Ace Hardware Gets Business Intelligence Extreme Makeover With Information Builders.

Leading Worldwide Retailer Selects WebFOCUS as Enterprise Reporting Tool

NEW YORK -- Information Builders, the leader in production business intelligence solutions, today announced that Ace Hardware Corporation, the largest retailer-owned hardware cooperative in the industry, has chosen WebFOCUS as its enterprise reporting tool due to the solution's ease of development, scalability, and data access and integration capabilities.

Founded in 1924, Ace grew a few Chicago hardware stores into a company that includes more than 4,600 stores in 50 states and over 70 countries. As the company grows in size, employees and revenues, it has become critically important to have a business intelligence (BI) standard that can get users the information they need, when they need it, for better decision-making.

Ace currently uses another BI tool, but is replacing that system with WebFOCUS. A major driver in selecting WebFOCUS as its new reporting platform was its ability to scale to thousands of users, the ease of use for the development team, and the product's ability to access a variety of data sources. With data stored in multiple systems, including JD Edwards, SAP, DB2, and others, it was essential to have a BI solution that could pull data from all those sources and integrate the results within BI reports.

"We currently have more than 3,000 users between employees, suppliers, and partners running or writing reports on a daily basis," said Brian Cook, software engineering consultant, information technology, for Ace Hardware. "There was a strain on the IT group to meet all the business intelligence requests coming in and we knew we needed a tool that would allow us to scale to more users, while easing development and offering more self-service capabilities. After looking at a number of options, it was clear WebFOCUS was the best solution for us."

"Ace Hardware is a well-known brand in a very competitive retail market and they understand the value technology plays in helping scale and grow a business," said Gerald Cohen, CEO of Information Builders. "The reasons Ace selected WebFOCUS underscore how important the marriage of data integration and business intelligence are in a solution. We feel confident that Ace will be able to build all of its data management needs on WebFOCUS."

About Ace Hardware

Throughout its 80-year history, Ace Hardware has been known as the helpful hardware store by both customers and communities. With 4,600 hardware, home center and building materials stores that generate annual retail sales of more than $12 billion, Ace Hardware is the largest retailer-owned hardware cooperative in the industry. Headquartered in Oak Brook, Ill., Ace currently operates 14 distribution centers in the U.S. and its retailers' stores are located in all 50 states and 70 countries. More information about Ace can be found at www.acehardware.com.

About Information Builders

Information Builders' award-winning combination of business intelligence and enterprise integration software has been providing innovative solutions to over 12,000 customers for the past 30 years. WebFOCUS is the world's most widely utilized business intelligence platform. It provides the security, scalability, and flexibility needed at every level of global extended enterprises. Its simplicity helps create executive, analytical, and operational applications that reach dozens to millions of users. Information Builders subsidiary iWay Software provides state-of-the-art, multi-purpose integration engines that address all SOA, application, data, and information management requirements. Its integration adapters have been adopted by the leading software platform providers. Together, these products give Information Builders' customers the ability to live up to the company motto: "Your Business, No Barriers."

Information Builders' customers include most of the Fortune 100 and U.S. federal government agencies. Headquartered in New York City with 90 offices worldwide, the company employs 1,600 people and has more than 350 business partners.