FAIRFAX, Va. and REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – July 23, 2002 – webMethods, Inc. (Nasdaq: WEBM), the leading provider of integration software, and Informatica Corporation (Nasdaq: INFA), the leading provider of data integration and analytics software, today announced that their existing partnership has been elevated to the “preferred” level to achieve a single goal: make business activity monitoring (BAM) an easily attainable reality. The companies' vision for BAM builds upon the traditional capabilities of data and application integration to power the analysis and monitoring of a complex network of applications and their interactions.
Under the expanded relationship, the companies will bring to market seamless connectivity between the webMethods integration platform and Informatica's data integration platform and analytic applications. In support of the partnership, the companies have committed to a co-marketing and co-selling relationship whereby each company will promote the products of the other to both new customers and their installed customer bases.
“Business activity monitoring represents one of the most promising technological developments to allow companies to optimize most aspects of their operations,” said Phillip Merrick, chairman and CEO for webMethods, Inc. “By offering our customers a BAM solution that combines the webMethods integration platform and Enterprise Web Services offerings with Informatica PowerCenter, the enterprise standard for data integration, we can offer Global 2000 companies the tools necessary to achieve the highest levels of business visibility and return on their IT investments.”
“BAM is the natural result of combining real-time application integration, zero-latency data integration and business analytics,” said Gaurav Dhillon, CEO of Informatica. “The result is the ability to apply analytics to information spanning multiple applications, databases and the business processes that manage the interrelationships of those resources. The combination of Informatica's analytics products and webMethods' application integration software will help provide our joint customers with unprecedented visibility by combining real-time information and alerts with sophisticated historical metrics.”
In addition, webMethods and Informatica will work to define the enterprise requirements necessary to turn BAM into a technical reality for corporate customers. While some technology companies are beginning to endorse BAM initiatives, webMethods and Informatica are building upon their yearlong commitment to the concepts behind BAM. webMethods and Informatica will jointly engage customers to address their BAM needs, recommending each other as their preferred partner to complete the BAM offering.
Asking All the Right Questions
Traditionally, business analytics software could help a business answer questions such as “who are my most profitable customers?” or “what product is selling the best in the Southwest region?” The information needed to answer these questions is stored in a database, then analyzed. This capability becomes much more powerful when information outside the database can also be analyzed and cross-referenced in real-time.
For example, using a combination of webMethods' and Informatica's technologies, a company may be able to detect any change to the normal operating metrics for any business process or operating parameter in real time. This data can be further interpreted by Informatica's analytics products to formulate an optimal response. The response can then be invoked immediately using the business process management capabilities of the webMethods integration platform. The result is the ability of the company to more quickly detect important changes and trends and respond to them in a fraction of the time previously required.
The Bottom Line
“Speed and agility are the marks of a progressive enterprise that sees and understands clearly and quickly how its business is performing, so it can react with appropriate decisions and strategies. Although most enterprises are awash with information stored on databases and in the minds of its employees and managers, aggressive enterprises will be using business activity monitoring (BAM) to integrate and make intelligent real-time use of this information,” said Milind Govekar and Roy Schulte in the Gartner report entitled “BAM Architecture: More Building Blocks Than You Think,” April 2002.
“Our customers are demanding increased visibility and analysis of information related to their supply chain, and to meet that need, we've partnered with webMethods and Informatica. They supply the data and application integration, complementing our supply chain planning and execution offering,” said Pallab Chaterjee, i2 president, Solutions Operations. “These capabilities resonate throughout our customer base, and we feel we're on board with the right team of companies to make sure our customers' needs are addressed.”
About webMethods, Inc.
As the leading independent provider of integration software, webMethods, Inc. (Nasdaq: WEBM - news) delivers the industry's most comprehensive platform for enterprise-wide integration, including complete support for Enterprise Web Services. The webMethods integration platform allows customers to achieve quantifiable R.O.I. by linking business processes, enterprise and legacy applications, databases, Web services and workflows both within and across enterprises. Through this seamless flow of information, companies can reduce costs, create new revenue opportunities, strengthen relationships with customers, substantially increase supply chain efficiencies and streamline internal business processes.
Founded in 1996, webMethods is headquartered in Fairfax, Va., with offices throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia Pacific. webMethods has more than 850 customers worldwide including Global 2000 leaders such as Bank of America, Citibank, Dell, Eastman Chemical, The Ford Motor Company, Grainger, and Motorola. webMethods' strategic partners include Accenture, AMS, BMC Software, BroadVision, Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, Deloitte Consulting, EDS, Hewlett-Packard, i2 Technologies, J.D. Edwards, KPMG Consulting, SAP AG and Siebel Systems. More information about the company can be found at http://www.webmethods.com/.
webMethods is a registered trademark of webMethods, Inc. in the USA and certain other countries. Informatica and PowerCenter are the trademarks or registered trademarks of Informatica Corporation. All other company and product names are the property of their respective owners.
webMethods Safe Harbor: This press release contains various remarks about the future expectations, plans and prospects of webMethods that constitute forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The actual results of webMethods may differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including those discussed under the heading "Factors That May Affect Future Operating Results" in the Business section of webMethods' Form 10-K for the year ended March 31, 2002, which is on file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. webMethods disclaims any obligation to update or correct any forward-looking statements made herein due to the occurrence of events after the issuance of this press release.
Informatica Safe Harbor: This press release contains forward-looking statements, including, for example, those relating to the anticipated benefits of the expanded relationship between Informatica and webMethods and of business activity monitoring, the companies' ability to or success in making business activity monitoring easily attainable in the market, the joint marketing or joint promotion of each other's products, and the value or benefits expected to be realized by joint customers due to the combined offerings of the companies. There is no assurance that the results contemplated by any forward-looking statements will be realized. The following factors, risks and uncertainties, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from those described or implied in this press release's forward-looking statements: the ability of the parties to continue their collaboration, the ability of the companies' joint offerings to meet customers' needs and expectations or perform as described, as well as additional risk factors outlined in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2001 and updated in our report on Form 10-Q for our quarter ended March 30, 2002 and other factors described in Informatica's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Informatica assumes no duty to update any of the forward-looking statements in this release.
