Axeda Extends DRM to Tap Industrial Automation Systems.

Business & Technology Editors

MANSFIELD, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 14, 2002

Popular Wizcon SCADA System Linked to Device Relationship

Management To Enable Real-Time Business Information Management

Axeda Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: RVST), a provider of Device Relationship Management software and services formed from the union of eMation and RAVISENT Technologies, today announced that it has enhanced its Wizcon(TM) Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) product.

This new release allows users to leverage the Internet to remotely monitor, manage, and service industrial automation devices with the Axeda Device Relationship Management (DRM) System. Wizcon 8.2, part of the newly-named Axeda Supervisor(TM) suite, has been enhanced with intelligent, Firewall-Friendly(TM), Internet communications technology letting it act as a sophisticated device monitoring agent for the Axeda DRM System. Now any of the thousands of makers and users of machine tools, industrial automation devices and real-time information systems that currently employ Wizcon can easily extend their solutions to use the full Axeda DRM System to manage the live information they need to optimize their businesses.

Real-time information on asset performance, customer product usage, production output, and business activity is key to creating the new zero-latency enterprise. Leading companies are demanding faster reaction times, using real-time information from devices and systems to continually assess operational and customer conditions. The Axeda Supervisor suite, with Wizcon 8.2 at its core, offers supervisory, control, reporting, and scheduling capabilities to hundreds of types of devices and systems in a variety of manufacturing, process, and building automation markets. When linked via the Internet as part of a full Axeda DRM System, the combination automates real-time access to critical business performance indicators across departmental and business boundaries, improving the speed and effectiveness of business operations.

"As product lifecycles shrink and the pace of technological change increases, the ability to continually assess operational and customer conditions has become critical. Leading companies want to leverage new technology to sense and respond to problems without human interaction, moving from reactive to proactive solutions that exploit connections to real-world information sources," said Dale Calder, President of Axeda. "Axeda Device Relationship Management Systems extend the local control capability of classic SCADA products to reach across the enterprise or across the world, linking devices to business systems to provide the real-time data that enables real-time business management."

The Axeda Supervisor with Wizcon 8.2 goes beyond traditional SCADA applications to provide customers with a highly flexible Web-based decision support solution for controlling process and automation systems. This new release builds on a number of Wizcon's core innovations designed to efficiently process and distribute real-time information, including the sophisticated WizScheduler(TM), advanced alarm management, an enhanced security model, and expanded supervisory services.

The Axeda Supervisor enables users to define and control alarm settings, to automate the scheduling of periodic actions, and to access or receive urgent device alarms and information through a variety of communications systems, such as fax, e-mail, voice mail, SMS, or Web pages. Logic scripts can be created to identify each alarm and send the correct message to the appropriate person at the right time. Now these messages can include Firewall-Friendly XML messages communicated bi-directionally within a full Axeda DRM system to allow the remote management of thousands of devices simultaneously.

As part of Axeda's family of intelligent device agents, the Axeda Supervisor offers sophisticated monitoring and control functionality, integral soft logic features, database integration and decision support tools, hundreds of available device drivers and interfaces, and an advanced scheduling system, all of which operate within an extensive user security model.

The Axeda Supervisor with Wizcon 8.2 is targeted at Global 2000 companies including manufacturing organizations, waste and water management, oil and gas refiners, building automation and machine builders. It is available in the first quarter of 2002 from Axeda and its authorized distributors worldwide.

About Axeda

Axeda Systems Inc. is an enterprise software and services company that helps businesses become more competitive by using the Internet to tap the value of real-time information to optimize their service, development, sales and manufacturing operations. The company's flagship Axeda Device Relationship Management System is a distributed software solution that lets businesses monitor, manage and service intelligent devices deployed at remote sites. Axeda serves Global 2000 companies in multiple markets including Industrial and Building Automation, Technology, Medical Instrumentation, Office and Semiconductor Equipment industries through sales and service offices in the US, Europe, Israel and Japan, and distribution partners worldwide. More information about Axeda is available at www.axeda.com.

About Device Relationship Management

The intelligent devices that we see and interact with everyday such as copiers, elevators, vending machines, building control units, medical devices, and even automobiles represent an important new source of business information. To date most enterprises have not been able to tap this information. Device Relationship Management addresses this significant information blind spot by providing a distributed information management system that leverages the Internet to allow timely, accurate, and unbiased information to be communicated automatically between devices deployed at customer facilities and external service personnel or enterprise business systems. Device Relationship Management helps turn reactive businesses into proactive businesses providing new sources of revenue and increased operational efficiency at lower costs.

(c)2002 Axeda Systems. All rights reserved.

Axeda, Axeda Systems, Axeda DRM, Axeda Supervisor, Wizcon, WizScheduler, and Firewall-Friendly are trademarks of Axeda Systems Inc. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements that relate to Axeda's future business and financial performance. Such statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause the actual events of future results to differ from those discussed herein. Such factors include, among others: the potential for growth in the pervasive computing market; uncertainties regarding Axeda's stock repurchase program; Axeda's limited operating history, fluctuating quarterly operating results, expectation of future losses, dependence on current product lines, dependence on a small number of customers, lack of long-term commitments with customers, dependence on manufacturers and strategic relationships, and product delays; uncertainties in the market for DRM products; the long sales cycle for DRM products; limited distribution channels; the difficulty of protecting proprietary rights, the ability to manage growth and attract and retain additional personnel; the potential for defects in products; risks from international operations; Axeda's ability to raise capital in the future; competition; Axeda's ability to manage technological change and respond to evolving industry standards; and government regulation. Investors are advised to read Axeda's (formerly Ravisent Technologies Inc.'s) Annual Report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and Forms 8-K and the company's proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, particularly those sections entitled "Factors Affecting Operating Results" and "Risk Factors" for a more complete discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties.