Apriso Enterprise Software Solutions Earn SAP NetWeaver Certification.

LONG BEACH, Calif. -- Integration of FlexNet's Real-time Manufacturing Execution Software with SAP to Be Demonstrated at APICS International Conference, San Diego

Apriso Corporation announced today that its application software products are now "Certified for SAP NetWeaver" under the SAP NetWeaver(TM) Partner Initiative. The company also announced that it will demonstrate a closed-loop integration of its FlexNet(TM) real-time, event-driven supply chain execution software with SAP(R) solutions on October 11th and 12th, 2004 at the upcoming 2004 APICS(R) International Conference and Exposition in San Diego, Calif. NetWeaver is SAP's Web services-based platform that allows the seamless integration of various components of an enterprise's software infrastructure with widely-used SAP solutions such as mySAP(TM) ERP. Web services-based FlexNet is the world's leading suite of real time, process-based execution applications for supply, manufacturing, and distribution networks in the adaptive enterprise.

According to SAP, NetWeaver certification is available only to software applications that have demonstrated integration with a SAP NetWeaver component, and that enhance SAP NetWeaver functionality.

The implications of what he calls a "seamless" integration of FlexNet with NetWeaver are profound, said Apriso's president and CEO Adam Bartkowski, as it finally closes the loop between the factory and the enterprise -- a vital step as companies endeavor to recast themselves into adaptive, demand-driven, real-time enterprises. "Now, for the first time, you can have a consolidated world view of what is happening both in your business and on the factory floor, and use this to take proactive action to resolve issues, and make tactical as well as strategic decisions."

Bartkowski explained that Apriso's adaptive execution solutions now can run seamlessly within the SAP Enterprise Portal, which brings plant and supply network operations completely into the enterprise context. In addition, real-time alerts and aggregated key performance indicators (KPIs) can be delivered by FlexNet to the SAP Manufacturing Intelligence Dashboard. These include KPIs for monitoring performance, resource utilization, ongoing quality, and minute-to-minute availability as well as alerts on downtime caused by scrap or material shortages. Users of SAP Business Information Warehouse (SAP BW) can use the KPIs for sophisticated decision support and reports, with the ability to drill down in real-time into all aspects of production.

According to Bartkowski, all pertinent execution and performance data and exceptions, including nearly 50 available KPIs, can be accessed within a single SAP dashboard. "The business implications of a poorly performing KPI on the shop floor are immediately and clearly evident, and you can easily and quickly respond to labor, capacity and quality issues; and measure as well as monitor performance in a timely manner," he said.

Bartkowski also indicated that FlexNet additionally works with the SAP Exchange Infrastructure (XI) component of the SAP NetWeaver platform to support process-centric collaboration between SAP and non-SAP applications. "This provides long-term investment protection for FlexNet customers who use SAP solutions," he said.

Real time FlexNet integration with mySAP ERP solutions using SAP XI will be on display Monday, October 11th and Tuesday, October 12th at the SAP booth during the 2004 APICS International Conference and Exposition, held at the San Diego Convention Center, in San Diego, Calif., from October 10th through 13th, 2004.

According to Bartkowski, Apriso has had a long and successful history of collaboration with SAP. In early 2001, Apriso became the first mySAP.com(R) Software Partner to earn the SAP XML Communication (CA-XML) certificate at the SAP Integration and Certification Center in the United States. The XML Manager product then developed for Apriso's widely-installed FlexNet predecessor CIM is now a standard component in FlexNet.

About Apriso

Apriso is the pioneer of a significant, new class of enterprise software that for the first time enables global corporations to define, operate, and monitor supply, production and distribution processes in real time, without limits. Using an event-driven, distributed services model, Apriso's software provides such fine-grained visibility and control of both execution processes and key performance indicators that it is an ideal platform for accomplishing the most pressing business initiatives of today: compliance, product genealogy, in-line production sequencing, real-time, RFID-based asset management, lean supply, successive refinement (kaizen), six-sigma quality levels, demand-driven supply (the "Dell" model), and the adaptive enterprise.

Apriso's software, known as FlexNet(R), integrates quickly, easily and naturally into an enterprise's existing software infrastructure, and effectively extends the scope of systems such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) into the furthest reaches of the extended production and supply network, as required. But unlike these systems, which are based upon a top-down, plan-driven operations orientation, Apriso's event-driven, process-based architecture accommodates any operational model that is based upon real-time collaboration between execution processes, real-time visibility into performance, or the requirement to define, refine, or immediately control workflows throughout the enterprise, and across borders.

Apriso was founded in 1992, and now operates in 11 countries across the Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific. World headquarters are in Long Beach, Calif. Apriso's rapidly-growing customer base of more than 140 customers and over 400 installations worldwide includes such high-profile, global companies as General Motors, Lear, Honeywell, Microsoft, Merck, Lockheed Martin, ITT, Baker Hughes, Halliburton, International Paper, Rubbermaid, Matsushita Avionics Systems, Saint-Gobain, Pechiney, and British American Tobacco. A complete customer list can be found at http://www.apriso.com/en-us/customers/customer_list.html.

The company has received a total of $20.9 million in two rounds of venture funding. Investors include Wall Street Technology Partners LP, CMEA Ventures, LogiSpring Investment Fund, SAP Ventures, and Brentwood Venture Capital.

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