Fireman's Fund Selects Nextance for Enterprise Contract Management

Business Wire, Feb 5, 2003

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 5, 2003

Nextance, Inc., a leading provider of enterprise software for enterprise contract management, today announced that the Fireman's Fund has chosen Nextance(TM) for the management of their procurement contracts, RFx process and related commitments.

Fireman's Fund, one of the top 20 property-casualty insurance companies in the United States, provides innovative business and personal insurance coverage coupled with the highest caliber of claims service. Fireman's Fund is a niche player in a number of major markets such as AgriBusiness, ocean marine cargo, professional liability, high-value homeowners coverage, and the entertainment industry where it is the leading underwriter of Hollywood film productions. The company's newest success story is its iCustomer Series service where middle market customers receive access to specialized extranets in six specific industries.

"We excel in niche markets where we can be among the top five insurance providers. Associated with serving these diverse businesses are many types of vendor contracts, and it's very important for us to keep on top of these agreements," said Robert Neuhard, Director of Contracts of Fireman's Fund. "Nextance's rich functionality across the procurement lifecycle, from RFx capability to obligation management and their scalability across the enterprise, were key factors in our decision. It was critical for us to select a solution that provided one common and simple user interface so that our internal clients could easily engage the contracts group regardless of any geographical separation."

Nextance will provide Fireman's Fund with the most comprehensive procurement and enterprise contract management system available today. This enables complete visibility into any of the contracts, terms, and commitments across the entire enterprise -- allowing significant capability for procurement contract creation, complex approval routing and compliance monitoring and management.

"We are very pleased to be working with Fireman's Fund," said Kirk Krappe, President and CEO of Nextance. "Fireman's Fund is a very well regarded organization and joins our roster of Fortune 1000 companies who are gaining the significant benefits of a highly scalable and configurable solution. Financial service organizations are demanding enterprise grade solutions. Nextance's unique XML architecture provides the highest degree of enterprise capability and is allowing us to add rapid and significant value to these organizations."

About Nextance, Inc.

Nextance, Inc. is a leading enterprise software firm providing applications that assist corporations and public entities in better managing their contracts, commitments, and supporting business processes. Companies using Nextance software gain control over their contracts, rights, and obligations and realize increased revenues, reduced expenses, and reduced contractual risk. Nextance is privately held and is headquartered in Redwood City, Calif. Additional information about Nextance is available at http://www.nextance.com.

About Fireman's Fund

Headquartered in Novato, Calif., Fireman's Fund Insurance Company is a 139-year-old national insurer which last year recorded gross premiums written of more than $4.1 billion. Fireman's Fund is rated "A" (Excellent) by the independent A. M. Best Company. Fireman's Fund is a subsidiary of Allianz AG of Munich, an international financial services provider, which has assets under management of $1 trillion. For more about Fireman's Fund go to www.firemansfund.com.

Nextance(TM) is a trademark of Nextance, Inc. All other company names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.