HNC Software Teams With IBM to Offer Opportunity Suite Via DB2 Universal Database

Business Wire, Oct 4, 2001

Business Editors & High-Tech

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 4, 2001

Key Component of HNC's Critical Action Technology Platform Enhanced by

DB2's High Performance, Scalable Database Architecture

HNC Software (Nasdaq:HNCS), a leading provider of Critical Action(TM) software, announced today that it will offer its Opportunity Suite using IBM's DB2(a) Universal Database as its underlying database platform.

HNC will integrate DB2 into its Critical Action Technology Platform to manage enormous volumes of data, measured in multi-terabytes, which will significantly amplify the Opportunity Suite's high-capacity decision-making abilities.

HNC's Opportunity Suite enables companies to capitalize on marketing opportunities and manage risk by targeting the right customer with the right action, through the right channel, at the right time. Through these optimized customer interactions, companies can dramatically enhance customer relationships and help increase revenues.

"After a meticulous evaluation, HNC chose DB2 because of its high-performance, scalable architecture which enables us to quickly develop and deliver opportunity solutions capable of efficiently managing and extracting value from huge volumes of data," said Steven Gal, group vice president of HNC Opportunity Solutions. "DB2 will serve as a cornerstone of our Critical Action Technology platform, and we look forward to deploying the technology to our existing customers and rapidly implementing it with our new customers in the financial and telecommunications realms."

"IBM understands the critical value of data analytics and business intelligence to help organizations optimize relationships between customers, partners and employees," said Jim Kelly, vice president of marketing, IBM Data Management Solutions. "HNC's selection of DB2 serves as another example of companies who've come to rely on our technology, and we look forward to working closely with HNC to help businesses establish the infrastructure to manage large volumes of data for optimal decision making."

A key component of HNC's Critical Action Technology Platform, HNC's Opportunity Suite delivers proven software and services that companies depend on to optimize marketing decisions and implement customer-centric programs. These customer-focused programs help drive incremental revenue and strengthen customer relationships by delivering better intelligence about customers for reduced risk, optimizing marketing decision making and fostering long-term customer loyalty. The solution suite includes modular components for cross-sell, prospect, pricing, and retention optimization. HNC's technology uniquely leverages structured and unstructured data to intelligently drive actions to the optimal customers for maximum return.

DB2 specifically addresses e-business relationship management customer demands for high performance, rapid response time and 24x7 availability. DB2 makes it simpler for companies of all sizes to gain competitive insight about their customers, sharply reduce deployment time, in many cases by almost half, and perform high-speed Internet searches up to 10 times faster than traditional relational database search engines.

About IBM Data Management Software

As the foundation for e-business, DB2 is the industry's first multimedia, Web-ready relational database management system, strong enough to meet the demands of large corporations and flexible enough to serve medium-sized and small e-businesses. DB2 Universal Database combines integrated power for business intelligence, content management, enterprise information portals and e-business with industry-leading performance and reliability to drive the most demanding industry solutions. DB2 Universal Database together with Internet technology makes information easily accessible, available and secure. There are more than 60 million DB2 users from over 300,000 companies worldwide relying on IBM data management solutions. For more information visit www.software.ibm.com/data.> About HNC Software Inc.

HNC is a leading provider of Critical Action software that incorporates advanced high-end analytics and decision management technologies. HNC's proprietary science predicts customer behavior, optimizes the use of enterprise resources and applies situation-specific business rules to enable immediate actions before a risk materializes or an opportunity disappears. HNC's proven software empowers Global 2000 companies in the financial services, insurance, telecommunications and other industries to make millions of the right mission-critical customer decisions and take action in real time to minimize risk and maximize profit. For more information, visit www.hnc.com or contact Rob Jensen at 858/799-8122.

Cautions About Forward-Looking Statements. This press release contains forward-looking statements about events and circumstances that have not yet occurred. For example, words such as "will", "expects," "believes" or other statements in the future tense are forward-looking statements. Actual outcomes and results may significantly differ from expectations in this press release due to a number of risks and uncertainties about the future. Such risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, whether HNC's products and services will increase customer interaction and improve customer's operating results and whether HNC's products, whether used alone or with IBM's DB2 database, will achieve anticipated operating results and performance levels.