QAD/IBM DELIVER B2B COMMERCE APPS ACROSS MULTIPLE PLATFORMS

QAD, a leading provider of applications for global manufacturing enterprises and their private exchanges, announced that they are now delivering B2B commerce across multiple platforms for manufacturers and suppliers as a result of their strategic alliance with IBM announced last October.

Now available, QAD eQTM B2B applications work with IBM WebSphere Commerce Suite to receive orders placed on Ariba Buyer and intelligently route them to multiple back-end ERP applications running on IBM eServer pSeries, iSeries and xSeries.

"The alliance with QAD provides an outstanding example of how a B2B solution integrated with IBM's e-business middleware can deliver business value to manufacturers and suppliers in the rapidly growing industrial and consumer products segments," said Jack Wagner, IBM global enterprise application solutions. "While most vendors claim to offer a complete solution on their own, QAD and IBM bring the strengths of their multiple applications together in a concerted effort to shake costs out of the value chain -- all securely delivered by reliable IBM eServer products."

QAD eQ B2B applications include Sell-Side, Buy-Side, Order Management and Replenishment, with a unique Commerce Relationship Management capability that intelligently manages the commerce chain based on the roles, policies, and processes that define the organization and how it does business with different suppliers and customers. QAD eQ doesn't just manage orders, it comprehensively supports the distributed enterprise by acting as the order and information broker that centralizes B2B commerce and provides a single face to the customer. The applications enable manufacturers and suppliers to set up private trading exchanges and collaboratively place and process orders from anywhere to anywhere via the Internet.

The combined IBM WebSphere Commerce Suite and QAD eQ solution offers the functionality needed to implement a private exchange with on-ramps to procurement systems and eMarketplaces. The solution provides a highly-customizable, customer-facing central order management system that is integrated with multiple back-end systems including personalized business commerce, organizational modeling and complex sales order processing.

"Our relationship with IBM is delivering outstanding results," said Pam Lopker, president and founder of QAD. "Using our solutions, global multinational companies can now reap real e-business benefits by extending their enterprise applications across the supply chain and creating new business opportunities."

QAD eQ leverages IBM's WebSphere Commerce Suite, WebSphere Application Server, IBM's WebSphere Business Components, MQSeries, DB2 Universal Database, and VisualAge for Java. The applications are available now for use with IBM eServer -- iSeries, pSeries and xSeries operating on IBM's DB2 Universal Database.

About QAD

QAD delivers value through collaborative commerce applications that empower global manufacturers to synchronize diverse business processes and extend their market reach. AT&T, Coca-Cola, Ford, Ingersoll-Rand, Johnson & Johnson, Quaker and Unilever are counted among the companies using QAD products at more than 5,000 licensed sites in 86 countries and in as many as 26 languages. QAD serves the specific needs of the automotive, consumer products, electronics, food and beverage, industrial, and medical products industries.

For more information about QAD, telephone +1-805/684-6614, or visit the QAD Web site at www.qad.com. To receive any of QAD's news releases via facsimile, contact 800-356-0747, or outside the U.S. contact 213-253-5647.

Contact QAD Inc, David Claus, 805-566-6015, david_claus@qad.com.