WESTERN DIGITAL'S SAGETREE ENTERS BI MARKET WITH NCR

Western Digital Corporation announced that its SageTree Inc subsidiary has entered the business intelligence market and NCR Corporation, a recognized world leader in data warehousing solutions, has invested $10 million in SageTree, creating a strategic partnership.

SageTree is a software company, developed to provide packaged analytic applications for Supply Chain Intelligence. The Company offers SageQuest, a suite of Web-based, enterprise-wide applications software and SageTree Professional Services. SageTree's objective is to enable companies to make strategic business decisions that directly affect profitability.

Incorporated in September 1999, SageTree is the first to market a complete solution that applies advanced analytic and data warehousing technologies directly to the extended supply chain -- from suppliers' suppliers to customers' customers. SageTree is an outgrowth of a quality information system (QIS) created by Western Digital in 1997 on NCR's Teradata database, which earned Western Digital The Data Warehousing Institute's Best Practices Award in Analytical Applications in September 1999.

"The SageTree team developed the Western Digital QIS platform as a single information repository that captures product information from multiple sources at multiple points in the lifecycle of a hard drive," stated Matt Massengill, president and CEO of Western Digital. "SageTree is making this award-winning, comprehensive solution available to manufacturing companies seeking higher efficiencies across supply chains and product lifecycles."

Mike DeBrosse, assistant vice president of industry marketing for NCR's Teradata Solutions Group said, "NCR has invested in SageTree because we see it as a great addition to our data warehouse offering for manufacturers. SageTree's software is proven on our Teradata database and relies on the performance and scalability inherent to Teradata. NCR sees this partnership as a way to bring unique applications to market, as well as expand the reach of Teradata, supporting our goals for growth."

To support strategic decision making, SageTree's services and software solution enables companies to analyze to granular levels the data generated from every aspect their supply chains. Capable of capturing data on every product produced, the solution: enables users to analyze production-line performance; provides cost data on the extension of product warranties; identifies suppliers' contributions to overall product quality; determines the relative reliability of various supplied components and services; helps obtain optimum equipment utilization; and identifies and locates suspect products, components and materials in the event of recall.

"Most manufacturers are under pressure to 'move up to the next level' by increasing yield, reducing costs, and improving time to resolution on the shop floor," said Philip Russom, director, data warehousing and business intelligence, Hurwitz Group. "Getting to the next level requires software that analyzes highly detailed information representing the entire supply chain -- from material procurement through every stage of a product's lifecycle and into the hands of the end consumer. SageQuest analytic applications from SageTree were developed as a solution to this problem at Western Digital, which successfully operates in one of the most competitive manufacturing markets in the world. With the help of its partner NCR, SageTree now makes these real-world solutions generally available to serve a real-world need."

IDC reports that manufacturing is the fastest growing of any sector in IT spending, with a compounded annual growth rate of 14.2 percent through 2001. DataQuest reports that the market for packaged analytic applications will grow from $602.3 million in 1998 to $3.2 billion in 2003.

About SageTree

SageTree is a software company providing packaged analytic applications for Supply Chain Intelligence. The Company offers SageQuest, a suite of Web-based, enterprise-wide packaged analytic applications for the manufacturing industry. SageQuest is the first product to fully integrate Product Lifecycle Intelligence into Supply Chain Intelligence, a supply chain discipline that analyzes products and components at every stage of the product lifecycle. SageTree enables companies to make strategic business decisions that directly affect their profitability. For more information, visit www.sagetree.com or call 800-824-9373.

About Western Digital

One of the data storage industry's longtime leaders, Western Digital Corporation has leveraged its core strengths in becoming a leading Internet solutions company. Western Digital is providing services and products to manage, store and communicate both digital content and network intelligence. The Company remains an industry-leading designer and manufacturer of hard drives for desktop computers and home entertainment applications. Through its Connex subsidiary, Western Digital delivers enterprise-class storage functionality for the department and mid-sized business markets, including storage management software, network attached storage and storage area networks.

Western Digital was founded in 1970. The Company's storage products are marketed to leading systems manufacturers and selected resellers under the Western Digital brand name. Its home page can be found at www.westerndigital.com.

About NCR

NCR Corporation is a recognized world leader in providing Relationship Technology solutions for the retail, financial, communications, travel and transportation, and insurance markets. NCR's Relationship Technology solutions include store automation, ATMs and privacy-enabled Teradata warehouses. The company's business solutions are built on the foundation of its long established industry knowledge and consulting expertise, value-adding software, global customer support services, a complete line of consumable and media products, and world-leading hardware technology. More information about NCR and its solutions may be found at www.ncr.com.

Contact Steve Shattuck, 949-932-5178, steve.shattuck@wdc.com of Western Digital Corporation; or Holly Michael of NCR Corporation, 937-445-6086, holly.michael@ncr.com.