INSpire Insurance Solutions Chooses MERANT PVCS For Enterprise Change Management.

Business Editors

ROCKVILLE Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 23, 2001

WWW.MERANT.COM--

Industry Leading Technology, Consulting Expertise and Best Practices

Will Improve Customer Service Delivery

In an effort to speed software development and improve customer service quality, INSpire Insurance Solutions (NASDAQ:NSPR), a leading property and casualty insurance outsourcing services provider, has selected PVCS(R) Dimensions as its software configuration management (SCM) solution from MERANT (NASDQ:MRNT; LSE:MRN). MERANT PVCS, the industry leading enterprise change manager, will significantly reduce application development cycles, enabling INSpire to create and deploy applications faster with higher quality.

"This leading-edge software and services from MERANT enables us to serve our clients better," said John Pergande, chairman and chief executive officer of INSpire. "By implementing PVCS Dimensions, we will be able to deliver applications more quickly and eliminate any delivery problems that may occur from our development centers to our customers' processing centers."

PVCS Dimensions, along with MERANT's consulting services using industry best practices and MERANT's PVCS Change Acceleration Process (CAP), will provide INSpire with a complete solution for change management by establishing roles and relationships, defining states and the transitions between them, and automating workflow. When implementation is complete, INSpire will have improved time-to-market for the newest insurance applications and improved customer service delivery.

MERANT assisted INSpire with the implementation using its unique PVCS CAP methodology. The process included an assessment of the organization and an identification of INSpire's needs to solve current deployment challenges. INSpire chose PVCS Dimensions because it is the most flexible and scalable SCM solution integrating classic development management tasks such as version control, change tracking, and build and release management. At the same time it adds another feature: The ability to create a process model to automatically manage checkpoints, approvals, workflow and the stages of a product's lifecycle.

PVCS CAP also assisted the INSpire development team through the process of:

-- Project planning and scope definition;

-- Identifying and documenting their SCM processes;

-- Implementing the processes in PVCS Dimensions;

-- Training and coaching the SCM staff, and;

-- Rolling out the first application.

"This total approach including assessment, vision and strategy, and build and deploy phases provided INSpire with more than just technology out of the box," said Rick Kemsley, vice president of MERANT Consulting. "INSpire had a dedicated team of experts to guide them through an entire enterprise change management process that will have lasting impact on their organization and their ability to deliver top quality applications fast and effectively."

"We are pleased that INSpire has chosen MERANT to be its ally in improving its software development process," said Mark House, vice president of product management for MERANT PVCS. "Helping our customers succeed through the use of innovative technology, best practices, and a team of dedicated individuals has always been MERANT's primary mission. INSpire's challenges are similar to many organizations dependent on technology that must be flexible, scalable and provide lasting value."

INSpire's Pergande added, "By refocusing our efforts and making an investment in configuration management, we're enabling our developers to focus on their core competencies--bringing value to and deploying our own software capabilities as opposed to focusing on administrative tasks."

About INSpire

INSpire Insurance Solutions, Inc. provides policy and claims administration solutions for all property and casualty insurance products. As one of the foremost providers of outsourcing and integrated systems, INSpire serves clients with needs to enter new markets quickly, reduce expenses, increase customer satisfaction and focus on core competencies. Additional information can be obtained from INSpire's Web site at www.nspr.com or by calling 817-348-3999.

About MERANT

MERANT is the leading provider of software solutions for enterprise change management; development, transformation and integration of legacy applications; and enterprise data connectivity. More than 5 million professionals use MERANT technology at 60,000 customer sites, including the entire Fortune 100 and the majority of the Global 500. Founded in 1976, MERANT has 1,700 employees and more than 600 technology partners. For additional information, visit www.merant.com.

PVCS is a registered trademark of MERANT. Dimensions is a trademark of MERANT. All other trademarks contained in this release are the property of their respective owners.