IBM and Trilogy Form Global Strategic Alliance; Alliance to Provide e-Business and Channel Management Solutions to Financial Services and Automotive Industries

    WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. & AUSTIN, Texas--Feb. 22, 2001-- IBM and Trilogy(tm) today announced a global strategic alliance to jointly market and deploy e-business and channel management solutions to Global 2000 companies in the financial services and automotive industries.
    The IBM and Trilogy alliance offers financial services providers and automobile and heavy equipment manufacturers Internet-based solutions that streamline sales of complex products in industries where channel partners play a central role.
    "We believe the IBM and Trilogy alliance will deliver business value far beyond the benefits of tight integration between software and hardware," said Dan Murphy, vice president of Project Development for Life Services at MassMutual Financial Group. "We believe the focus of an alliance will further strengthen the ability of IBM and Trilogy to deliver business value to their joint customers, thanks to a goal of improved technology innovation and customer service."

    IBM and Trilogy Solutions for Financial Services

    IBM offerings and Trilogy applications help global financial services providers use the Internet to deliver customized products for customers as well as credential and compensation information for producers and channel partners. Trilogy solutions can be integrated across multiple product lines, including life, group life, annuities, mutual funds, and property and casualty.
    Trilogy applications offered through the alliance also serve as sales management tools for agents and brokers, enabling them to manage sales quotas, track commission rates and payments, manage opportunities, receive sales incentives from financial institutions, as well as other important functions.
    For insurance providers offering a variety of products, the enterprise-wide solutions allow commission payments to be allotted to every person involved in a sale, including call center and Web site representatives, agents, brokers, branch tellers and others. All of these capabilities are offered through the Trilogy Distribution Channel Management(tm) solution, a part of the Trilogy MultiChannel Commerce(tm) suite.
    "The next generation of e-business is sweeping the financial services industry, and insurance carriers understand that competitive advantages can be found in extending their e-business infrastructure to more efficiently manage distribution channels," said Richard Crock, e-insurance solutions executive, IBM Global Insurance Industry.
    "Trilogy's proven distribution channel management solution, combined with IBM hardware, software, services and consulting, offers a total solution to customers looking to stay ahead in a rapidly changing industry."

    Automotive and Heavy Machinery

    IBM offerings and Trilogy applications help automakers and heavy machinery manufacturers use the Internet to establish direct relationships with their customers and work with their dealer networks more effectively.
    For instance, one module of the Trilogy Automotive Retail Platform(tm) solution enables Internet-based "locate-to-order" services. "Locate-to-order" allows a dealer to find the exact vehicle of choice from existing inventory or scheduled production, resulting in faster delivery of specifically configured cars and trucks.
    These enhanced electronic commerce solutions enable automakers and dealers to benefit from lowered inventory and transaction costs, more precise information on customer buying decisions and optimized vehicle production and distribution. Customers benefit from faster and more convenient services.
    The alliance will also offer similar Internet-based solutions to heavy equipment manufacturers.
    "Trilogy is well regarded as one of the dominant forces in automotive e-business, and IBM is pleased to complement our leadership position by offering customers solutions from this cutting-edge software company," said Chuck Miller, director of marketing, IBM Global Automotive Industry. "This alliance will assist IBM in providing our automotive customers with the powerful and innovative applications and services to help them speed their e-business transformation."

    Service and Support

    Under the terms of the worldwide agreement, the two companies will jointly market and sell the Trilogy MultiChannel Commerce suite running on IBM zSeries and pSeries eServers. The MultiChannel Commerce suite is available on the IBM AIX operating system, and integrates with IBM's WebSphere application server and DB2 Universal database. The combination of IBM-Trilogy solutions provides the foundation for the development and implementation of robust, efficient, Internet-based applications, which can also leverage investments made in legacy systems.
    "Trilogy solutions and IBM's industry-specific products and services will help transform the way our joint customers approach their critical e-business and channel management initiatives," said Sameer Dholakia, vice president of strategic alliances at Trilogy. "We are dedicated to delivering value to our customers in the form of increased customer and business partner loyalty, rapid time to market, and increased sales."
    IBM has agreed to form a worldwide product and services team specializing in the distribution and support of the Trilogy MultiChannel Commerce suite. This team will enable Global 2000 automotive and financial services organizations to deploy e-business and channel management solutions based on the full breadth of IBM's products and services and Trilogy's products, and provide customers with skilled service and support after implementation.
    Launched in November of 1999, the Trilogy MultiChannel Commerce solution provides architecture for powerful performance using IBM's hardware, software and component technology framework for e-business.
    The Trilogy strategic alliance is another example of IBM's commitment to go-to-market with leading independent software vendors under the PartnerWorld for Developers program. Under this initiative, IBM has signed agreements with application developers such as i2, Ariba and Siebel to target industries such as financial services, retail and manufacturing.
    The goal is to provide developers with access to new customers and revenue opportunities through IBM's marketing, sales and solutions resources. On jointly led sales to new customers in automotive and financial services, Trilogy will promote IBM as a preferred solutions and services provider.
    Trilogy is continuing to work with IBM to develop version 3.0 of the Trilogy MultiChannel Commerce solution optimized for the soon to-be-released version 4.0 WebSphere Application Server and the upcoming version 7 of Universal Database to create the most powerful enterprise class e-commerce system available today.

Detailed information about the Trilogy MultiChannel Commerce platform and its function-specific components is available online at: http://www.trilogy.com/sections/products/products.htm

For more information about Trilogy, visit www.trilogy.com

For more information about IBM Financial Services Sector, visit www.ibm.com/solutions/financialservices

For IBM Automotive Industry, visit www.ibm.com/solutions/automotive

IBM, AIX, DB2 Universal Database, WebSphere, MQSeries, zSeries, pSeries and eServers are all trademarks or registered trademarks of the International Business Machines Corporation in the United States and other countries. The IBM eServer brand consists of the established IBM e-business logo with the description term "server" following it.

Trilogy, the Trilogy logo, TrilogyMultiChannel Commerce, Trilogy Distribution Channel Management and Trilogy Automotive Retail Platform are trademarks of Trilogy Software Inc.

All other trademarks and tradenames are the property of their respective owners.