AMR Research's Supply Chain Management Market Alert Predicts Banner Year for Categoric Software; Supply Chain Execution Market Will Take Off in 2001.

Business Editors/Hi-Tech Writers

STERLING, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 13, 2001

A new report from leading industry analyst AMR Research has named Categoric Software as a prime mover in the Supply Chain Event Management (SCEM) market.

The report, AMR Research's Alert on Supply Chain Management, January 2, 2001, predicts that Categoric will be among the few players to experience "a banner year" in the newly defined and rapidly growing Supply Chain Execution Market (SCEM). This vote of confidence reflects Categoric's belief that a multichannel alerting infrastructure is a fundamental component of effective supply chain management.

"Efficient supply chain execution demands real-time information distribution and control throughout the enterprise and beyond," said Thorgeir Einarsson, CEO and co-founder of Categoric Software. "As individual links in the supply chain become leaner and more independent, enterprise strength alerting infrastructure that is independent of the underlying data sources and applications will become the only sensible way of achieving this visibility and control across a multivendor environment."

The AMR Research Alert paints a positive picture for those supply chain management (SCM) systems providers who have a well-defined strategy, stating that "E-business will continue to give the SCM market a boost as total revenue grows 45 percent in 2001 to $7.8 billion."

A similar rate of growth is predicted for the supply chain execution (SCE) market, which is set to consolidate from its current fragmentation. According to AMR Research, the catalyst for this shift will be SCEM solutions.

"The newly defined SCEM market will take off in 2001, as companies focus on velocity and agility of their supply chains," says the report. "SCEM software allows a company to respond to unplanned events on an exception basis. SCEM consists of a set of integrated software functionality that supports five business processes: monitor, notify, simulate, control and measure supply chain activities.

"Many new and existing software vendors are adding supply chain visibility and alert messaging as a means of offering SCEM. As vendors create more e-business products, SCEM will become standard functionality, expected to grow rapidly in the next three years. Standalone sales of SCEM software are expected to top $100 million in 2001."

Categoric today offers its Xalerts component-based software to software solution vendors on an OEM basis, allowing them to quickly embed the best-of-breed event management technology to achieve business process monitoring capabilities within weeks.

Leading SCM solution vendors like Optum, Armature, OI Synform, TecSys and Qiva have already chosen Categoric Xalerts as its underlying SCEM infrastructure technology to gain a competitive advantage.

High-tech manufacturing enterprises like Quantum and global logistics and transportation companies like NYK Line have chosen Categoric's SCEM infrastructure integrated with their existing enterprise applications to activate their business processes and improve efficiencies and customer service.

Categoric's Xalerts software monitors multiple databases and triggers alerts to employees or customers when user-specified events occur via any specified wireless or wired device. It is an open component-based technology that uses XML standards, enabling easy and rapid integration with existing applications, databases and networks.

Companies embarking on SCEM require mission-critical event management systems encompassing thousands of alerts and business rules and will come to rely on real-time monitoring systems in the near future.

"Xalerts plays a crucial role in supply chain event management," said Mr. Einarsson. "Interactive multichannel alerting activates business processes that were previously merely managed manually by way of periodic reporting and screen gazing. Businesses are moving towards real time and information has to flow fast to all accountable parties in the supply chain. An efficient supply chain monitoring system allows for dynamic workflow capabilities, with crucial human interrupts for situation-based decision making and collaboration to resolve supply chain glitches. When your automated financial system is about to send a credit stop letter to your best customer and consequently stop any delivery of goods, and at the same time you have just received their biggest order ever, wouldn't you rather receive an instant alert that gives you the option to call the customer, resolve the payment issue and ensure the relationship is not damaged?"

About Categoric Software

Categoric Software is a first mover in alerting infrastructure technology for the multichannel enterprise. Categoric's component-based development platform and technology-enabling services empower companies to rapidly build, deploy and manage alerting applications vital to competing in today's time-sensitive world.

The highly scaleable technology interacts with multiple data sources across the enterprise to detect critical events and send relevant, personalized alerts to individuals anytime, anywhere and via any communications channel, including e-mail, Web, SMS, WAP, pager or fax. It also enables them to respond to alerts by initiating previously defined actions.

At work in over a hundred Global 1000 companies, Categoric's software helps its clients and partners in financial services, corporate portals and supply chain management to activate business processes and, thus, enhance speed, productivity, collaboration and customer loyalty.

Founded in 1996, Categoric is privately held with investments from Nokia Ventures, T-Ventures (the investment arm of Deutsche Telekom), BancBoston Capital, and Alta Berkeley Ventures. Alliance partners include Logica, Sage, ACT, Armature, Artemis Project Management, Optum, American Software, Qiva, and Tecsys.

The company maintains dual headquarters in Sterling, Virginia, and Leatherhead, United Kingdom, and offices worldwide.