410-290-0146
kakali@agnik.com