Fannie Mae Implements Arbor Software's Essbase Server for Multidimensional OLAP; Essbase Deployed Enterprise-Wide for Corporate and Business Unit Forecasting and Financial Analysis

Business Wire, August 12, 1996

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 12, 1996--Arbor Software Corp. (NASDAQ:ARSW), a leading provider of client/server software for business planning, analysis and management reporting, today announced that Fannie Mae (NYSE:FNM) has implemented Arbor's Essbase multidimensional database server for corporate forecasting and financial analysis.

Fannie Mae is a congressionally chartered, shareholder owned company, and is the nation's largest source of home mortgage funds. It has committed to provide $1 trillion in targeted lending for 10 million homes by the end of the decade.

The targeted lending will serve low and moderate income families, minorities, new immigrants, residents of central cities and other unserved areas, and people who have special housing needs. More information about Fannie Mae can be found on the Internet at http://www.fanniemae.com.

Essbase Forecasting Application

Fannie Mae's initial application of Essbase provides a distributed forecasting capability at both the corporate level and for each of the company's business units. Prior to Essbase, forecasting was conducted at the corporate level only. Forecasting and analysis not only involved the corporate planners but also information systems and outside consultants when database changes were needed.

Since Essbase was implemented, forecasting has emerged as a more valuable strategic planning tool integrating both business units and corporate level forecasts. Once the monthly corporate and business unit forecasts are developed, Fannie Mae's planning analysts can then conduct and analyze a range of scenarios based on multiple economic factors, using both historical data and future assumptions.

With Essbase's dynamic "what-if?" capabilities, non-technical business users are able to quickly develop forecasting models with multiple scenarios that allow Fannie Mae to anticipate change and better manage financial performance.

"We chose Essbase because flexibility and speed in forecasting and analysis are critical for Fannie Mae to manage its business in an environment where the pace of change is increasing," said William Farrell, vice president, applications development for Fannie Mae.

"Essbase gives our financial analysts the ability to quickly analyze and understand the risks and opportunities related to a range of future scenarios. Through well informed and quick decisions, we can enhance the performance of our assets and enhance the delivery of affordable mortgage finance products through lenders nationwide," said Leanne Spencer, vice president of financial reporting for Fannie Mae.

"We're pleased that Essbase can deliver strategic business information for one of the largest financial institutions in the world," said Kirk Cruikshank, Arbor's vice president of marketing. "Fannie Mae's forecasting application is a prime example of operational OLAP -- the integration of historical analysis, `what if' investigation and interactive enterprise-scale planning."

About Essbase

Essbase is a multidimensional database optimized for business planning, analysis and management reporting applications such as profitability analysis, budgeting, forecasting, planning, financial consolidations, sales analysis and EIS.

Based upon a true, client/server architecture, Essbase supports multi-user read and write access, large-scale data capacity, robust analytical calculations, flexible data navigation and consistent, rapid response times. The Essbase server's open architecture supports direct data access using standard spreadsheets or leading third-party query, reporting and EIS tools.

About Arbor Software

Arbor Software Corp. (NASDAQ:ARSW) develops and markets client/server software for business planning, analysis and management reporting. Arbor's products are used by more than 700 corporations spanning a broad range of industries and business applications including Bank of Boston, Fidelity, Los Angeles Times, Neutrogena, Pennzoil, PEPSICO, Prudential and Sears.

Arbor has over 100 application, services, tools and platform partners, including Comshare, Fujitsu, Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Microsoft. Arbor's products are sold direct, as well as through system integrators and VARs worldwide. Arbor's offices are located in Atlanta; Boston; Chicago; Dallas; Houston; Los Angeles; New York; Sunnyvale, Calif.; Washington D.C.; London and Paris.

More information on Arbor products and services can be found on Arbor's World Wide Web (WWW) site at http://www.arborsoft.com. -0-

Note to Editors: Arbor and Essbase are registered trademarks of Arbor Software Corp. Any other product or company names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. For Arbor Software product information, please call 1-800-858-1666 or send e-mail to info@arborsoft.com.

CONTACT: Arbor Software, Sunnyvale

Joanna McMillan, 408/541-4035

jmcmillan@arborsoft.com

or

JONA Group

Jamie O'Donnell, 415/552-1515

jamie@jonagroup.com