Zag Wins InfoWorld 100 Award for Innovative Auto-Buying and Selling Platform

Business Wire, Nov 17, 2006

Zag's SOA Initiative Honored as One of the Year's Most Creative and Cutting-Edge Implementations of Enterprise Technology

SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- Zag (http://www.zag.com), an automotive retail innovator, today announced that InfoWorld has designated Zag's SOA-based auto-buying and selling platform as one of the 100 most innovative corporate IT solutions for 2006, and named Zag to the InfoWorld 100 in the Computing/Tech category.

InfoWorld said it selected projects that demonstrated the most creative use of cutting-edge technologies to further the company's business goals. For award information visit http://www.infoworld.com/reports/46SR06iw100.html.> "We're proud of what we've built, and we're honored that our work has been acknowledged and included in the InfoWorld 100," said Oded Noy, Zag's chief technology officer. "SOA enabled us to deploy a complicated, integrated system that performed well and was secure from Day 1, and provides an underlying architecture that's flexible enough to serve future expansions and additional partners."

A video interview with Oded Noy is available online at http://www.infoworld.com/video/archives/2006/11/oded_noy_on_soa.html.> Zag's challenge was to create a scalable platform that would automate and streamline the entire automotive online marketing and sales processes - in just six months. To accomplish this, Zag needed to develop, deploy and integrate 10 core subsystems - including inventory management, configuration, pricing, call center, CRM and more - each with one or more applications that span various platforms.

Noy and his project team - which included Nick Pernblad, Zag's chief software architect, and Yoshi Okayama, Zag's vice president of software development - selected service-oriented architecture (SOA) for its abstracted, modular approach. They built a framework that could incorporate unknowns and provide a cohesive platform even when developing rapidly - creating an architectural design that requires no future re-writing.

Zag's platform powers DriveOne (http://www.driveone.com) for Capital One Auto Finance, the nation's largest online auto lender, enabling consumers to go online to find no-hassle, upfront pricing and availability for new and used cars, configure new vehicles and arrange financing.

Zag also is rolling out its platform to consumers through Autoland, the nation's largest credit union auto-buying service; Automotive Invitational Services (AIS), an auto-buying program operator that serves more than six million members of 12 AAA clubs; and CU Auto Sales, a credit union auto-buying service - all wholly owned subsidiaries of Zag.

About Zag

Zag is an independent technology and services business, committed to dramatically improving the way consumers buy cars while simultaneously helping dealers enable sales. Zag is transforming the auto-buying experience with a groundbreaking online platform that extends current online buying capabilities - and soon will make it possible for consumers to complete the entire auto-buying transaction online. Zag's platform goes beyond research-related websites to give consumers upfront pricing and inventory availability for new and used cars, and the ability to configure a new vehicle and arrange financing online. Over the next year, the company will roll out additional capabilities that will enable a complete, end-to-end online transaction for the first time.

Zag works with affinity-based organizations to bring a private label, customized experience to members or customers while automating much of the time-consuming, inefficient processes at the dealership level. Inaugural users include Capital One Auto Finance, the nation's largest online auto lender, which is rolling out Zag's platform for its DriveOne program; and Autoland, the nation's oldest and most successful credit union auto-buying service, which Zag acquired as a wholly owned subsidiary in November 2005. Zag is based in Santa Monica, Calif., with offices in Sherman Oaks, Calif., Fullerton, Calif., and Portland, Ore.