BigLever Sells GEARS to Powerful German Institute.

Business Editors & High-Tech Writers

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 23, 2001

BigLever Software Inc. today announced that the Fraunhofer Institute for Experimental Software Engineering (Fraunhofer IESE) in Kaiserslautern, Germany, has purchased BigLever's mass customization software product, GEARS, and will immediately begin using the technology in several of its initiatives.

Fraunhofer IESE is a German institute with commercial and government interests that promotes the transition of advanced software engineering technology into practice.

Initial plans call for IESE to use GEARS for three purposes:

-- in a research project, funded by a foundation of a ministry of
Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany, to evaluate software product line and software
mass customization technology and techniques;

-- as a teaching tool in software engineering courses for Masters students at
the University of Kaiserslautern; and

-- in technology evaluations for potential use in commercial contracts with
other German companies.

Fraunhofer IESE (http://www.iese.fhg.de) has a prestigious customer list that includes German and international corporations such as DaimlerChrysler, Deutsche Bank, SAP, Siemens, Boeing and Lufthansa.

"Fraunhofer IESE's decision to acquire the use of our technology is a tremendous endorsement of BigLever and GEARS," said BigLever CEO and founder Charles Krueger, Ph.D. "Fraunhofer IESE is one of the most prestigious technology institutes in the world. They make decisions very carefully, after weighing all the alternatives."

Krueger added that this transaction, coupled with the recent sale of GEARS to Salion, an Austin-based enterprise software company, are indicative of BigLever's momentum in the market place.

"These customers recognize that GEARS is the first technological application for the concept of software mass customization," said Krueger. "Prior to GEARS, software companies had to endure a great deal of pain when trying to expand a product line across multiple customers, market segments and industry lines."

"Now they can experience tactical order-of-magnitude improvements in software engineering that are large enough to have a strategic impact on the business of a company. By bringing larger numbers of precisely customized products to market faster and with better quality than their competitors, companies have been able to assume market leadership."

About BigLever Software

BigLever Software Inc. develops and markets software mass customization products and services. BigLever enables software-based product companies to adopt software mass customization as a strategic business model in which they create a product line of similar software products customized for different market segments or customers. This is analogous to mass customization as is commonly practiced in manufacturing. BigLever Software's premier product, GEARS, is a highly cost-effective alternative to the traditional business and engineering models for expanding software product lines. For more information about BigLever Software, e-mail [e-mail], call 512/426-2227 or visit www.biglever.com. For press inquiries contact Holt Hackney at 512/695-7525 or e-mail at [e-mail].