Intentia strengthens its leading position in the aviation industry trough a strat

Stockholm, June 6 2000 Intentia strengthens its leading position in the aviation industry trough a strategic alliance with IBM, Siebel Systems and Mercury. IBM, Intentia, Siebel and Mercury form a strategic alliance to revolutionize e-tickets, Internet seat auctions, customer service, aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul, crew scheduling and other essential airline services. SYDNEY, June 6, 2000: Four information technology leaders announced an alliance to develop and market a comprehensive set of integrated e- business airline applications and services. Under the "IBM ConnectEdge for Airlines" banner, IBM, Intentia International, Siebel Systems and Mercury Systems will together market and sell applications that help airlines: Build strong bonds with customers, auction airline seats over the Internet, create e-tickets that can be transferred from one airline to another, maintain and manage repair and overhauls of the fleets of aircraft, and match pilots, flight crews and aircraft with a particular route. This new B2B e-business initiative encompasses a highly flexible, streamlined approach to meeting the e-business needs and IT challenges of the world's airlines, which spend in excess of USD 10 Billion each year on IT investments. The objective and goals for the alliance are to address airlines' needs to embrace e-business, boost their customer service and significantly improve operational efficiency. The IBM ConnectEdge initiative will allow airlines to develop new e-business applications faster and enable these applications to work together seamlessly and be integrated with airlines' existing IT systems. In addition, for the first time, the applications are being offered in a flexible manner either outsourced to an IBM-hosted facility or licensed to run in an airline's own datacenter. "Airline systems are very complex, and introducing new applications often requires expensive time-consuming work to link them with a multitude of legacy systems which are often isolated and difficult to upgrade and integrate," said Ian McClenaughen, General Manager, IBM ConnectEdge for Airlines. "The initiative represents a whole new way airlines can overcome these obstacles. IBM ConnectEdge's combination of best-of-breed solutions, rapid application development, tight integration with legacy systems, and skilled and efficient Web enabling has never been offered before on this scale or with this amount of flexibility," concluded Ian McClenuaghan. "In today's fast-moving airline environment, the ability to add new business functionality quickly is of critical importance. The concept behind IBM ConnectEdge for Airlines represents a very positive move toward airlines being able to react faster to market conditions," said Ron Chambers, Chief Information Officer at Ansett Australia. "Amadeus believes the IBM's ConnectEdge initiative will bring value to the airline industry by making it easier and quicker to integrate the many IT systems which lie at the heart of an airline's business. We plan to work closely with IBM to ensure that our airline passenger service applications are compatible with ConnectEdge, to the benefit of our existing and future customers," said Hans Jorgensen, Vice President, Partners and Provider Strategy, Amadeus Travel Distribution. "Combining Intentia's market-leading Movex Aviation solution with ConnectEdge will bring airlines significant benefits. Our solutions will be able to work more closely with a broad portfolio of enabled applications from different companies, giving airlines the opportunity to introduce efficiencies and a level of collaboration which they have only been able to dream of until now," said Björn Algkvist, President and CEO, Intentia International. IBM plans to announce further alliance agreements with additional business partners in areas such as revenue management, revenue accounting, e- commerce and airline operations to ensure a comprehensive range of business solutions will be available through the ConnectEdge family of solutions. Initial business partners that will be providing applications in the growing family of IBM ConnectEdge offerings include: - Intentia International of Stockholm, Sweden (www.intentia.com). Intentia's Movex Aviation solution maximizes airlines' fleet utilization by improving maintenance, repair and overhaul performance. Movex Aviation optimizes the supply chain network, aircraft downtime, and materials management. - Siebel Systems of San Mateo, CA (www.ibm-siebel.com). IBM and Siebel provide comprehensive customer-focused e-business solutions and services. These include integrated e-business applications which enable multi- channel sales, marketing and customer service systems to be deployed through all distribution channels, including the Web, call centers and in the field. - Mercury Systems of Vancouver, Canada (www.mercury.bc.ca). Magellan from Mercury helps crew controllers make better real-time decisions, and facilitates the efficient planning of crew operations. IBM solutions to be available through IBM ConnectEdge include: ¤ IBM Electronic ticketing services- online and interline e-ticketing used to issue electronic tickets, link with the Global Distribution Systems and exchange e-tickets with multiple carriers worldwide, all promoting increased revenue and superior customer service. ¤ IBM Internet Auction- helps reduce unused inventory, supports dynamic pricing and reinforces brand presence. ¤ Crew Pairing Optimization System- analyzes and selects crew schedule configurations. ¤ Day of Operation Recovery- repairs crew trips disrupted by schedule interruptions caused by bad weather, unscheduled maintenance or sickness. For more information on the IBM and Business Partner solutions in IBM ConnectEdge for Airlines visit www.ibm.com/industries/travel/ConnectEdge. Other important comments about the alliance: Mercury Systems "ConnectEdge is a major step forward for the airline industry. With leading-edge software like Magellan, it will allow airlines to realize bottom-line improvements and gain competitive advantage. Magellan's simplification of crew management and effective decision-making support can provide seamless operations management not before available to the market," said Graham Whitmarsh, President & CEO, Mercury Scheduling, Inc. Siebel Systems: "Building close, long-term personalized relationships with high-value customers is a key competitive differentiator for airlines today. Siebel e-business Applications provides a unified view of an airline's customers across all communication channels, enabling airlines to identify and retain their most valuable customers. Siebel Systems participation in the IBM ConnectEdge initiative is a natural extension of its overall strategic alliance with IBM to delivering the most comprehensive customer-focused e- business solutions in the industry," said Ed Abbo, Vice President, Industry Solutions, Siebel Systems GF-X: "IBM used ConnectEdge principles to develop the solution for GF-X, the online wholesale marketplace which, we hope, will transform the air freight industry. This has allowed us to create a very powerful e-business system, and quickly integrate it with airlines' existing systems," said David Ravech, co-Chief Executive Officer, Global Freight Exchange Ltd. For further information please contact:: Thomas Ahlerup Chief Information Officer Intentia International Tel. +46-8-5552 5766 thomas.ahlerup@intentia.se Linda Hanson Communications Manager IBM Global Travel & Transportation Industry Tel. +1-914-642-5447 hansonmu@us.ibm.com or Fenella Grey fgrey@cbarker.bsmg.com Tel + -44-207841-5487 Kate James Mercury Scheduling Systems Tel. +1-604-266-8780 kjames@radiant.net Siebel Systems Public Relations Tel. +1-650-295-5455 publicrelations@siebel.com IBM is a registered trademark of the International Business Machines Corporation. Other companies, products and services names may be trademarks or service marks of others About Intentia Over the past few years, Intentia International AB has concentrated on positioning itself to meet the demands it anticipated would arise from the new e-economy era. Intentia has developed its Movex product from a traditional ERP system to a complete e-collaboration solution that can manage all the demands of the new economy. Movex offers Intentia's customers the key to success, with its applications for customer relationship management (CRM), enterprise resource planning (ERP), supply chain planning & execution (SCPE), partner relationship management (PRM), business performance management (BPM) and e-business. Intentia is well-positioned to respond to market needs when the "e" (electronic) evolves into "c" (collaboration), working hard to satisfy customers through its organization of more than 3,800 professionals serving in excess of 3,500 customers in over 40 countries around the world. Intentia is a public company traded on the Stockholm Stock Exchange (XSSE) under the symbol INT B. Visit Intentia's Web site at www.intentia.com ------------------------------------------------------------ Please visit http://www.bit.se for further information The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/06/06/20000606BIT00060/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/06/06/20000606BIT00060/bit0002.pdf