Kinzan Announces General Availability of Adaptive Web Services Suite; Partners with IBM and NTT to Extend Web Services Capabilities and Make Them Easier To Use.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

CARLSBAD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 7, 2002

Kinzan, a leading provider of Web services software for the extended enterprise, today announced general availability of its Adaptive Web Services(TM) Suite 2.0, a comprehensive e-business application framework based upon a Web services architecture.

The suite enables companies to increase, substantially, the value of their existing technology by integrating multiple systems to share information and extend business processes to customers, partners and employees. By extending Web services capabilities and making them considerably easier to use, the Adaptive Web Services Suite dramatically reduces the cost and complexity of e-business applications, including the time and costs of integration and ongoing maintenance, and gets new applications to market quicker than any alternative.

"Web services will offer immediate business-to-business benefits, namely by transforming the process through which enterprises make connections with one another," said Daryl Plummer, group vice president and research group director at Gartner. "But Web services do not address integration needs that involve human interaction and business processes."

Current Web services standards simplify data interchange by enabling data to be described (WSDL), found (UDDI), bound together (WSDL) and exchanged (SOAP) over the Internet. But e-business applications involve more than data. In order to use Web services today, programmers must develop custom code to build human interfaces, automate business processes and integrate with existing systems.

Kinzan's Adaptive Web Services conform to all the Web services data standards, but go one step further. They also use a universal XML component architecture to encompass all application elements -- presentation, business logic, data, personalization and security. Just as Web services are loosely coupled, Adaptive Web Services and their components are loosely coupled, enabling on-the-fly integration, simplified maintenance and practical component reuse. With Kinzan's Adaptive Web Services Suite, e-business applications are assembled from components rather than "coded" so developers can rapidly create powerful, Web services-based applications and end-users can personalize them to suit their preferences.

NTT, the world's largest telecommunications company, has partnered with Kinzan to deliver Web services solutions to NTT Group companies and their customers. NTT is standardizing on the Adaptive Web Services Suite to develop and deploy Web services-based applications. Its strategy is to leverage Web services to help its enterprise customers interoperate more closely with their partners, suppliers and customers.

"Kinzan's products fill a vital piece of our corporate Web services strategy," said Hirokazu Ohnishi, executive director at NTT Information Sharing Platform Laboratories. "By using the Adaptive Web Services Suite, we are able to design, assemble and deploy service-oriented e-business applications much faster than coding by hand and in an easy to use environment. We look forward to extending this capability to our customers and providing them with a Web services environment in which they too can better integrate their extended enterprises using Kinzan's Adaptive Web Services Suite."

Key Benefits

The ability of Adaptive Web Services to describe presentation, logic, data, personalization and security as loosely coupled, reusable XML components has tremendous benefits for companies needing to automate business processes across their extended enterprise. Application creation using Adaptive Web Services is significantly faster due to a rich library of reusable components and an environment that makes reuse a practical reality. As companies create more components, development time decreases exponentially.

Integration with backend systems is also faster using Kinzan's pre-built enterprise application connectors. Easy to use graphical tools automatically generate components that can communicate with backend systems through connectors, reducing integration time even more. These protect existing technology investments against obsolescence by allowing companies to gain additional value quickly from their legacy, ERP, CRM, supply chain and other systems. Moreover, ongoing changes and maintenance cost less and take less time because Adaptive Web Services can be quickly modified by changing discrete components rather than modifying large sections of code.

Adaptive Web Services Suite

Kinzan's Adaptive Web Services Suite provides a comprehensive environment for creating, deploying and managing Adaptive Web Services and consists of the Kinzan Application Framework(TM), Kinzan Tools(TM) and Kinzan Connectors(TM). The suite is built on a J2EE(TM) platform and is easy to deploy within any existing IT infrastructure. It runs on leading e-business platforms including IBM WebSphere(R), the industry's most scalable e-business software foundation.

Kinzan Application Framework

Kinzan Application Framework contains the essential components and services needed to run Adaptive Web Services. It consists of an enterprise portal framework that provides a single, personalized browser interface for users; a component library that contains many pre-built components for faster application development; and the revolutionary Adaptive Web Services Engine that provides the dynamic, loosely coupled and adaptive runtime environment. The Kinzan Application Framework runs on leading application server software, including IBM WebSphere and BEA Weblogic(R), and other leading hardware and software platforms from Sun, Oracle and Microsoft.

Kinzan Tools

Kinzan Tools provide a comprehensive environment to design, build, test and deploy Adaptive Web Services and their components. They take advantage of the new capabilities of service-oriented development by enabling the binding and assembly of reusable XML components rather than hard coding with traditional object-oriented software. The tools leverage existing best-of-breed products such as Rational Rose(R) and Forte(TM) to reduce the learning curve for new users. This comprehensive set of tools covers the entire spectrum of development and maintenance activities: modeling, development, testing, deployment and management.

Kinzan Connectors

Kinzan Connectors simplify application integration within the enterprise and across business partners by using XML-based Web services standards to exchange information. These connectors expose data and metadata within existing systems as services so they can be used within the Kinzan Application Framework. Connectors are available for a variety of systems including leading ERP and CRM systems, such as SAP R/3 and Siebel(R); databases and directories, such as Oracle, IBM DB2 and iPlanet(TM) Directory Server; and messaging systems such as IBM WebSphere MQ and Tibco Rendezvous(TM). Also available is an ebXML message handler that enables Adaptive Web Services to transact with other systems using ebXML.

"Kinzan and IBM are working closely to deliver Adaptive Web Services capabilities on WebSphere, IBM's leading e-business platform," said Rod Smith, vice president of emerging technologies at IBM. "Kinzan's e-business application framework, combined with the power of WebSphere, provides our joint customers with the capability to build advanced Web services applications."

Pricing and Availability

The Adaptive Web Services Suite 2.0 is currently available for delivery. Development licenses start at $3,000 and production licenses start at $60,000. Kinzan Application Framework, Kinzan Tools and Kinzan Connectors can also be unbundled and sold separately. For additional pricing information, please contact our sales staff at [e-mail] or call 800/963-8424 ext. 1129.

About Kinzan Inc.

Kinzan provides leading Web services products for the extended enterprise. Its Adaptive Web Services Suite makes Web services even better by simplifying how companies integrate multiple systems, share information and extend business processes to customers, partners and employees. Based on open standards like SOAP, WSDL and UDDI, Adaptive Web Services extend Web services capabilities and make them easier to use. Kinzan is located in Carlsbad and its customers include AutoTrader, Avon, Maytag, NTT and Sharp.

For information, email [e-mail], or visit www.kinzan.com.

Kinzan, Adaptive Web Services, Kinzan Application Framework, Kinzan Tools and Kinzan Connectors are trademarks of Kinzan Inc. All other trademarks belong to their respective owners.