Acta Technology Appoints Vice President of Human Resources; Tina Smith brings 17 Years of Senior HR Experience to Acta.

PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE))--Oct. 25, 1999--

Acta Technology, Inc., a leading provider of packaged data warehousing solutions for business analysis, announced today that it has appointed Tina Smith to the position of Vice President of Human Resources.

Smith, with 17 years of senior human resources experience in fast-moving, high-technology environments, will report directly to Acta President and CEO Carol Mills Baldwin. Baldwin, who previous to joining Acta last year, spent 16-years at Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HWP), culminating in her position as general manager of the enterprise systems group, a division she grew from $1.5B to $4.5B in revenue during her tenure.

Acta's Corporate Culture is a Competitive Differentiator

"I learned at HP that the way you treat your people is a competitive advantage," said Mills Baldwin. "It is well-known that trying to pry someone out of HP is very difficult because they treat their people so well. A strong, value-based corporate culture is also a competitive advantage. For Acta to meet and exceed its goals as we invent a new eCommerce category in the e2e(TM) product family -- and as we move toward a Year 2000 IPO -- we need to attract and retain the smartest people."

"We needed a leader in human resources who would do the right things to maintain a positive corporate culture," added Mills Baldwin. "Tina Smith is that person. I expect that Acta will be as difficult a place to recruit from next year as HP is today."

A native of Morgan Hill, Calif., Smith brings extensive experience to Acta in the areas of organizational behavior, employee benefits, training, and recruiting. Prior to joining Acta, Smith spent eleven years as a consultant, providing senior-level HR services to numerous Silicon Valley companies -- including Oracle Corporation (Nasdaq: ORCC) as well as Acta -- in a variety of areas including software (shrink-wrap, educational, enterprise), telephony, wireless, semi-conductors, capital equipment, monitors, and security.

Prior to working as a consultant, she worked for six years in various domestic and international human resources positions at Spectra-Physics Lasers, Inc. (Nasdaq:SPLI) and Acuson Corporation (NYSE:ACN).

"I am delighted to be joining Acta on a full-time basis," said Smith. "The company and I share a common view that a strong HR organization can be a strategic and competitive advantage for a company.

"With its rapid growth rate, Acta is well positioned for major success, and I look forward to helping develop an infrastructure that will support our faced-paced environment, and reinforcing a corporate culture in which we are committed to making a meaningful difference in our customers' enterprise decision-support and eCommerce strategies."

About Acta Technology, Inc.

Founded in 1996, Acta Technology, Inc. is one of the world's leading providers of packaged data warehousing solutions for business analysis and decision support. Acta products help companies to jumpstart their business intelligence programs with pre-configured solutions that can be implemented within days instead of months.

Acta RapidMart(TM)s, a suite of pre-configured data warehouses for specific areas of business analysis, are powered by ActaWorks,(TM) an award-winning extraction, transformation, and loading (ETL) platform.

Acta recently announced e2e, a new architecture for integrating ERP and other back-office data with Web applications. Based on Acta's data warehousing products, e2e extends Acta's core technology beyond intra-company decision support to the business-to-business eCommerce market.

Acta is an active member of the SAP Complementary Software Program (CSP) and PeopleSoft Global Alliance Program. ActaWorks has been certified by PeopleSoft, and the Acta SAP BW interface has been certified by SAP. Acta customers include Chevron (NYSE:CHV), FX Meiller, Guinness, Maxtor (Nasdaq:MXTR), Monsanto (NYSE:MTC), S-B Power Tools (a division of Bosch GmbH), Shell Chemical Company, and other Global 1000 companies.

Acta is headquartered at 1001 Elwell Court, Palo Alto, CA 94304, and has international offices in London, Frankfurt, Paris and Amsfoort (the Netherlands). Sales and partnership inquiries should be directed to Acta's toll-free phone number 888/613-3282.

The company recently announced that it has raised $14.5 million in its mezzanine round of financing. The latest round of financing brought total funding to $24 million. Acta has received funding from Van Wagoner Funds, Sycamore Venture Capital, Colman Partners, and Comdisco Ventures. They were joined by existing investors U.S. Venture Partners, Norwest Venture Partners, and Greylock Limited Partnerships.

Note to Editors: ActaWorks, RapidMart, and e2e are trademarks of Acta Technology, Inc. All other product and company names mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.