BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee Selects Ascential To Deliver Enterprise Data Integration Solution.

Business & High-Tech Editors

ORLANDO, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 5, 2001

TDWI World Conference--

Next Generation of Ascential's DataStage XE Boosts Return on

Investment from a Terabyte Data Warehouse; Uses

Industry-Leading Meta Data

Ascential(TM) Software Corporation (NASDAQ: ASCL), the leading provider of Information Asset Management (IAM) solutions, today announced that BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee (BCBS Tenn.) has selected DataStage's new meta data management capability to enhance the value and capabilities of its terabyte data warehouse. Using DataStage(R) XE to integrate meta data - contextual information that explains the meaning of every piece of corporate data from enterprise applications and data warehouse environments - BCBS Tenn. expects to increase its volume of meta data used for current and future initiatives. The new Ascential solution will also improve the health care company's IT development efficiency and increase the return on investment for its enterprise data warehouse platform.

First deployed in 1996, BCBS Tenn.'s enterprise data warehouse has used DataStage XE for the past two years to integrate significant amounts of health care data into its enterprise data warehouse. Today, approximately 400 employees access the data warehouse each day to provide critical operational and analytical information for financial planning, cost and service analysis across physician, patient and hospital groups and regulatory reporting.

Responding to growing demand for complex analytics and improved customer service, BCBS Tenn. recently launched an effort to extend the business value of its warehoused information by providing users with a combination of business, technical and process meta data. The resulting solution will provide BCBS Tenn.'s data warehouse users with unprecedented insight to leverage the company's information assets.

"In the health care industry, providing executives and business users with timely and consistent information is one way to gain a competitive advantage," said Kevin Janes, systems analyst in the company's Data Resource Management Department. "With the many variables shaping the health care industry, our corporate information can be very complex. As a result, meta data management plays an important role, giving us another dimension in which to view and understand our information assets. Impact analysis and data lineage are important tools that can help maintain a competitive advantage."

Gains in Programmer Productivity

BCBS Tenn.'s data warehouse users face the challenge of integrating and interpreting data from multiple sources and departments. In order to simplify this process, they are moving forward with DataStage's meta data capabilities. Over time, data warehouse users will enjoy desktop access to meta data explaining the origin and meaning behind the information stored in the company's enterprise warehouse environment.

System upgrades to the warehouse, which regularly occur two or three times a year, usually require the full-time effort of three or more programmers to identify and resolve the impact of changes to data items in the source systems. Using Ascential's cross tool impact analysis capability, BCBS Tenn.'s data warehouse department will have a comprehensive view of data relationships, allowing developers to quickly manage change and fix problems in their enterprise data warehouse environment. As a result, the company expects to see improvement in IT productivity for its data warehouse projects as well as improved information quality, which will enhance user-developed Decision Support Systems (DSS).

"Ascential's scalable data integration platform is ideal for very large, complex and highly distributed data warehouse environments," concluded Janes. "The solution's ability to consolidate and correlate large volumes of data and meta data is a key factor in our success. Ascential's comprehensive support for data integration and meta data management is taking our warehouse to a new level and helping us achieve a better return on information across the company."

About BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee

BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee is the state's leader in health care financing. Founded in 1945, the Chattanooga-based not-for-profit company now serves more than 4.1 million people. The company paid more than 41 million claims and $7.4 billion in health care benefits in 2000. BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee has more than 4,300 employees. For more information on BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, visit the company's Web site at www.bcbst.com. BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee is an independent licensee of the BlueCross BlueShield Association.

About Ascential Software

Ascential Software Corporation is the leading provider of Information Asset Management solutions to the Global 2000. Customers use Ascential products to turn vast amounts of disparate, unrefined data into reusable information assets that drive business success. Ascential's unique framework for Information Asset Management enables customers to easily collect, validate, organize, administer and deliver information assets to realize more value from their enterprise data, reduce costs and increase profitability. Headquartered in Westboro, MA, Ascential has offices worldwide and supports more than 1,800 customers in such industries as telecommunications, insurance, financial services, health care, media/entertainment and retail. More information on Ascential Software can be found on the Web at http://www.ascentialsoftware.com.

(c)2001 Ascential Software. All rights reserved. Ascential is a trademark and DataStage is a registered trademark of Ascential Software Corporation and/or its affiliates and may be registered in other jurisdictions. Other trademarks are the property of the owners of those marks.