Extreme Programming Helps Evant Speed Software Development; Emerging Methodology Enables Greater Flexibility, Quality and Productivity.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 16, 2000

Evant Solutions Corporation (www.evant.net), provider of the industry's first back office application that supports planning and forecasting, inventory management and decision support for e-Businesses, has adopted a new programming approach designed to bring greater efficiency, speed and quality to the software development process. The approach, "Extreme Programming" (XP), is specifically tailored for applications that serve highly dynamic e-Business environments.

Delivered and supported through an ASP business model, the Evant solution enables B2B and B2C companies to integrate and manage a full range of merchandising functions, including inventory planning and forecasting, purchasing, pricing, and decision support. Built from the ground up, Evant's suite of applications support the specific supply chain needs of today's online businesses, while complementing 'front office' and fulfillment solutions already in place. With XP, Evant developers can more effectively work together to meet the complex and changing application requirements of its diverse customer base without sacrificing productivity.

XP was created as a means for programmers to streamline and simplify the development process. The methodology encourages regular communication between development teams and their customers, and requires that developers maintain constant quality control through repeated testing. Progress on XP projects is highly incremental, and customer feedback during every stage of the process ensures that changes can be integrated into the software source code quickly and easily.

According to Rob Mee, director of engineering for Evant, testing is a key part of the XP methodology. "With Extreme Programming, we're testing constantly," Mee says. "And, because tests assure us that the code is working, they really give us confidence that we're delivering a quality product to the end user."

Testing also helps Evant developers respond to the unexpected. Since ongoing tests ensure the stability of a software's source code, changes -- even late in the development process -- can be integrated with a minimal amount of troubleshooting. "This kind of flexibility enables us to continually meet our customer's needs, regardless of the level of complexity," adds Mee.

Another important aspect of XP is pair programming. Pair programming requires that developers pair up, two to a workstation. As a means of fostering a collaborative and problem-solving dialogue between programmers, the practice is believed to significantly increase productivity. "We start a new iteration every three weeks," says Mee. "At the end of three weeks, we're actually delivering a functioning piece of software to the customer, so the ability to complete programming tasks as efficiently as possible is crucial. Pair programming helps us do that."

In January 2000, Evant originally began its development efforts with a large-scale commercial application server. "When it became clear that the application servers' performance was too slow, we decided to take it out and write that part of the infrastructure ourselves," says Edward Hieatt, Evant lead engineer. "Despite being very close to going live with our first client, our experience with XP, and in particular our large suite of Unit Tests, gave us the confidence to carry out this major task in a short time period. In the end, our performance in that area increased by roughly a factor of 10."

Evant employs more than 70 people, with plans to reach 100 employees by the first quarter 2001. The company's veteran management team has a combined 130 years experience in software development, consulting and fast growth companies. The organization as a whole has deep retail, supply chain management and e-business credentials, extensive technology experience and impressive track record of customer satisfaction.

About Evant

Evant provides integrated back office applications that support planning and forecasting, inventory management and decision support solutions for leading suppliers, manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors, catalogers, retailers and e-tailers. Evant is changing the way business is conducted through an innovative software solution designed from the ground up for e-Business, built with best-in-class technologies, and delivered as an ASP service over the web. Evant is at the forefront of the digital economy revolution, providing next generation software and services that will forever change the way B2B and B2C commerce is conducted. Evant's clients are using these solutions to more effectively manage their supply chain operations and drive profitability. For more information, contact Evant at 450 Geary Street, Suite 400, San Francisco, Calif., 94102; phone [phone]; fax [phone], or visit www.evant.net.