IBM DB2 Drives Oracle Out at Automotive Business Management Provider

Market Wire, December, 2006

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced that Arkona, Inc. (OTCBB: ARKN), a leading supplier of business management solutions for the automotive dealership industry, has selected IBM DB2 for its database infrastructure.

Arkona will use DB2 as the database for Axway Synchrony Gateway (formerly Cyclone Interchange), which helps auto dealers maintain a wide array of key business activities from business-to-business communications to specific industry functions such as parts inventories and maintenance records. DB2 was chosen for its database reliability and significant time and cost savings for Arkona.

"Customers are telling us that they face tight budgets and significant time constraints on their staffs," said Arvind Krishna, vice president, IBM data servers. "DB2 incorporates advanced autonomic features that enable our customers to manage their expanding data servers with their existing staff while recognizing an increase in performance and reliability."

Arkona's decision to develop their applications with DB2 demonstrates the momentum behind IBM's cross-company Information on Demand initiative, which is aimed at helping customers find, access and manage information as a strategic business asset. Other customers recently choosing to move their databases from Oracle to DB2 include: American Electric Power, Central Michigan University, Farmers Insurance and Teleglobe. These new customers have cited the product's combination of industry-first features, along with new security and disaster recovery enhancements, as the reasons for their migration.

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Contact: Chris Rubsamen IBM Media Relations (914) 766-1803 rubsamen@us.ibm.com