National Semiconductor Selects Kaidara's Advisory Software to Improve Worldwide Customer Satisfaction; Introduction of Kaidara's Technology Expected to Save $1 Million Annually.

Business Editors, High-Tech Writers

LOS ALTOS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 15, 2002

Kaidara, the leading provider of global advisory software, today announced that National Semiconductor (NYSE:NSM), the leading silicon and systems provider for information appliances, has adopted Kaidara's Case Based Reasoning (CBR) technology as a key component of its new Product Quality Assurance (PQA) tracking application, Total Recall System.

Total Recall System (TRS) adopted Kaidara's technology in order to increase efficiency, improve customer satisfaction and maximize data collected from past experiences and resolutions across the world. TRS tracks and documents worldwide customer returns where there are reported quality or reliability defects. Although early in the implementation phase, National anticipates that the introduction of Kaidara will yield savings of at least $1 million per year in this worldwide return analysis process.

"National Semiconductor ships hundreds of millions of semiconductor components to thousands of customers around the world and customer service is our number one priority," said Mike Meltzer, project manager for Total Recall. "Kaidara's Advisory software provides us with the assurance that our engineers can quickly find relevant information without having to generate multiple parametric searches against relational databases or document repositories. As the Total Recall System matures, valuable lessons will be stored for future reuse and Kaidara's technology will help reduce cycle times by eliminating redundant and costly analysis while promoting higher levels of customer satisfaction."

The Total Recall System provides for detailed descriptions of all activities performed during an analysis, which may require collaboration between several sites. All of this information is stored in a relational database that supports real-time queries and various reporting requirements. In addition to this traditional method of processing and storing information, Kaidara's CBR is applied to capture pertinent information that can be recalled at a future date by other engineers as they work on analyses that may be similar but not necessarily identical to the current analysis.

"National's commitment to empowering its engineers and technical support with the most powerful set of tools is a perfect illustration of leveraging Kaidara's CBR to ensure the highest level of customer service," said Dr. Michel Manago, CEO of Kaidara. "Kaidara enables National's support staff to share information on a worldwide basis and improve customer support. As the information is collected, Kaidara's software will only become more integral in National's day-to-day operations."

About Kaidara Advisor

Based on Kaidara's Case Based Reasoning (CBR) technology, Kaidara Advisor improves the efficiency of customer support personnel, equipment users, suppliers, and maintenance contractors by enabling them to utilize past experiences in order to reduce costs and increase productivity in everyday work scenarios. Kaidara Advisor allows the individual maintenance user or customer support personnel to quickly access and analyze former case studies that apply to current situation analysis. With a pragmatic approach, Kaidara Advisor provides a step-by-step decision support system that leverages diagnosis methods, software tools and software engineering to ensure that information is readily available to ensure the highest level of customer support.

About National Semiconductor

National Semiconductor is the premier analog company driving the information age. Combining real-world analog and state-of-the-art digital technology, the company is focused on the fast growing markets for wireless handsets; information appliances; information infrastructure; and display, imaging and human interface technologies. With headquarters in Santa Clara, California, National reported sales of $2.1 billion for its 2001 fiscal year and has about 9,700 employees worldwide. Additional company and product information is available on the World Wide Web at www.national.com.

About Kaidara

Kaidara is the leading provider of global advisory software for designing, manufacturing, selling and supporting complex products. Kaidara's software enables smart multi-channel interactions between an enterprise and its customers, employees and partners. It helps enterprises buy, sell, make and fix products by searching and learning from structured and unstructured data. Clients include CFM International, DaimlerChrysler, Ford, Freightliner, General Motors, Legrand, National Semiconductor, PSA Peugeot Citroen, Rue du Commerce, Schneider Electric, Solectron-Ericsson, and Wartsila NSD. Kaidara is located in Los Altos, California and Paris. For more information, visit www.kaidara.com.

Kaidara, Kaidara Advisor and Kaidara Commerce are registered trademarks of Kaidara Software. Other products or company names may be trademarks of their respective owners.