Clarify launches customer service industry's first "distributed workflow" replication server

Business Wire, May 15, 1995

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 15, 1995--Clarify Inc., the market leader in customer service management systems, today unveiled ClearEnterprise Replication Engine (TM), the industry's first software package to permit workflow-based replication of customer support data on multiple distributed servers. The first member of Clarify's new ClearEnterprise (TM) family of replication products, Replication Engine is targeted at distributed support organizations that want local autonomy but also need to share work among multiple support groups.

Unlike other replication products, Clarify's Replication Engine enables support representatives at one server site to transfer select customer or case information to support representatives working at another server site. Distributed support groups gain immediate, local access to the customer cases they are working on --- regardless of where the cases were initiated. And, the information is obtained without consuming the global support organization's valuable network communications bandwidth.

"This product demonstrates our continued commitment to meet the diverse needs of the global Fortune 500 marketplace, " said Donna Novitsky, vice president of marketing for Clarify. Novitsky noted that the majority of large companies with worldwide support operations are adopting a centralized server strategy to provide service representatives around the globe with shared access to a continually updated and maintained knowledgebase. At the same time, some of Clarify's customers, such as Tandem Computers and Sybase, Inc., also have a need to support multiple server sites.

"Some support groups simply wish to maintain local control over customer case data and other operations," Novitsky said. "Whatever the reason, Replication Engine gives them the means to 'think globally, act locally' with the information as they see fit."

First to offer peer-to-peer replication

In addition to providing on-demand replication, Clarify's Replication Engine is the first product of its kind to deliver true peer-to-peer data replication for call tracking. It enables two or more support personnel on multiple servers to collaborate naturally and simultaneously on a case while avoiding data conflicts, such as incomplete or conflicting updates of related database tables.

Because most replication systems are designed at the database-table level, they frequently impose on users a rigid "master/slave" relationship to data in order to prevent such conflicts. Thus only certain people are permitted to update or log into data files --- a working model which is inappropriate for customer support environments, where multiple support personnel need to be able to share data and take any steps necessary to resolve a case.

Clarify's Replication Engine, by contrast, is based on an object-oriented, application-level design that guarantees database referential integrity without imposing unnatural ownership models. It extends Clarify's single-server data ownership and collaborative workflow model into a multi- server environment in a way that is transparent to users, so that anyone working on a specific customer problem can access data, add notes, or escalate a case to a product expert as needed.

Pricing and availability

The ClearEnterprise Replication Engine is priced at $20,000 and will begin shipping in June 1995. Included in the replication server package are the ClearEnterprise Operations utilities for online system monitoring, automated recovery, and transaction archiving. ClearEnterprise RulePacks, which automatically handle the transfer of data from one server to another, are available for Clarify's ClearSupport, ClearQuality, and ClearLogistics products and are priced separately at $10,000 each.

The Clarify system runs on a variety of industry-standard UNIX platforms including Sun, Silicon Graphics, IBM, and HP workstations, as well as Intel x86 and Pentium systems for Windows NT environments. Clients supported include UNIX/Motif, Windows and Macintosh, while databases supported include Oracle, Sybase, and SQL Server.

About Clarify Inc.

Clarify develops and markets the most comprehensive Customer Service Management (CSM) system on the market today. Members of the Fortune 500 as well as innovative, fast-growing new companies look to Clarify to help them manage external customer support as well as internal help desk operations. Customers include Amdahl, Amoco, Bay Networks, cisco Systems, 3COM, Intel, Motorola, Quantum, Sybase, Tandem Computers, The Learning Company and UB Networks. Founded in 1990, the company has 110 employees and is headquartered in San Jose, California. Its products are sold through direct sales and service offices in the U.S. and Europe. Clarify can be reached at (408) 428-2000 or via the Internet's World Wide Web at www.clarify.com. -0- Note to Editors: Clarify and ClearSupport are registered trademarks of Clarify Inc. ClearQuality, ClearLogistics, ClearExtensions and Diagnosis Engine are trademarks of Clarify Inc. All other brands and products are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders and should be treated as such.