Astea's Solution Partner Program Built on Concept of 'Co-op-petition'.

Business Editors

HORSHAM, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 12, 2001

"Because Global Partnerships Can Make All the Difference in the

World," eCRM Suite Provider Astea International Heralds New Era of

Innovation and Expansion with Tangible Benefits and Real Incentives

for Fellow Vendors and VARs

Citing gains made through its global partnerships and cognizant of the changing competitive environment in the CRM industry, Astea International has launched an expanded, multi-faceted Global Solution Partner Program that heralds a new era of innovation and expansion for Astea and business partners.

The enhanced program formalizes and expands marketing and support for different types of Solution Partners who can demonstrate domain expertise complementary to Astea's equipment-service-centric AllianceEnterprise eCRM Suite and PSOplus professional services in a particular application or industry area.

A series of announcements describing new partnerships being launched under the program--with companies such as Computer Associates, Servigistics and many others--will begin this week.

Astea CEO Zack Bergreen referred to the Company's completion of a 'multi-year corporate transformation initiative' announced last week, saying, "Our strategic planning analyzed the value of partnerships past and present, strong and weak. The Global Solution Partner Program provides incentives to attract serious technology and sales partners committed to strong relationships and reward them. We offer a compelling value proposition for national and international companies and, as a global company ourselves, we're going to get the message out because global partnerships can make all the difference in the world."

Greg Cicio, director of business development at Astea and architect of the new program, spoke on his concept of 'co-op-petition,' upon which he designed the program and predicts will trigger substantial immediate and long-term results. "There is a changing competitive environment where CRM is the hot application that ERP was in the nineties. No CRM product can deliver the depth and breadth of integrated functionality that Astea's AllianceEnterprise Suite does for mid- to high-tier companies with field service requirements as part of a comprehensive solution. Companies trying to capitalize on CRM significantly limit their opportunities without our domain expertise and the technology that we are delivering today--hence, the 'competition.' There are also companies with highly focused 'niche' applications that can be used to extend AllianceEnterprise's functional superiority. The Solution Partner Program is structured for a joint business planning process with each partner, be they an OEM, a VAR, a systems integrator, a sales agent or a technology/ASP partner--that's the 'cooperation.' The program will deliver very tangible benefits and real incentives for all partners."

Although the program incorporates attractive incentives in the form of discounts and marketing assistance, Cicio believes that a strong emphasis on joint business planning will be the most important driver for successful and mutually beneficial relationships. Business development programs, comprehensive start-up and training plans, and protection of partner investment are also key highlights.

While each partner category in the program offers specific benefits and encompasses unique operational parameters, all can leverage the Astea technology's award-winning, best-in-class functionality in markets with inherent field service requirements, as well as robust integration capabilities and great flexibility to configure and package Astea applications for any vertical market at low opportunity costs to the partner.

OEM Partners: OEM partners that combine domain expertise and significant industry market share can enhance their market positions with synergies brought by Astea's technology embedded in their solutions.

VAR Partners: VAR partners can layer complementary applications atop Astea's eCRM components to target specific vertical markets and avail themselves to partner relationship options for co-operative marketing, technical sales assistance and shared maintenance support. Typically, VARs prefer to 'own' their client relationships, delivering sales and support themselves. However, the Solution Partner Program offers an option to integrate a VAR's clients into the same PSOplus Life Cycle Support program created for Astea's AllianceEnterprise users.

Systems Integrators: For partners who include Astea software when building customized solutions for their clients and who manage projects that include Astea software, the program provides considerations that lessen cash-flow pressure on the system integrator. Sis who decide to change their business model to that of a product company can easily transition their partner relationship to a VAR model.

Sales Agents and Distributors: Organizations that primarily resell Astea solutions without adding product or service value will be most successful with a geographical, cultural or technological sphere of influence outside of Astea's direct sales channel in North America, Europe and the Asia Pacific.

Technology/ASP Partners: Companies can deploy AllianceEnterprise or any of its components as a service in an Applications Service Provider (ASP) market strategy. Many commercial packages and/or technology partnership paradigms can be developed to support different service business models.

"We anticipate that partners with large, global organizations such as Groupe Bull who now sell and service Astea software as part of their Outsourcing and Support Services business in Europe will span several partner categories," noted Bergreen. "Our new partner program signals Astea's re-emphasis on strong partnerships and is designed to attract active and performing partners such as Bull and Memorex Telex, our distributor out of Japan, who in 2000 more than tripled their client base for Astea software."

About AllianceEnterprise eCRM Suite

Astea's AllianceEnterprise eCRM Suite offers extensive mobile commerce options for four customer-facing applications that are tightly integrated through a centralized enterprise infrastructure. The integrated Field Service (iFSA), Call Center (iCCA), Sales Force (iSFA) and Professional Services (iPSA) automation applications tie in mobile, wireless, SMS, and web access in synchronized and on-line formats.

Component-based and comprehensive, with industry-leading out-of-box eCRM functionality, AllianceEnterprise delivers configurable, global, enterprise solutions, including standardized integration with leading financial and ERP products. Astea's PSO Plus professional services support AllianceEnterprise with a portfolio of services for Business Consulting, Project Implementation, IT Systems Integration and Life Cycle Support.

About Astea International Inc.

Astea International Inc. (www.astea.com) specializes in service-centric Customer Relationship Management (eCRM) software solutions used by companies in multiple industries to improve productivity, revenue and customer interaction. Astea has over twenty years of experience with automating customer-facing processes and supports a global client base. Astea markets its products through direct and indirect sales and services networks throughout North America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific.

(c) 2001 Astea International Inc. Astea is a registered trademark and AllianceEnterprise eCRM Suite, iFSA, iCCA, iSFA and iPSA are trademarks of Astea International Inc. All other company and product names contained herein are trademarks of the respective holders.

This press release contains forward-looking statements that are made under the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could materially affect future results. Among these risk factors are possibilities that the companies mentioned in this press release may not purchase licenses for AllianceEnterprise, the continuing acceptance of Astea's products, general competitive pressures in the marketplace, and continued overall growth in the customer relationship management solutions industry.

Further information regarding these as well as other key risk factors and meaningful cautionary statements that could affect the Company's financial results are included at length in the Company's Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 1999, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.