Ikimbos Real-Time Communication Solution profiled in Deloitte & Touches Tech Trends 2002 Annual Report

Herndon, April 18, 2002 --Ikimbo announced today that Deloitte & Touche, a leading professional services firm, included Ikimbo in its Tech Trends 2002 Annual Report. Ikimbos inclusion in Tech Trends is a significant endorsement for the companys real-time communication product offering for the enterprise. In March 2002, Ikimbo and Deloitte & Touche announced a strategic alliance in which Deloitte & Touche is building a service practice around Ikimbos real-time communication platform to offer solutions to the Global 1000.

Ikimbo is spotlighted in the Technology Development section in the article entitled, Pushing Productivity. Ikimbo is heralded as a product offering that is boosting the efficiencies of (enterprise) processes" by providing a real-time communication platform that goes beyond the firewall to bring people together for instant, secure communication. The product is described as an application that creates a communication chain for participants whether they are in the same company or scattered across many different locations because it brings together people, processes and technology. Ikimbos unique value is its application to the supply chain by integrating with existing enterprise applications like ERP, CRM and MRP to make real-time communication inherent within these applications and making people-to-machines communications possible.

Two members of Deloitte & Touches Technology, Media & Telecommunication (TMT) Group were interviewed for the article-- Gene Monacelli, the national management solutions and services leader of the telecommunications practice of the TMT Group, and Naresh Lakanpal, national director of products and services of the TMT Group.

Gene Monacelli describes the Ikimbo solution in the article as follows, With Ikimbo, theres a real opportunity to monitor events within an 'extraprise as they move across multiple companies supply chain processes. When an exception occurs, it can facilitate a resolution interactively with the responsible parties in real time. And this works not only person-to-person, but also person-to-machine and machine-to-machine."

Monacelli continues his review of the Ikimbo solution in regards to its ability to create efficiencies in the supply chain by saying, The real driver behind Ikimbo as a productivity tool is its applicability and ease of integration into back-end systems to facilitate business process decision-making. Its open architecture allows easy implementation on a variety of devices... and it also offers a convenient way to identify a majority of exceptions in the supply chain, and analyze the exceptions to improve supply chain processes."

The article discusses the trial Deloitte & Touche did with the Ikimbo solution to which their findings were reported as viral." Naresh Lakhanpal explains the comment further, In one week, we had nearly 200 people up on Ikimbo. It took off more quickly than we expected because its very easy and intuitive to use and people like it. It gives you a view of where people are, but users can control when and how they want to be available."

In response to the coverage of Ikimbo by Deloitte & Touche in their annual report, Ikimbos CEO and president, Edwin Miller comments, Ikimbo continues its dedication to building a first class product that derives value from enterprise applications and accelerates communication around the supply chain. Deloitte & Touches review of Ikimbo is especially thrilling to us, because as Gene Monacelli states in the article, Ikimbo is much more than IM" -- its a collaborative tool that allows companies to drive supply chain management between disparate systems and individuals to a real-time environment. This is a solution the enterprise needs today."