Artemis and Aonix Form Strategic Alignment; Leading Software Vendors Aim to Leverage Synergies in Application Life Cycle Management.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

BOULDER, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 24, 2000

Artemis Management Systems, of Boulder, Colo., and Aonix, of San Diego, Calif., have formed a strategic alignment that leverages the combined development, operational and market strengths of the two companies.

Steven C. Yager will assume the role of president and CEO of the combined companies. With the growing trend for project-driven application life cycle management solutions, Artemis and Aonix see this as an opportunity to leverage company synergies and capitalize on this emerging market. With combined 1999 revenues of nearly $100 million, the consolidated operation would rank among the top 100 software companies worldwide.

As two significant affiliates of the Gores Technology Group, Artemis and Aonix are both industry-leading developers of software solutions for the application development marketplace. Together, the companies offer a complement of tools for modeling, planning and measuring application development projects. This includes Aonix Software through Pictures (StP), a visual modeling tool for building Object-Oriented applications; Artemis Views, an enterprise project management solution for planning and tracking application development activities and resources; and SPR KnowledgePLAN, an application development estimation and measurement tool. Combined, these tools help organizations optimize application design, and requirements and activity planning, while improving on-time delivery and product quality.

Additionally, both Artemis and Aonix offer solutions independent of the application development market. Artemis offers a suite of client/server and Web-based project and resource management solutions used in a variety of business-critical situations. Aonix also offers state-of-the-art solutions for information access and management.

&uot;I see this move as an opportunity for both companies to grow by strategically aligning significant segments of their product offerings that share product and market synergies,&uot; commented Yager. &uot;This operational change is positive for both Artemis and Aonix, their employees and their customers. With this move, not only will we be financially stronger, but we will be in a unique position to develop a new class of solutions for the application development market, and grow the companies together more rapidly than we could separately.&uot;

The Artemis management team, led by Yager, was responsible for the growth of Artemis in 1997, which is now considered a leading project management vendor in the IS/IT market. According to Gene Kennon, vice president of marketing at Aonix: &uot;We are excited to have Artemis and Aonix management teams working together in the day-to-day operations of Aonix. We are anxious to begin the process of building on our company synergies, and looking for opportunities to deliver solutions that offer a unique value proposition to the application development market.&uot; In the interim, the two companies remain focused on completing current development efforts, and stress their commitment to reinvestment in their core products and on satisfying the needs of their customers.

About Aonix

Aonix is a leading international software company providing a comprehensive suite of products and services aimed at managing the complexity of today's business-critical application development and information management. The Aonix Lifecycle Solutions division provides a comprehensive suite of software development products that support the customer's development process, methods and tools through the integrated Aonix Lifecycle Desktop(TM). The result is minimized risk, improved developer productivity and increased software quality. The Information Access Management Solutions division provides products and services designed to dramatically simplify access and analysis of mainframe data. These solutions enable customers to adapt to the ever-changing requirements associated with enterprise data access and application development. Headquartered in San Diego, California, Aonix operates sales offices throughout North America and Europe in addition to a network of international distributors. For more information, visit www.aonix.com.

About Artemis

Founded in 1976, Artemis is the world's largest provider of enterprise project management software and consulting solutions. Artemis Views is an integrated suite of client/server and Web-based applications for multi-project planning, budget and cost control, resource tracking, and performance reporting. Artemis Views is used by IS/IT and geographically dispersed organizations in a variety of industries -- including banking &finance, telecommunications, aerospace &defense, utilities, oil &gas, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing and engineering &construction -- to improve project and resource performance and processes. Headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, Artemis operates from an international network of 40 offices in more than 25 countries worldwide. For more information, visit www.artemispm.com.