IBM and Systemcorp Announce Strategic Alliance to Deliver Enterprise Project-Portfolio Management Software Applications and Services

PMOffice Enterprise Aligns People, Projects and Priorities to Make Organizations More Efficient

SAN FRANCISCO, developerWorks Live!, May 9, 2002 - IBM [NYSE: IBM] and
Systemcorp® today announced a strategic alliance to market, sell and
deliver comprehensive Enterprise Project-portfolio Management (EPM) web
solutions to global organizations across all industries. Bridging the gap
between the front and back office, IBM and Systemcorp are implementing
PMOffice EnterpriseTM in organizations seeking to improve their core
business areas and strategically align people, projects and priorities.

Under the terms of the agreement, Systemcorp and IBM have joined forces to
set a new standard in Enterprise Project-portfolio Management by delivering
best-of-breed technologies with industry-leading EPM consulting,
customization, and integration services. Systemcorp's PMOfficeTM EPM
solution leverages the power of IBM's WebSphere*, MQ Series* and DB2*
database software, and is deployed in some of the largest financial,
pharmaceutical and high tech organizations around the world.

IBM brings to the alliance its vast expertise in project management. "Based
on our experience delivering hundreds of successful projects, we recognize
that success falls heavily on the execution of world-class project
management principles, techniques, and processes," said Kathleen Colyar
Piontek, practice executive with IBM Global Services (IGS). "Leveraging
PMOffice Enterprise as the cornerstone of our offering, we can further
assist our customers in assessing, applying and deploying project
management disciplines across core business areas, processes and systems.
The breadth and depth of knowledge and experience provided by IBM combined
with PMOffice Enterprise software enables our customers to define their
priorities, align their projects, and then rigorously manage critical
activities across their entire workforce."

According to Murray Schwartz, Systemcorp's director of Strategic Alliances,
companies have previously focused on the automation of front and back
office processes, neglecting the automation of their internal departments.
"Depending on the industry, internal organizations such as IT, R&D,
consulting services, marketing and corporate governance departments,
together can represent anywhere from 16% to 54% of a company's business
costs," he said (Systemcorp internal research, 2002). "More importantly,
the bulk of these costs are incurred by work performed in the context of a
project. But with 28% of projects failing before completion, (StandishGroup
Chaos Report, 1999) and 51% of projects exceeding costs by more than twice
their budgets (excerpt from various Gartner Advisories, from Sep-Dec 2000),
organizations have painfully recognized that the lack of an automated
enterprise project system is a critical liability affecting their delivery
process."

PMOffice Enterprise assigns all resources from within a central automated
system. It facilitates a dynamic decision process which evaluates, selects
and prioritizes an organization's list of new projects. Active projects may
be accelerated, rescued, killed or de-prioritized. Resources are constantly
reallocated to all remaining initiatives, aligning people, projects, and
organizational priorities with a company's business strategy. By
implementing PMOffice, Systemcorp's customers have experienced a 25%
decline in project failures, slashed their budget overruns by as much as
28%, and substantially optimized their resource management processes.
Companies managing a typical $60 million project-portfolio are saving over
$12 million per year (Systemcorp internal research 2002).

The Systemcorp strategic alliance is another example of IBM's commitment to
go-to-market with leading independent software vendors through the
PartnerWorld for Developers program (www.developer.ibm.com). Under this
initiative, IBM has signed agreements with companies such as Siebel
Systems, Vignette, PeopleSoft, i2 and Ariba. These alliances target
industries such as financial services, retail, and manufacturing, and
solution segments including enterprise resource planning, supply chain
management, customer relationship management and with the addition of
Systemcorp, enterprise project and portfolio management.

A History Of Working Together

Systemcorp has had formal relationships with IBM pSeries* and xSeries*.
Today's announcement enhances the key relationship allowing IBM and
Systemcorp the ability to jointly deliver complete solutions, including
hardware, software and services to customers.

PartnerWorld for Developers also offers the IBM e-business Software
Strategy, a technology roadmap based on industry standards that helps
developers integrate Internet technologies with traditional information
technology.

About IBM PartnerWorld for Developers

PartnerWorld for Developers is the developer resource for IBM Business
Partners. It is a worldwide program designed to help software developers
reach broader markets, lower their costs of doing business, and take their
products to market faster. For more information, visit
http://www.ibm.com/partnerworld/developer
or call 1-800-627-8363 in North
America, 1-770-835-9902 outside North America.

About IBM

IBM is the world's largest information technology company, with 80 years of
leadership in helping businesses innovate. IBM works with companies of all
sizes around the world to deploy the full range of IBM technologies. The
fastest way to get more information about IBM is through the IBM home page
at http://www.ibm.com

About Systemcorp

Systemcorp, a privately held corporation, is a recognized leading developer
and provider of real-time web-centric solutions for Enterprise
Project-portfolio Management (EPM). Whether it's New Product Development,
Software Development, managing IT or the Project Office, PMOffice
Enterprise is the preferred software application to qualify and organize
all projects into portfolios and align people, projects, and priorities
across all programs. For more information, go to: www.systemcorp.com.
Systemcorp will leverage the technology developed by MDEX Corporation to
provide wireless time and expense capabilities. The time and expense module
in PMOffice Enterprise will be available for Palm OS and Windows CE-based
mobile devices.

About MDEX Corporation

MDEX provides mobile and wireless solutions which allow businesses and
individuals to increase their productivity and efficiency. MDEX products
and solutions provide organizations with the ability to extend any
corporate legacy application to any mobile device, and access relevant
information anywhere at any time. Additional information can be found at
www.mdexcorp.com

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Systemcorp(r) denotes a trademark of Systemcorp