Aug. 14, 2002-- SeeBeyond, the leading global provider of eBusiness and Application Integration (eAI) solutions, today announced that world leading printer manufacturer Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) has selected the SeeBeyond(TM) Business Integration Suite as its corporate global integration standard, purchasing the software for a seven figure sum. Heidelberg will implement the SeeBeyond solution to link internal and external systems and monitor key business processes to streamline operations and facilitate IT convergence. Heidelberg will deploy SeeBeyond's e*Gate(TM) Integrator to act as the backbone of its e-infrastructure connecting the internet channel with over 400 back end systems, including core applications such as SAP and Heidelberg's printing infrastructure. Heidelberg will connect its application server and content management platform to allow orders coming in from the web to be routed quickly and securely to this new e-infrastructure for order processing, allowing complete visibility of orders and ensuring end-to-end order tracking. The SeeBeyond integration platform will help reduce the cost and complexity of system management by providing a centrally managed integration environment to optimize data flows. "Our main focus is to offer our customers tailored solutions covering every stage of the print process. To achieve this we need to implement a Real Time Information Network that will seamlessly connect front-end and back end systems and allow us to leverage our legacy applications enabling us to scale for future growth. We also need a high performance solution, flexible enough to respond to the changing demands of our industry and SeeBeyond offers this potential to support our future printer application-server platform," said Michael Neff, CIO of Heidelberg. "A good strategic working relationship with SeeBeyond provides us all of these capabilities." One of the key benefits of selecting an integration platform is the ability to reduce the number of applications an organization has to maintain and service, known as Convergence. Deploying the SeeBeyond integration platform will allow Heidelberg to eliminate the point-to-point connectivity currently in place in over 400 mission critical systems and allow 50% of these to be replaced or switched off. This will allow for savings of up to 30% to be made in the cost of maintenance and operation of these systems while increasing operational efficiency. After an evaluation of the eAI market, including other players such as IBM, Heidelberg chose SeeBeyond for its industry-leading performance levels and proven scalability allowing faster throughput of orders received from the web and supplier channels. In addition, SeeBeyond's business process management (BPM) capabilities allow orders to be processed based on the type of request received and tracked through the system with minimum manual intervention providing enhanced service levels and ultimately higher customer satisfaction. "Application Integration is now the CIO's number one priority, and more world leaders such as Heidelberg are choosing to implement the SeeBeyond technology to deliver short-term payback together with a robust infrastructure for the real-time enterprise," said David Bennett, vice president and general manager of EMEA for SeeBeyond. "By investing in SeeBeyond as their corporate global integration standard, Heidelberg is investing in a strategic business integration solution that will facilitate their IT convergence and cost reduction programs while delivering enhanced visibility of order processes while streamlining operations."