HYPERION INTRODUCES TWO NEW FIN'L ANALYSIS SOLUTIONS

Hyperion, a leading provider of business analysis software, introduced Hyperion Financial Management and Hyperion Planning applications which are currently in beta. These new offerings will further expand Hyperion's comprehensive portfolio of market leading financial analysis solutions, which include Hyperion Enterprise and Hyperion Pillar, enable finance to spend less time on gathering and processing information, more time on analyzing financial results and supporting strategic decision making. Hyperion's financial analysis solutions will deliver the flexibility and agility to embrace change easily and capitalize on new business opportunities. Customers and partners currently beta testing these applications have expressed excitement about the new capabilities these solutions provide.

"Hyperion Planning is a centralized, Web-based planning tool that will permit remote users to enter plan data through the Web. For large multinationals with multiple sites, this is a huge advantage," said Peter Urban, senior analyst, AMR Research. "Overall, the message of a complete, integrated suite of applications based on Hyperion Essbase OLAP Server is a good one that should help Hyperion continue to grow."

"Hyperion Financial Management will offer us financial analysis and reporting on a corporate scale that was not possible before," said Michael Gower, assistant vice president for Business Information Services at Duke University. "Using the Web to centralize our data and automate upgrades, we anticipate giving everyone access to the same real-time information, some for the first time. Because we will likely involve a larger number of users in our process, we could promote distributed decision making. Now, in addition to reporting along organizational lines, employees will be able to use Hyperion Financial Management to analyze data from a business line or service line perspective. Our users will gain a better understanding of our business, allowing us to respond to market changes with more agility."

The worldwide market for packaged analytic applications is expected to grow to $5.2 billion by 2003, 36% of which represent financial related analytic solutions, according to International Data Corporation. Companies that outperform, out-innovate and out-sell their rivals start by understanding their financial management cycle and the information that supports it. In today's dynamic, high velocity environment, CFOs and financial managers must provide decision makers throughout their organizations with real-time information needed to achieve strategic objectives, as well as quickly adopt new organizational structures that arise from mergers, acquisitions, divestitures and partnerships. Transforming the finance function into a strategic resource and deploying world-class financial management systems is vital to outpacing the competition.

"Becoming a strategic business partner is no longer a choice -- it is an imperative for CFO's and finance executives in the internet economy. The new Hyperion applications will surely help them make this change," said Arun Kumar, managing director at KPMG, one of Hyperion's partners.

Extending the Reach of Finance

"Hyperion Financial Management and Hyperion Planning will promote comprehensive, distributed decision support for organizations by leveraging the Web and reaching the widest audience at the lowest cost," said Mike Sternad, Chief Financial Officer at Hyperion. "Hyperion is a leader in the market with solutions that increase communication, collaboration and information sharing, enabling maximum participation to ensure consistent decision making throughout the organization. And with a quick time to benefit, customers can improve business performance immediately."

Hyperion Financial Management and Hyperion Planning will help empower businesses to succeed in this dynamic new economy. These products will expand and complement Hyperion's existing market leading financial analysis solutions, offering customers new opportunities for collaboration and information sharing. Hyperion Financial Management addresses an emerging segment of the market that is seeking solutions that unify the complete financial management process. Hyperion Planning, optimized for any operational planning application, is designed for real-time planning and dynamic re-forecasting - it encompasses both financial and non-financial information. Companies will gain an enhanced understanding of business performance, by expanding the information scope of financial analysis systems and extending the reach of the finance department to the entire organization.

Delivering financial analysis with speed and agility, Hyperion Financial Management and Hyperion Planning will promote flexibility and communication leading to maximum participation and consistent decision making. Architected for the Web, these solutions will act as a financial resource for all users across the enterprise, so that they can participate in the day-to-day management of the business. Both solutions leverage the performance, scalability and analytical power of Hyperion Essbase OLAP Server, the market-leading OLAP (online analytical processing) technology.

Hyperion Financial Management

Hyperion Financial Management will allow customers to unify the financial consolidation and reporting, business analysis, modeling and planning processes in a centralized, extensible, Web-based application. To help organizations successfully execute rapid and frequent financial management cycles from an integrated platform, Hyperion Financial Management is a strategic application that will enable CFOs to generate and enhance value within their organizations. Beta customers, such as Duke University and Lincoln Financial, are testing the enhanced decision support capabilities in Hyperion Financial Management to empower employees across the enterprise to continually align decision making with long-term strategic objectives.

Key Features and Benefits

• Unified Financial Management Processes - Hyperion Financial Management will unify financial consolidation and reporting, business analysis, modeling and planning functions into a single, scalable, Web-based application. There will be no need to conduct lengthy reconciliations between these processes and historic results in order to express them in the same terms as budgets and plans. Financial analysts will be able to determine the consequences to the valuation of pursuing new opportunities such as exploiting global markets, opening e-Commerce channels or entering new partner relationships.
• Centralized, Web-based Applications Maximize IT Resources - Centralizing applications and leveraging the Internet will significantly reduce the costs of deployment and maximize availability of IT resources. Applications may be hosted wherever IT resources are focused, rather than supporting a large number of remote installations.
• Pre-packaged Functionality in an Extensible Framework - Hyperion Financial Management will deliver extensive pre-packaged functionality that may be extended by using industry-standard tools. Customers will be able to make their applications fit their business processes without incurring high costs and delays before seeing any benefit. It also will allow them to address a wide range of business functions within one application framework, dramatically enhancing the return on their investment.
• Maximized Investment in ERP, CRM and Data Warehouse Systems - Hyperion Financial Management will increase the value of current data-collection systems by drawing data from leading ERP and CRM systems and any ODBCcompliant data source.

Hyperion Planning

Hyperion Planning, a Web-based budgeting and planning solution, will drive collaborative, event-based operational planning processes throughout an organization. With Hyperion Planning, all decision-makers and front-line managers will be able to communicate which course of action to take and get budget holders to collaborate, so that the planning process is optimized and efficient. When a material event occurs that causes a change in direction, planners will have the flexibility to adapt rapidly, ensuring that plans are relevant, current and useful. A solution that will provide real-time planning, dynamic reforecasting and event based resource allocation, Hyperion Planning is optimized for any financial or operational planning application.

Companies, such as Conexant Systems Inc, located in Newport Beach, Calif., are involving all knowledge workers and interdependencies in the planning process. Through this dynamic process, planners can see the effects of their plans on corporate strategy and overall corporate performance. The planning process will become much faster, more flexible, reducing cycle times and improving accuracy.

Beta customer Conexant, has a revenue run-rate of approximately $2 billion per year, and is the world's largest independent company focused exclusively on providing semiconductor solutions for communications electronics. With more than 30 years of experience in developing communications technology, Conexant draws upon its expertise in mixed-signal processing to deliver integrated systems and semiconductor products for a broad range of communications applications.

"Planning is a very complex process, especially for a company like ours that has budgeting centers all over the globe," said Sean Bernhoit, senior financial analyst at Conexant. "Because Hyperion Planning is Web-architected, we will be able to include all decision-makers in the planning process with improved communication, speed and clarity."

"Also with Hyperion Planning's process control, we will be able to document how budgets are promoted through all of our levels of approval, and with all people viewing the same information, they can better understand the effect their plans have on specific events and overall company performance," added Matt Geyer, senior financial analyst at Conexant.

Key Features and Benefits

• Comprehensive Web-based Solution - With complete Web functionality including reporting and analysis, process management and data entry, Hyperion Planning is a high-performance solution that will provide large, distributed planning organizations access to the same information at the same time. Hyperion Planning's centralized application distribution and maintenance will significantly reduce time spent on upgrades and deployment, resulting in a lower total cost of system ownership.
• Powerful process support - Will empower users to track the progress of their budget, create and validate plans, and respond quickly to material event changes, reducing planning cycle time. Users will identify bottlenecks and volatile business areas, so they can dynamically reforecast part or all their responsibility area, as well as view or change status information and quickly identify budget ownership.
• Collaborative planning capability - Will ensure that all front line decision makers are included in the planning process, so you get maximum participation ensuring more accurate and useful plans.
• Performance drivers and scorecards - Can be created using Hyperion's Performance Management products and integrated with an organization's planning processes, allowing users at all levels to align goals, communicate strategy and check constraints to create a valid plan using available resources.
• Provides Powerful Business Rules and Modeling Functionality - Hyperion Planning will allow users to build custom business rules, providing a greater understanding of planning methodology and corporate assumptions. Managers will be able to easily distribute and use company standard methods, while local users can create rules specific to their needs.

Availability

Hyperion Planning is scheduled for release at the end of August 2000.

Hyperion Financial Management is scheduled for release at the end of September 2000.

About Hyperion

Hyperion is a leader in business analysis software. Hyperion helps business leaders plan, manage and execute on strategies by analyzing information on e-business initiatives, supply chain execution, customers, operations and finance. The company's market-leading OLAP (online analytical processing) technology, packaged business analysis applications and tools are used by 6,000 organizations worldwide, including more than 60 of the Fortune 100 and more than 40 of the Financial Times European Top 100. In addition, 400 Hyperion alliance partners deliver technology, applications and services to increase the flexibility and choice for customers. Headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, the company has offices in 26 countries. More information is available at www.hyperion.com, info@hyperion.com, or 1-800-286-8000.

Contact Brodeur Worldwide for Hyperion, Crystal Patriarche, 602-282-5467, cpatriarche@brodeur.com.