As part of the planned growth of its application development and implementation teams, Bottomline now has over 80 professionals deployed to facilitate more than 1,200 BACSTEL-IP installations per month, up from 600 per month in 2004. Capacity is being increased primarily to accommodate the anticipated increased demand for the new subscription service.

Approximately 50,000 direct users of the existing BACSTEL service must migrate to a new high-speed electronic payments and collection service, known as BACSTEL-IP, before the December 31, 2005 deadline. It is anticipated that nearly 60% of these users will require BACSTEL-IP software to be implemented during 2005.

"Bottomline continues to keep its implementation capacity ahead of industry demand," said Peter Fortune, President of Bottomline Technologies Europe. "An enhanced resource pool gives us the ability to meet our anticipated installation forecasts for 2005, while taking on new customer commitments and partnerships."

"We are delighted to see Bottomline reacting so positively to the increased demand," said Mike Hutchinson, BACSTEL-IP Marketing Manager. "It is vitally important that the BACSTEL-IP solution suppliers, together with the banks, work in tandem to ensure a successful migration for their corporate customers."