Walker Announces Comprehensive Internet/intranet Capabilities for Tamaris C/S Enterprise Financial Software.

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 29, 1997--Walker Interactive Systems today announced WalkerWeb solution offerings that provide users of Tamaris C/Stm enterprise financial applications complete access to information and transactions connected through corporate intranets and the Internet.

"Web technology has given organizations the power to expand the reach of financial applications beyond the traditional core accounting organization," said Darrell Trimble, vice president of marketing at Walker.

"This offering allows Walker customers to use Web pages as the primary online interface with their employees, customers and partners. WalkerWeb extends Walker's desktop strategy by giving our customers the choice of Web, Windows or character- based interfaces - or any combination of these."

Walker's announcement is comprised of several key components:

-- A Flexible Desktop Client that allows any combination of Web browser, Windows client, and character-based user interfaces for both information publishing and business transactions.

This supports the growing numbers of internal and external users who need access to corporate information systems via the Internet, the more complex needs of professional accounting and purchasing users who must integrate corporate financials with other Windows-based applications, and data entry and other users who prefer a character-based interface.

-- WalkerWeb Business Process offerings that Web-enable Tamaris C/S applications. Includes financial management, procurement and customer financial management solutions. These range from fixed-price packages to more comprehensive custom solutions.

-- Web-based Finance and Business Reporting solutions that range from standard reports and ad-hoc queries to business analysis modules and key performance indicators (KPIs). These WalkerWeb solutions extend existing capabilities of WalkerClient Q&R (Query & Reporting) and WalkerClient DSS (Decision Support System) to the Internet and corporate intranets.

Walker has partnered with best-of-breed providers of Internet technology to develop these solutions. Walker's recently announced alliance with EnterpriseLink, Menlo Park, Calif., provides Walker with the technology to deliver Tamaris C/S functionality via Web pages and with Web server capability for transaction session management.

Previously announced relationships with Information Builders, Inc. in New York City and Arbor Software in Santa Clara, Calif., provide Web server technology for information publishing.

Walker customers have already recognized the need for the flexibility and broadened access of WalkerWeb solutions.

"As BusinessWeek noted in its October 12, 1996 issue, we're one of the largest, fastest growing utilities in the nation," said Jim Clark, vice president of MIS and telecommunications at Western Resources.

"Extending Tamaris C/S through WalkerWeb will help us maintain our new service and cost-reduction programs, more quickly integrate new business units, and provide information immediately to internal and external classes of users who previously could not access the systems directly.

"The bottom line: It will help us make faster and better decisions by getting better information where and when it's needed and accelerate the cost-reduction gains we've already realized from Tamaris C/S by reducing the need for finance and administration to fulfill information requests."

Clark hopes WalkerWeb will eventually give utility customers direct access to account information, to make payments or order services. He said this will reduce the cost of customer transactions.

Trimble said these technology announcements demonstrate the flexibility of Tamaris C/S as a back-office enterprise engine. "But what's important to our customers is the ability to support real business needs such as financial reporting and analysis, distributed purchase requisitioning and credit management outside the traditional finance and administration staff."

He said this strategy allows large organizations to exploit new technology and application function without scrapping their existing technology infrastructure. They can now leverage the mainframe as an enterprise network server and deploy new application functions quickly at a much lower cost than traditional distributed UNIX-based client/server.

Walker's Tamaris C/S architecture is ideal for high-volume Web applications, according to Gregory Dorman, Walker's vice president of research and development.

"While other application vendors are trapped by heavy client architectures that do not easily support Web applications, the Tamaris C/S enterprise server has the scalability to support the orders of magnitude increases in online users and transactions that Web applications demand," Dorman said.

A Tamaris C/S-based Web server also offers the 7x24x365 availability, high reliability and cost effectiveness that UNIX-based architectures can't match.

WalkerWeb Solutions will be available in late March. Pricing will vary depending upon the level of customization and implementation.

About Walker Interactive Systems

Walker Interactive Systems provides premium enterprise server business and financial application solutions for Global 2000 organizations with high transaction volume requirements.

The Walker Enterprise Series includes Tamaris C/S, WalkerClient and Financial Management and Planning applications. These products address business functions that include General Ledger, Fixed Assets, Project Cost Management, Accounts Payable, Purchase Order, Inventory Management, Credit and Accounts Receivable, Financial Consolidation and Budgeting in addition to Flexible Client Desktop, Business Reporting and Analysis functionality.

For more information, visit our Web site at www.walker.com .

Walker is headquartered in San Francisco with regional offices in Atlanta, Boston and Chicago, and international offices in the United Kingdom, Singapore and Australia. -0-

Note to Editors: "Walker Interactive Systems," "The Walker Enterprise Series," and "Tamaris C/S" are trademarks of Walker Interactive Systems Inc.

CONTACT: Walker Interactive Systems

Kevin Dobbs, 415/243-2837

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Shafer Public Relations 

Stephanie Silverman, 415/273-5239

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Tom Rossi, 714/863-3240

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