Andersen Consulting And BEA Systems Expand Relationship Through a Variety of e-Business Initiatives

Business Wire, Oct 5, 2000

Business Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 5, 2000

Andersen Consulting and BEA Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq:BEAS), the E-Commerce Transactions Company(TM), today announced they are extending their already strong relationship to the e-business applications sector.

The firms will work together to develop and market a suite of comprehensive infrastructure solutions for the deployment of reliable, scalable, and flexible e-business applications. Andersen Consulting is a leading global management and technology consulting firm and BEA is one of the leaders in e-business platforms with the world's No. 1 Java application server, BEA WebLogic Server(TM).

Andersen Consulting and BEA have already developed a number of initiatives that provide new product offerings for potential clients, improved customer service to client bases, and advanced global marketing channels for those offerings.

"BEA provides one of the most effective and powerful platforms for rapidly building integrated e-businesses," said John Conlon, associate partner, at Andersen Consulting. "By combining our industry experience, business integration skills, and key client relationships with BEA's leading e-business platform, we bring to market powerful solutions that help give our clients the means to succeed and differentiate themselves from their competitors."

One such product Andersen Consulting developed with BEA's help is called EasyTax, a replicable online government revenue agency system on which revenue applications are being developed in Ireland and Washington D.C. The product was introduced to the vertical marketplace last November. Built on BEA WebLogic Server, EasyTax is a significant development in customer services for revenue agencies. It draws on the latest computing, communication and content technologies to provide customers the ability to conduct most of their business with revenue agencies over the Internet in a simple, safe and secure environment. The solution offers electronic filing of returns, payments (by direct debit), and an extensive customer information system.

"Our expanding relationship with Andersen Consulting is important to BEA's success for several reasons," said Matt Green, senior vice president of worldwide operations for BEA. "Both firms win by providing BEA technology to the established Andersen Consulting client base. Together, we meet the demand for access to best-of-breed e-business infrastructure software solutions, and BEA gains important new business relationships."

Andersen Consulting recently introduced BEA to answerFriend, a leader in the development of natural language processing technology, used to improve customer relationship management and make e-commerce more convenient for customers. answerFriend's technology enables computers to understand customer queries in any language or specialized jargon and provide immediate, precise and concise answers in plain English. BEA has become one of answerFriend's first clients and will use the technology to provide an enhanced experience for its customers.

"One of the advantages we bring to the table is the ability to link up our myriad of clients with one another when there are clear mutual benefits," said Nick Lyon, partner at Andersen Consulting. "Introducing BEA to answerFriend was a natural because answerFriend's powerful technology provides a leading-edge solution that makes it easier for companies like BEA to better respond to their customers and deliver improved services."

The relationship being announced today between Andersen Consulting and BEA will provide clients with resources and services that facilitate the management of e-commerce transactions. BEA's suite of software and service solutions includes:

-- Comprehensive application servers, including BEA Tuxedo and the BEA WebLogic
family of servers, for rapidly building, deploying, and managing e-commerce
applications;

-- BEA WebLogic Commerce Server(TM), which houses reusable components that
enable business logic to be snapped together into applications within a matter
of weeks;

-- BEA eLink for integrating new Web applications in real time with back-office
systems and other businesses across the Web; and

-- A wide range of education, customer support, and professional services to
help small companies and large corporations get e-commerce initiatives off the
ground and up on the Web.

As part of the relationship, the BEA platform and applications will be showcased at Andersen Consulting solution centers and BEA will provide training on its solutions to Andersen Consulting professionals.

About Andersen Consulting

Andersen Consulting is an $8.9 billion management and technology consulting organization that is reinventing itself to become the market-maker, architect and builder of the New Economy, delivering innovations that improve the way the world works and lives. More than 65,000 professionals in 48 countries deliver a wide range of specialized capabilities through service lines to clients across all industries. The firm's network of businesses provides a range of services including venture funding, business incubation and launch, consulting, technology and alliances. Its home page address is http://www.ac.com.