Viewlocity Helps World's Second-largest Retailer, Carrefour, Connect With Global Trading Partners.

Business Editors

TOKYO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 5, 2001

Viewlocity to establish Tokyo office in early 2001

to help companies ready their supply chains for B2B e-commerce 

Viewlocity, a global provider of software and services that help companies manage business with their trading partners via the Internet, today announced that it has successfully completed the initial phase of implementation for Carrefour, its first landmark customer in Japan.

Already with more than 100 customers and 500 installations across Asia Pacific, Viewlocity is helping Carrefour to integrate and e-enable its supply chain in an effort to collaborate with external trading partners and enhance operational efficiencies.

Viewlocity's proven and flexible Integration Broker makes it possible for Carrefour to adopt a multi-entity e-business strategy that insulates them against the ever-changing requirements of the e-business world. Viewlocity's versatile solution also gives Carrefour the ability to exchange information seamlessly with their external trading partners, who can still retain their existing investments in legacy or proprietary technology.

Based in France, Carrefour operates 580 hypermarkets, 1,300 supermarkets and 2,700 hard discount stores in 26 countries. With the help of Viewlocity's Integration Broker, Carrefour was able to open its first Japanese store in Makuhari, Chiba, in time to meet the booming demand of the 2000 Christmas season. The company plans to establish 12 more hypermarkets in Japan by 2003, where Viewlocity's powerful Integration Broker will provide the critical e-infrastructure linking their nationwide network of stores, wholesalers, suppliers and logistics providers.

The initial project involved using Viewlocity's Integration Broker to help Carrefour facilitate the real time exchange of information between their global store system and their local suppliers using the Japan Chain Store Association (JCA) business format and Zengin communication protocol. Both JCA and Zengin are established industry formats unique to Japan and are used by numerous wholesalers and major logistic service providers. According to Phillip Chilton, Senior Manager Logistics of Carrefour Japan, "Business over Christmas progressed without a glitch, and the store's systems had no problems processing the huge volumes of transactions."

Hideo Nagashima, Chief Executive Officer of Custom Technology Corporation, Viewlocity's partner in Japan, commented that "Although such program modifications typically require several months of development in order to meet Japanese specifications, the flexibility and reliability of Viewlocity's Integration Broker enabled Carrefour to support the JCA business format and Zengin communication protocols in just under a month and open in time for the Christmas crunch."

Affirmed Phillip Chilton, "Viewlocity's Integration Broker has enabled us to rapidly integrate the multiple technologies, operating systems and applications in today's highly disparate e-business world. We were also impressed with their consultants' experience in helping companies solve some of the most vexing supply chain problems in Asia. Viewlocity will play a critical role in helping Carrefour build the necessary e-infrastructure to facilitate our hypermarket expansion across Japan."

Coinciding with the announcement of their first customer in Japan, Viewlocity also announced plans to establish an office in Tokyo by the first half of 2001. Supported by their sales and implementation partner, Custom Technology Corporation, Viewlocity aims to help companies address their integration challenges, and take advantage of the enormous benefits of B2B e-commerce, which Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry estimated will grow over seven-fold from JPY$9 trillion in 1998 to JPY$68 trillion by 2003.

Commented Jeff Cashman, President of Viewlocity Asia Pacific, "Carrefour Japan joins our growing list of customers who want to shed the inefficiencies of their traditional linear supply chain model, and want to realize new levels of competitiveness offered by B2B e-commerce. Viewlocity is stepping up its efforts in Japan to help companies integrate their supply chain, and bridge to a supply-web model that fosters interoperability and agility necessitated by the world of B2B e-commerce."

A sampling of Viewlocity's other customers in the region include Asia Pacific Breweries, COSCO, China Trade Ministry, DHL, ECnet, Ericsson, Legend Holdings and Sony.

About Carrefour

Carrefour is the largest retailer in Europe and Latin America and the first international retailer in Asia. With 715 hypermarkets, 2,400 supermarkets and 5,600 deep discount and convenience stores, the group achieved year 2000 sales of more than 85bn euros ($78 million) under its banners, including franchised operations, in nine European countries as well as in the Americas and Asia. More information about the company is available on the Carrefour Web site, http://www.carrefour.com/

About Viewlocity

Viewlocity is a global provider of software and services that help companies manage business with their trading partners via the Internet. With over 3,200 installations, Viewlocity brings value to an organization by seamlessly integrating it with customers, suppliers; logistics service providers or other trading communities. Based on XML and other open standards, Viewlocity's solutions allow customers to leverage their existing technologies while providing synchronized information and visibility of all trading interactions. Through constant monitoring of the supply chain, Viewlocity products provide dynamic notification of issues, take corrective action based upon business rules and apply intelligent decision support to actively manage trading partner relationships. By maximizing their relationships with trading partners, companies can improve their sales process and lower costs by reducing cycle times and inventory levels.

Viewlocity has 14 offices worldwide, with its global headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, European headquarters in London and its Asia-Pacific headquarters in Singapore. The company serves world-class customers including American Standard, Carrefour, DHL Worldwide Express, Ericsson, Ryder System and Volvo. For more information, call 877.512.8900 or visit www.viewlocity.com.