Accenture and Seisint Form Strategic Alliance to Help Organizations Unlock the Power of Data.

Business Editors

NEW YORK & BOCA RATON, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 28, 2001

Accenture, a global management and technology consulting organization, and Seisint Inc., a global information management and technology company, today announced a strategic alliance to develop solutions for Global 1000 companies to help them to dramatically improve business performance by using data at a speed, scale and cost effectiveness that was previously unattainable.

Accenture, formerly known as Andersen Consulting, is combining its solution building skills, global footprint and established methodologies with the market-leading technology of Seisint, formerly known as eData.com. Together, the companies will enable clients to optimize their information resulting in breakthrough business performance. While Accenture and Seisint will provide global solutions to clients across their entire enterprise, the companies will initially focus on delivering Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solutions for the financial services, communications and travel services industries. In addition to the strategic alliance, Accenture Technology Ventures, the venture capital unit of Accenture, has taken an equity stake in Seisint.

"This alliance will greatly help companies to unleash the power of their data and reinvent the way the world currently uses information," said Dale H. Renner, president and CEO of Seisint. "As an architect and builder of the new economy, Accenture is the perfect partner to help us bring new capabilities to our clients."

"Companies have been looking for a unique and powerful technology that can quickly and effectively unlock information from vast amounts of available customer and business data," said J. Patrick O'Halloran, a partner in Accenture's global Customer Relationship Management Practice. "Reducing the time to access and analyze data from weeks to mere seconds means the difference between securing a competitive advantage and avoiding extinction in today's world."

Through their alliance, Accenture and Seisint are tackling a pressing business challenge: The ability to gather information is far outpacing organizations' ability to use it effectively. Seisint has identified this as the Data Gap(SM). In fact, according to a recent study conducted by the University of California, Berkeley, "humankind will create more original information over the next three years than was created in the previous 300,000 combined." Organizations can eliminate this growing problem by tapping Seisint's unmatched capability to process billions of records per second (BORPS(SM)) and Accenture's leadership in delivering value enhancing enterprise-wide and customer relationship management solutions.

"Companies across a broad range of industries can benefit from Seisint's data capabilities," said Joel Friedman, a general partner with Accenture Technology Ventures and a member of Seisint's board of directors. "The alliance with Accenture will help companies effectively leverage these new capabilities and turn them into bottom-line results."

Recent Accenture research reveals that a typical $1 billion company stands to increase profitability by as much as $25 million annually by achieving top performance in their customer insight capabilities. This ability to take the overwhelming amount of transaction data and other information companies now captured about customers and transform it into real insight gives companies a significant real-time advantage.

"Our new name, derived from Seismic Intelligence, better captures the essence of our business and the value we deliver to our customers. We don't simply provide data, but rather a powerful technology platform and applications that our clients can use to transform the way they do business," noted Renner. "It is Seisint's goal to be the world's foremost information innovators; our new name proclaims our mission and our promise to customers."

The Seisint Solution

Seisint integrates specially configured hardware with proprietary software to enable organizations to gain full and innovative use of their untapped data supplies. The company's massive parallel technologies enable clients to access, analyze, manipulate and store massive amounts of data, across disparate databases, in fractions of seconds.

"As we predicted over a year ago, a new business model has emerged for managing information assets: the information services organization (ISO)," said Doug Laney, vice president, Application Delivery Strategies, META Group. "Much like financial services organizations offer financial asset safekeeping, access, lending, investment, and related advice, Seisint has launched a similar business model and organic infrastructure for information management. Through 2005, as enterprises become increasingly burdened with data growth in relation to their capacity to manage/leverage it, ISOs like Seisint will provide needed relief."

In addition to speed, companies benefit from Seisint's flexibility. Its technology can plug into any computing platform; can work over the Internet or private networks; and can operate on distributed or centralized systems. Its scalable technology allows customers to cost-effectively grow solutions and data without affecting performance.

For example, Seisint currently works with Naviant Marketing Solutions to deliver precision marketing solutions to Web advertisers, Web publishers and consumer marketers, using the company's proprietary High-Tech Household File database of more than 31 million participating consumers. Before working with Seisint, it was difficult for Naviant to extract very accurate information from the database. In addition, complex query responses took days and even weeks to complete. With Seisint technology, it now takes only seconds to provide a user count and lists are often fulfilled immediately.

In addition to Accenture Technology Ventures, Seisint is backed by EMC Corporation and BankAtlantic.

About Seisint Inc.

Seisint is a global information management and technology company whose platforms enable organizations to unleash the power of massive data stores. Because of unparalleled speed, flexibility, consistent performance at any volume and cost-effectiveness, Seisint's innovative technologies go beyond solving data problems to transforming the way organizations do business. The Boca Raton, Fla.-based company has built one of the largest and most sophisticated computer systems in the world, with more than 60 terabytes of storage. For more information about Seisint, please visit www.Seisint.com.

About Accenture and Accenture Technology Ventures

Accenture, formerly known as Andersen Consulting, is a $10 billion global management and technology consulting organization. The firm is reinventing itself to become the market maker, architect and builder of the new economy, bringing innovations to improve the way the world works and lives. More than 70,000 people in 46 countries deliver a wide range of specialized capabilities and solutions to clients across all industries. Under its strategy, the firm is building a network of businesses to meet the full range of client needs -- consulting, technology, outsourcing, alliances and venture capital. Accenture's home page address is http://www.accenture.com.

Renamed. Redefined. Reborn.

On January 1, 2001 Andersen Consulting's name was changed to Accenture. Since August 7, 2000 Accenture has not been associated with Andersen Worldwide or Arthur Andersen.

Accenture Technology Ventures, formerly known as AC Ventures, helps talented entrepreneurs build companies that can transform entire industries, create new markets and ultimately generate superior economic returns. Our portfolio includes more than 70 innovative companies that are building key components of tomorrow's infrastructure and improving the way the world works and lives. Launched in December 1999, Accenture Technology Ventures is the venture capital unit of Accenture. Its home page address is http://www.accenturetechventures.com.