Siebel Systems, Inc. Announces Production Shipment of Siebel Enterprise Applications Version 3.0; Major product release adds significant functionality, sets standard for state-of-the-art enterprise-class client/server applications

Business Wire, Feb 26, 1997

SAN MATEO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 26, 1997--Siebel Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:SEBL) , the leading global supplier of sales information systems, announced today the general availability of Siebel Enterprise Applications Version 3.0, a comprehensive suite of sales, marketing, and customer service applications designed for use in large, global, multi-channel sales and service operations.

Version 3.0 adds important new features in Siebel Sales Enterprise(TM) to support large, dispersed user communities by providing mobile access to the applications via the Internet, as well as major new functionality in Siebel Service Enterprise(TM). Siebel Systems also introduces Siebel Tools(TM), a powerful new application development environment to enable rapid application deployment across diverse industries. These tools include two revolutionary features -- Siebel Application Upgrader and Siebel Anywhere -- that are designed to significantly cut the time and cost associated with software upgrades and distribution, breaking new ground in enterprise-class client/server application technology.

Siebel Enterprise Applications -- including Siebel Sales Enterprise and Siebel Service Enterprise -- give global organizations a closed-loop sales, marketing, and customer service information system. By providing comprehensive customer, product, competitive, and service information, Siebel Enterprise Applications unite field sales, field service, telesales, telemarketing, call centers, service centers, and third-party resellers and service providers. The result is improved sales and service productivity, higher levels of customer satisfaction, and increased profitability. Siebel Enterprise Applications Version 3.0 extend and dramatically expand the functionality of Siebel Sales Enterprise and Siebel Service Enterprise so that organizations can establish an enterprise-wide competitive advantage based on Siebel applications.

The introduction of Siebel Internetworking Computing, Siebel Application Upgrader, and Siebel Anywhere fundamentally alter the state-of-the-art of enterprise-class client/server applications. Siebel Internetworking Computing allows mobile users to run Siebel Enterprise Applications in a client/server configuration over the Internet, effectively creating a low-cost, global, virtual private network. Siebel Application Upgrader slashes the time it takes to upgrade from a release of Siebel Enterprise Applications to Version 3.0 from man-months for traditional client/server applications to mere hours -- with all customizations of the previous release intact. Additionally, Siebel Anywhere automates remote software upgrades, eliminating the need to bring mobile laptops to a central location for upgrading. "Clearly, Siebel Systems has broken important new ground in client/server applications technology," said Eric Schmidt, Ph.D., Chief Technology Officer at Sun Microsystems. "With Siebel Application Upgrader and Siebel Anywhere, the resource paradigms of providing upgrades and new software to a large, dispersed user community have been completely changed. What used to be a monumental undertaking for global organizations is now far more manageable."

"Siebel Enterprise Applications Version 3.0 represent a significant milestone in functionality and integration for global organizations deploying large-scale sales information systems," said Thomas M. Siebel, Chairman and CEO of Siebel Systems. "This release underscores Siebel Systems' commitment to providing fully-functional enterprise-class sales, marketing, and service applications that are easy to build, customize, use, and upgrade. The result is a seamlessly integrated solution providing a competitive differentiator that is difficult, if not impossible, to replicate."

"With Siebel Enterprise Applications Version 3.0, Digital Equipment Corporation will be able to integrate our worldwide sales and customer service applications," said Eric Hjerpe, Director of Sales and Marketing Information, Systems Business Unit at Digital, and President, Siebel User Group. "Just as important, Siebel Enterprise Applications Version 3.0 have set a new standard in the state-of-the-art of client/server applications. The new Siebel Tools will allow Digital to rapidly customize and extend our Siebel applications, further widening our competitive advantage. Additionally, Siebel Application Upgrader and Siebel Anywhere will give us the ability to upgrade and distribute new software in a fraction of the time required by traditional client/server applications. The time and cost these new functions will save Digital is truly impressive."

Siebel Sales Enterprise Version 3.0

Key new features in Siebel Sales Enterprise include: -0-

-- Siebel Internetwork Computing extends the existing Internet-enabled functionality in Siebel Sales Enterprise, allowing sales representatives to run the application in connected client/server fashion using standard Internet services as a global, low-cost, virtual private network.