Communications Data Services Selects Sagent to Improve Marketing Database Services; Power and Flexibility of Sagent's Data Flow Technology Fulfills the Unique Needs of CDS Customers.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 31, 2002

Sagent (Nasdaq:SGNT), a leading provider of enterprise business intelligence solutions, today announced that Communications Data Services, Inc. (CDS), the largest provider of magazine fulfillment services, will use Sagent's Data Access Server to give their publishing clients the ability to access and analyze data in their custom-built subscriber marketing databases.

CDS provides order fulfillment services for more than 400 accounts, including national magazine titles and direct marketing firms. CDS also maintains data representing the names, addresses, order history, and demographic information of over 140 million active magazine subscribers. As part of its suite of services, CDS builds customized marketing databases for its customers and provides them with business intelligence tools to access, manipulate, and analyze this data. CDS chose Sagent to offer its customers more robust and flexible data access and analysis capabilities than CDS was previously able to provide.

"Using Sagent's software, we will be able to offer our clients and internal users a business intelligence solution that better fits their needs," said Deb Larsen, senior systems manager at communications data services. "What we really liked about Sagent's solution is the fact that we were able to perform complex analyses directly from our DB2 operational systems. The familiar Windows look-and-feel also makes it easy for our customers to use. We feel this investment will pay great dividends for us now and in the future."

The Sagent Data Access Server applies the capabilities of the company's patented Data Flow Server to the task of delivering information to large populations of end users. The Data Access Server has the unique ability to query any number of heterogeneous data sources in real-time, then apply analytic transformations and deliver the results to a client-server or Web services-based front-end application. The Data Access Server executes requests for information created with ad-hoc query, reporting and analysis tools from Sagent and third-party business intelligence vendors.

"Sagent wins business time and again because our software combines powerful data access and analysis capabilities with a flexible, easy-to-use interface," said Dave Henry, vice president of product marketing at Sagent. "It is also the only business intelligence software able to combine and analyze large volumes of data from multiple sources without the intermediate step of storing it to a database. This means that end users can access precisely the data they need, wherever it might be, without the need for IT intervention."

To learn more about Sagent Data Access Server, follow this link:

http://www.sagent.com/products/lifecycle_integrate.asp

About Communications Data Services

CDS provides customized fulfillment services to publishers and direct marketers. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Hearst Corporation and employs 3,500 people worldwide.

The CDS corporate office is located in Des Moines, Iowa, with branch-site operations in Bethlehem, Pa.; Prescott, Ariz.; and in Boone, Harlan, Red Oak, Tipton, West Des Moines and Wilton, Iowa. Additionally CDS maintains an office in New York City and owns Tower Publishing Services, Ltd., a United Kingdom fulfillment company.

About Sagent

Sagent provides a complete software platform for business intelligence, enabling companies to reduce operational costs, increase profitability, and improve customer relationships. Sagent employs a unique business intelligence life-cycle process that facilitates the rapid development of custom analytic solutions and helps bridge the gap between business users and IT. Through its technology, services, and business expertise, Sagent simplifies business intelligence for more than 1,500 customers worldwide. Sagent customers include: AT&T, Boeing Employees Credit Union, BP Amoco, Carrefour, Citibank, GPU Energy, Guinness UDV, Heineken, Kawasaki, Kemper National Insurance, La Poste, Novartis, NTT-DoCoMo, Sara Lee, Siemens, and Singapore Telecom.

Sagent technology is also embedded in multiple partner solutions that address the needs of specific vertical and functional application areas; key ISV partners include Advent Software, Hyperion, and HAHT Commerce. Sagent technology has been adopted by leading regional and global systems integrators, such as Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, Satyam, and Unisys, to address customer needs within their business intelligence practices. In addition, Sagent has built alliances with numerous technology vendors to cooperatively market solutions; alliance partners include Microsoft, Business Objects, and Sun Microsystems. Sagent is headquartered in Mountain View, Calif. For more information about Sagent, visit www.sagent.com.

Note to Editors: Sagent and Sagent Solution are trademarks of Sagent Technology Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.