Intentia Demonstrates Outstanding Scalability and Performance On IBM eServer iSeries -- Not Once, But TWICE.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

Intentia International AB (publ) (XSSE:INT B) recently announced outstanding performance results from the latest round of benchmark tests with its Java-based Movex (V12) software on an IBM eServer iSeries platform.

The first benchmark figures are based on Intentia's high-water customer order benchmark, which measures the speed and accuracy with which Movex processes customer orders. This benchmark was run on the newly introduced IBM eServer i890 32-way system with OS/400 (version 5, release 2). IBM and Intentia worked together to enhance and refine the Java version of Movex on the new hardware. At the same time, IBM incorporated several Java-optimizing features, hardware settings, and fixes into the new hardware, which boosted the performance of Movex.

When the final numbers came out, it was clear that the close teamwork had paid off. Movex achieved results that were twice as good as those reported in June 2001 on an IBM eServer i840 24-way system. The final numbers topped 2.38 million orders per hour, much larger than any other Movex platform has achieved. This new result demonstrates the continued scalability and potential for growth in Intentia's Java-based application when it is used on the latest IBM iSeries hardware running OS/400 V5R2.

"To see the Movex Java application scale to this magnitude on iSeries is a tribute to both the Intentia and IBM developers who made this happen," said Buell Duncan, general manager of the IBM eServer iSeries. "We consider Movex one of our key Java applications on iSeries, and we have been using Movex in the lab to help optimize the Java Virtual Machine for OS/400 V5R2."

Intentia's new end-to-end customer order benchmark is also available, which measures not only the ability to enter orders into Movex Collaboration Applications, but also enables many of the Movex features to fully process and deliver these orders for shipping. For instance, it includes customer order entry, the allocation of items from a warehouse, the processing or order packaging, the creation of picking lists, the generation of customer invoices, plus many other steps.

The benchmark represents a typical, complex end-to-end scenario for a customer that takes full advantage of the abundant features Movex offers. Results with this new benchmark on an IBM eServer i840 24-way system with OS/400 (version 5, release 1) showed outstanding performance with 496,356 order lines/hour being processed to completion. These results exceeded benchmark goals set by IBM and Intentia management during testing in Rochester, Minn., at the IBM Customer Benchmark Center.

The average server response time for entering these customer orders was an astonishing one-tenth of a second for each panel change in Movex Explorer. This is equivalent to a total of 0.67 seconds of server response time for the entering of an order made up of five order lines. At the peak, the CPU utilization of the iSeries averaged 91 percent.

These results show that the Java version of Movex and the IBM eServer iSeries deliver outstanding performance against a real-world customer workload and can scale in a linear fashion from small to extremely large customer workloads. The ongoing strong collaboration between Intentia and IBM was a major factor in the achievement of these results. A team of IBM OS/400 developers worked alongside a team of core Intentia Movex developers through the definition and execution of the benchmark in a relatively short period of time. This cooperation and teamwork exemplifies the relationship between the two technology leaders.

During the tests, the same benchmark was run upon analogous 12-way systems, running both OS/400 V5R1 and V5R2, with similar results. In these tests, Movex ran with a direct execution Java environment, which means that Java programs are built and optimized, based upon the Java class files before the program is run.

IBM expects Movex to perform even better with the latest Java enhancements to the JIT compiler in OS/400 V5R2. The JIT compiler optimizes the Java classes dynamically, as the program requires a class. During the high-water benchmark (described in the second paragraph), an improvement of nine percent more throughput was detected when running the JIT compiler over the direct execution environment, and IBM expects the same improvement with the new end-to-end customer order benchmark.

Movex is the only complete collaboration application on the market today that is written entirely in Java. Movex delivers future-proof technology, which not only supplies the market with outstanding architecture and technology, but also protects the customer's investment and delivers outstanding cost of ownership, configurability and ease of future software upgrades.

"The matchless results we've achieved in the latest benchmark test in Rochester show the unparalleled scalability of iSeries and the security it gives our customers in their future growth," commented Johan Berg, president of Intentia Research & Development. "It also proves that the Java architecture of Movex has unlimited scalability. The number of orders processed through the system is equivalent to more than 2,500 order processors working simultaneously."

Per Larsen, vice president of eServer Solutions for IBM, added: "The outstanding results from this set of benchmarks demonstrate that customers can confidently deploy Intentia's Movex application on the highly scalable and reliable IBM eServer iSeries."

Scope

The benchmark test was conducted in accordance to the Movex sizing methodology guidelines. Both IBM and Intentia developers performed the end-to-end customer order benchmark test at the IBM Customer Benchmark Center in Rochester, Minn. The high-water customer order benchmark was performed within the IBM Rochester Laboratory.

Benchmark Definitions

End-to-end customer order benchmark -- This is a brand new tool that both measures the speed and accuracy with which Movex processes customer orders, as well as enabling many of the Movex features to fully process and deliver these orders for shipping. For instance, it includes customer order entry, the allocation of items from a warehouse, the processing of order packaging, the creation of picking lists, the generation of customer invoices, plus many other steps.

High-water customer order benchmark -- This is a benchmark that has been around since 1999. It primarily addresses the interactive aspect of entering a customer order into Movex Collaboration Applications, where response time is a crucial factor.

About Intentia

Intentia is one of the world's leading suppliers of collaboration solutions. Our vision is to become the leading global collaboration solutions vendor by supplying our customers with tomorrow's solutions today. Intentia offers a one-stop shop for all collaboration needs within numerous industry segments. We develop, implement, and maintain our own solutions to produce the highest possible level of customer satisfaction. The Movex Solution consists of applications covering customer relationship management (CRM), enterprise resource planning (ERP), supply chain management (SCM), partner relationship management (PRM), business performance measurement (BPM) and e-business. Intentia has more than 3,200 employees and serves over 3,400 customers in the manufacturing, maintenance and distribution industries via a global network spanning some 40 countries. Visit Intentia's Web site at www.intentia.com.

Note: IBM, the IBM e-business logo, iSeries and OS/400 are all registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation in the United States, in other countries or in both. The IBM eServer brand consists of the established IBM e-business logo with the following descriptive term "server" following it.