Ventana Corp. establishes European headquarters in Denmark

Business Wire, Nov 19, 1996

TUCSON, Ariz.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 19, 1996--

Subsidiary to market and distribute GroupSystems product

line throughout Europe

Ventana Corp., the industry leader in the design, development and marketing of a broad portfolio of decision support software tools under the flagship name GroupSystems, Tuesday announced the establishment of a European headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark.

"Given the recent expansion of our customer base in Europe, we needed to intensify our efforts to better serve our European customers," stated Jim Thornton, chief executive officer and president of Ventana.

The establishment of a European headquarters will facilitate Ventana's expansion in Europe and further adapt software and services to the European market. Peter Holm has been appointed managing director of Ventana Europe, bringing to the position a broad background in the information industry, and was formerly managing director of the Gartner Group Scandinavia. Holm, through GroupVision Denmark, has been the distributor of Ventana's products in the Nordic countries.

Oticon, a Danish corporation with a major share of the worldwide hearing aid market, is a current user of the GroupSystems technology. Lars Kolind, managing director, stated, "The speed of the creative process is considerably increased and we have seen a quantitative improvement. Prejudice, as well as issues like 'who speaks when' can be forgotten. The final solutions gain a much higher Co., another European customer, has utilized GroupSystems for large distributed meetings with more than 150 participants. Leif Edvinnsson, vice president and director 3 percent of their time on the future. That awarded the coveted PC Magazine "Editor's ChoiProduct Design and Innovative Thinking, to name transcend cultural barriers and reach across time and space, Ventana is extending its leadership within the collaborative market in response to the demand to support anytime, anyplace decision support.

"Our customers in the United States have demonstrated proven results with GroupSystems in areas such as problem solving, strategic planning, reengineering, product design, innovative thinking, and much more," stated Thornton, CEO and president of Ventana. "Establishing a European headquarters is the next logical step in the growth and expansion of Ventana."

About Ventana Corp.

Ventana Corp. was founded in 1989, as a technology transfer spin-off, from research conducted at the University of Arizona, under the direction of Dr. Jay F. Nunamaker. The Tucson-based company pioneered the concept of electronic meetings with the release in 1990 of GroupSystems V for DOS, to enable group work over a LAN. In 1994, GroupSystems for Windows was released.

Ventana announced the first stand alone tools in 1996 with the addition of Survey, Alternative Analysis, and Activity Modeler. The company markets the GroupSystems product line in 20 countries. For more information contact Ventana U.S. Headquarters at 800/368-6338, or take a test drive on the Ventana web site at http://www.ventana.com. Ventana Europe can be contacted at (ph) 45 70 21 11 11 or (fax) 45 70 21 11 12.

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