Appsmart Software and Microsoft to Present Free Analytic Application Webcasts Featuring Industry Experts.

Business Editors, High-Tech Writers

CUPERTINO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 31, 2000

Philip Russom of Hurwitz Group, Henry Morris of IDC and

Claudia Imhoff of Braun Consulting will share their

views on the analytic application marketplace in a

three-part series that kicks off November 2

Appsmart Software, a leading provider of packaged analytic application solutions for Microsoft(R) SQL Server(TM), and Microsoft Corporation announced today they will co-sponsor a three-part Webcast series entitled, "Analytic Applications: Today, Tomorrow and Beyond" that will feature interactive sessions with three of the industry's leading authorities on the topic of analytic applications.

The Webcast series kicks off Thursday, November 2, 2000 at 12:00 p.m. EDT with Philip Russom, Ph.D., Director of Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence, Hurwitz Group, a leading analyst and advisory firm. Dr. Russom is a recognized expert in software markets and technologies for business intelligence. As an industry analyst and director at Hurwitz Group, Dr. Russom has a long track record of conducting research, providing consulting, and writing reports on key business intelligence issues like data warehousing, ETL, data integration, data quality, OLAP, data mining, data visualization, and analytic applications. Through his recent work, Dr. Russom has demonstrated thought leadership in cutting-edge issues like customer analysis, supply chain intelligence, and business intelligence in ASP environments.

Russom will discuss "Emerging Markets: Analytic Applications for the Rest of Us." In his address, Russom will discuss the emerging middle market for analytic applications and how it might affect a company's technology and business decisions. All registrants for this Webcast will receive Russom's latest white paper of the same name.

"Recent advances in technology and best practices have sharply reduced the cost and complexity of business intelligence products such that they are now fully accessible to smaller IT shops in middle-market companies," Russom said. "These same advances have enabled non-IT organizations in the Fortune 1000 -- typically a marketing department with an independent budget -- to purchase and implement packaged analytic solutions. Hurwitz Group forecasts that the adoption rate for analytic applications will increase dramatically in 2001 as companies work with leading-edge products provided by Appsmart Software and others which help greatly reduce the time, cost and skill set required to implement highly targeted line-of-business analytic applications."

The Philip Russom Webcast will be followed by Webcasts on February 6, 2001 and March 13, 2001 that will be hosted by Henry Morris, vice president of IDC's Data Warehousing and Information Access research, and Claudia Imhoff, senior vice president of Braun Consulting, respectively.

To register for the Philip Russom Webcast, which will be broadcast on Thursday, November 2 at 12:00 p.m. EDT, please visit http://webevents.broadcast.com/appsmart/analyticapps.

About Appsmart Software

Appsmart Software, formerly AppsCo Software, Inc., provides the only solution for rapidly delivering affordable, customized packaged analytic applications. By automating the deployment of a complete infrastructure for packaged analytics, Appsmart enables developers to focus on adding domain expertise instead of building application frameworks. Appsmart incorporates best-practice analytics and business processes into pre-built solutions that developers can reuse and extend. Appsmart's patent-pending advanced application packaging technology (APT) streamlines deployment, and Appsmart's SmartCustomizer capability allows business analysts to tailor application functionality. Backed by venture capital firms 3i, Vertex Management Group, Scottish Equity Partnership, Grampian Enterprise Limited, Aberdeen Asset Management and British Linen Equity, AppsCo is a privately held company based in Cupertino, Calif., with European headquarters in Guildford, UK. More information on the company and its Appsmart solution is available on the Web at http://www.appsmart.com or by calling 408/777-4422.

Appsmart and the Appsmart logo are registered trademarks of Appsmart Software. Other products mentioned in this document are registered, trademarked, or service marked by their respective owners.

Note to Editors: Copies of previous Appsmart press releases and corporate and product information are available on Appsmart's Web site at www.appsmart.com.