Apriso Earns XML Communication Middleware Certificate from SAP; Releases XML Middleware for Electronic Commerce.

Business Editors & High-Tech Writers

LONG BEACH, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 2, 2001

Apriso today became the first mySAP.com Software Partner to earn an SAP XML Communication middleware (CA-XML) certificate at SAP Labs in the United States. Simultaneously the company announces the availability of its CIM+ XML Manager middleware for electronic commerce.

"As the Internet's language of commerce, XML communication forms the cornerstone of SAP's Internet Business Framework as well as Apriso's entire application integration architecture," commented Chris Will, Apriso's Vice President of Research and Development. "SAP now recognizes Apriso as one of its leading partners in the deployment of technology that empowers businesses and employees to collaborate successfully, anywhere and at any time. Apriso's XML certification investment reflects our confidence in the mySAP.com e-business platform as well as the significance of our long-standing business relationship with SAP."

Apriso now holds certificates for seven SAP interfaces, more than any other mySAP.com Software Partner in the world.

Extensible markup language (XML) is the universal method for conveying both the structure and content of data and documents over the Internet. The open, self-defining nature of XML messages eliminates incompatibilities between proprietary computing architectures, making it possible for disparate business systems, personal computers (PCs), personal digital assistants (PDAs) and mobile telephones to readily interact with one another.

Apriso won CA-XML certification by successfully communicating with the SAP system generically over the Internet, using the SAP Business Connector. The Business Connector (SAP BC), a key component of SAP's Internet Business framework, is an XML gateway between any external business system, PC or mobile device and SAP's entire family of e-business solutions, including mySAP Marketplace as well as mySAP.com e-procurement, supply chain management, business intelligence, customer relationship management and human resources solutions. CIM+ XML Manager supports sending and receiving SAP Intermediate Documents (IDocs), Remote Function Calls (RFCs) and Business Application Programming Interfaces (BAPIs) in XML format using the hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) or secure hypertext transfer protocol (HTTPS). Additionally, CIM+ XML Manager can create the structure of an IDoc, RFC or BAPI from an XML schema. SAP BC and CIM+ XML Manager support SAP R/3 Releases 3.1h and higher.

About Apriso

Apriso(R), formerly known as CIM Vision International(TM), is a worldwide provider of order fulfillment, plant and warehouse automation solutions with fiscal year 1999 revenue of $16.9 million. The company's principal product, CIM+, is sold to the industrial sector; including aerospace, apparel, automotive, chemicals, consumer products, electronics, industrial machinery, medical devices, metals, pharmaceuticals, printing, pulp and paper industries. CIM+ software complements major customer relationship management (CRM), supply-chain management (SCM) and electronic commerce systems and is geared toward reducing production and order fulfillment cycle times and costs through electronic trading partner integration, immediate decision support and automated data collection. For further information, visit the company's Web site at www.apriso.com.

About SAP

SAP is the world's leading provider of e-business software solutions. Through the mySAP.com(R) e-business platform, people in businesses around the globe are improving relationships with customers and partners, streamlining operations, and achieving significant efficiencies throughout their supply chains. Today, more than 13,000 companies in over 100 countries run more than 30,000 installations of SAP(R) software. With subsidiaries in over 50 countries, the company is listed on several exchanges including the Frankfurt stock exchange and NYSE under the symbol "SAP."