Renesas Integrates Its Escend Semiconductor Design-Win Management System with SAP ERP System

Business Wire, May 25, 2004

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 25, 2004

Linking of Demand and Supply Chain Infrastructures Opens Visibility

into Design-Win Conversion Rates and Provides Data to

Better Project Future Business

Escend Technologies, Inc. today announced that Renesas Technology America, Inc. has successfully integrated its Escend Enterprise(TM) semiconductor design-win management system with its SAP enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. The merging of Renesas' demand and supply chain infrastructures is a key element of Renesas' goal to create a consistent, enterprise-wide customer experience. The success of this integration strategy enables Renesas' direct and outsourced sales partners to track design wins and link them to sales orders, opening a whole new level of business planning and visibility for the Renesas North American headquarters.

Escend's proven semiconductor best practices, fully integrated design-win management enterprise software (versus modular approach), and a seasoned services team combined to provide Renesas with a smooth integration. Working with the Escend team, Renesas was able to successfully link the sample and quote request processes of its Escend(TM) design-win management system with the associated SAP sample and sales order transactions in record time.

Additionally, the integration of Renesas' mission-critical design-win and ERP processes drove end-user adoption versus the previous "silo" systems. The result is a closed-loop demand- and supply-chain system that can provide key information and metrics previously buried in Emails and spreadsheets.

"We originally implemented the Escend Enterprise(TM) design-win management solution to eliminate unnecessary manual reporting and streamline our ability to transform opportunities into bona fide design wins and revenue. Integrating our demand and supply chains is the next step in achieving these goals," said David Schwartz, chief operating officer of Renesas Technology America, Inc. "The linking of our design-win management and ERP systems opens visibility into our design-win-to-sales order conversion rates, gives us the metrics we need to focus and improve results from our sales teams, and yields the data we need to better project future revenues."

"Renesas is a world-class manufacturer of highly integrated semiconductor system solutions which necessitates best-in-class business processes and systems to manage their design-win pipeline," said Escend chairman and CEO, Elaine Bailey. "By enabling Renesas' North American sales teams to effectively manage every aspect of their design wins -- from opportunity identification, to quoting and sampling, and now all the way through to the actual sales order -- we can help enhance Renesas' customer experience and success on a global basis."

Escend(TM) Design-Win Management Software

Escend Enterprise(TM) design-win management software provides real-time visibility into the critical semiconductor design-win phases, including the quoting and sampling processes, design-win registrations, technical and business issues, and revenue projections -- all in one integrated database.

Escend Enterprise(TM) reduces implementation costs and adoption time via deep semiconductor industry-specific functionality and integrated best practices. With an architecture designed for easy and fast integration with ERP and CRM installations, Escend design-win management software enables a comprehensive, global enterprise-wide view of the semiconductor or component manufacturer's demand and supply chains by enabling users to track and manage design wins all the way to their OEM customers' outsourced contract manufacturers.

The Escend Enterprise(TM) design-win management software architecture is designed for fast deployment compared to modular or "industry-generic" approaches, providing savings in implementation time and costs, as well as easier and more cost-effective integration with existing ERP and CRM systems. The software is also intuitive for sales, marketing and support teams to use, enabling both a fast adoption curve and the flexibility to quickly adjust to organizational, business process and market changes.

About Escend

Escend Technologies helps semiconductor and electronic component manufacturers gain global visibility into their design-win pipeline resulting in increased design-win to order conversion rates, improved sales and channel management, more accurate revenue projections, and consistent and coordinated global response to customers. Escend design-win management software reduces implementation costs and adoption time via deep semiconductor industry-specific functionality and integrated best practices. With an architecture designed for easy and fast integration with ERP and CRM installations and multi-currency/multi-language support, Escend design-win management software provides true global capability. A privately held company, Escend's customers include Renesas Technology America, Littelfuse, and NKK Switches. Investors include NIF Ventures and Novus Ventures. For more information call 650-810-2428 or visit www.escend.com.