Optimizing the Power of SAP NetWeaver— IDS Scheer and SEEBURGER Announce Collaboration at SAPPHIRE to Develop SAP NetWeaver Readiness Assessment Package

Business Wire, May 12, 2004

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SAPPHIRE '04

IDS Scheer Booth #1456

NEW ORLEANS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 12, 2004

IDS Scheer North America, the leading provider of business process excellence services and tools, today announced at SAPPHIRE '04 that it has entered into a partnership with SEEBURGER, Inc., the only B2B/EDI solution provider for complete partner integration. Through this collaborative partnership, IDS Scheer and SEEBURGER will join forces to develop a SAP NetWeaver(TM) Readiness Assessment Package that provides a "health check" to determine how ready an organization is towards integration of the SAP NetWeaver platform.

SAP NetWeaver '04 is a comprehensive integration and application platform designed to automate and optimize an organization's existing business processes. IDS Scheer's ARIS for SAP NetWeaver will support the entire process lifecycle with an extended BPM solution that enables organizations to optimize business processes based on analysis, design, implementation, execution, monitoring, and controlling. This solution provides the components to design and architect business process models that are seamlessly integrated with the SAP NetWeaver process configuration and execution models. SEEBURGER's industry expertise in business-to-business integration, 10 year software partnership, and 1,000 joint customers around the world, prompted SAP to choose the company as the selected B2B/EDI partner to extend the SAP Exchange Infrastructure (SAP XI) layer of SAP NetWeaver with adapters for business partner integration.

"This collaboration validates how IDS Scheer and SEEBURGER have quickly emerged as two of the leading partners whose process management and integration tools have been embedded within SAP NetWeaver," said Scott Lewin, President and CEO, SEEBURGER, Inc.

According to Mr. Lewin, the SAP NetWeaver Readiness Assessment package will be jointly marketed by IDS Scheer and SEEBURGER and includes the following:

-- Strategic Assessment - Through this offering, strategic

experts will address the top 5 business goals and work with an

organization to understand how SAP NetWeaver can accelerate

their overall vision. Working with an organization's staff,

the team will develop a short, mid, and long-term

recommendation that optimizes and further aligns NetWeaver

with business goals.

-- Business Process Analysis - Organizations need solutions that

enable business managers and employees to effectively control

the processes that impact them the most. However, process pain

points are numerous and further compounded by the fact that

business and IT do not view processes in the same way nor

share the same language and tools. Business Process Management

(BPM) experts will assess current business scenarios and

processes using SAP NetWeaver and BPM tools such as the ARIS

Toolset to improve and exceed the demands of today's

businesses. The end result of process analysis is a direct

configuration of the XI layer that can be delivered at a later

stage of the project. This ultimately creates a totally

integrated solution that becomes a roadmap for an organization

to optimize its business processes with ARIS and SAP NetWeaver

to help close the gap between business and IT.

-- Integration Architecture Comparison - A guided technology

evaluation offers organizations a comprehensive assessment of

how they can reap the potential benefits of SAP NetWeaver,

more specifically the Exchange Infrastructure, as a

centralized integration platform. The outcome of this

assessment will be a comparison of current middleware

architecture versus SAP XI, allowing an organization to build

out the appropriate ROI and timelines to adapt to the evolving

technology landscape.

IDS Scheer will be demonstrating its ARIS for SAP NetWeaver solution at SAPPHIRE '04, May 11-13 in booth #1456 and SEEBURGER will be demonstrating its SAP NetWeaver B2B/EDI Adapters in booth # 561 at the Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, a three-day event where senior executives, business managers, and decision-makers can come together to explore innovative business solutions that offer low total cost of ownership and deliver rapid and significant return on investment.

"There are so many SAP NetWeaver synergies between IDS Scheer and SEEBURGER as we work in tandem to help organizations maximize the power of this open integration and application platform," said Dr. Mathias Kirchmer, CEO, IDS Scheer North America. According to Dr. Kirchmer, the two companies will leverage their vertical market expertise to develop industry-specific solutions for SAP NetWeaver including consumer packaged goods, chemicals, pharmaceutical, media and automotive. Further reinforcing its commitment to SAP NetWeaver, IDS Scheer recently announced the formation of the IDS Scheer Center of Excellence for Next Generation Process Automation - an initiative designed to help organizations understand the business benefits and inherent value of using next generation process automation solutions, especially SAP NetWeaver(TM)

About IDS Scheer North America