TDWI BEST PRACTICES AWARD WINNERS NAMED

Business Objects, a leading provider of e-business intelligence (e-BI) solutions, announced that The Data Warehousing Institute (TDWI) has named Business Objects and its customer, Ingram Micro Inc, as winners of the 2001 Best Practices in Data Warehousing Award. Ingram Micro won the award in the "Distribution Industry" division, for the company's Web Insight Platform (WIP), which allows sales, marketing and management to obtain an integrated daily view of its customer and Website activity.

The Data Warehousing Institute (TDWI) is the premier provider of in-depth, high quality education and training in the data warehousing and business intelligence industry. The competition provides thousands of practitioners with best practices they can follow as data warehousing and business intelligence continues to grow and expand.

A panel of experts, including practitioners, consultants, industry analysts, journalists, and Journal of Data Warehousing editors, judged nominations. The winners clearly demonstrated that their data warehouse and business intelligence projects were truly innovative solutions to problems commonly faced by data warehousing practitioners and were practices that could be followed by others. The judges examined four key criteria to determine the winners in each category: impact, relevance, innovation, and alignment.

Business Objects is recognized by TDWI for an integrated application at Ingram Micro, the largest global wholesale provider of technology products and services. The company's Web Insight Platform (WIP) allows sales, marketing and management to obtain an integrated daily view of its customer and Web site activity. WIP combines clickstream, sales, customer feedback and infrastructure data into one easy-to-access Internet solution. With this information, Ingram Micro can respond with agility to fine-tune its Web site and service operations, resulting in strengthened and more effective customer relationships.

"The recognition of Ingram Micro in the retail distribution category is another example of the importance of an e-business initiative in every type of business to cement customer relationships," said Bernard Liautaud, president and CEO of Business Objects. "Ingram Micro truly takes a 360 degree view of their customers by taking data from all elements of their business and allowing their executives an integrated view, so they can take action immediately and make the business thrive. We are thrilled to be recognized, along with Ingram Micro, by The Data Warehouse Institute, for our part in Ingram Micro's success."

"The WIP project was launched in early 2000 to help us better design and integrate processes for our Web sites," said Guy Abramo, executive vice president and chief strategy and information office, Ingram Micro Inc. "Our goal was to pull together as many different data sources as available and to provide an integrated and complete view of our customers, what they want, and how well our Web sites and services are meeting their needs. We are pleased that TDWI has recognized this project."

The Best Practices Award winners will present their winning nominations, and compete for the coveted Leadership Award in Data Warehousing, at TDWI's Best Practices Summit in Anaheim, Calif., Aug. 14-15. On those dates, the winning nominations will be presented, then judged, by a panel of experts. The Leadership Award Winner will present its winning nomination at TDWI's Leadership Conference, Nov. 4-9, 2001 in Orlando, Fla.

Penske Logistics Named 2001 Best Practices Award Winner

The Data Warehousing Institute (TDWI) has also named Penske Logistics as a 2001 Best Practices in Data Warehousing Award winner for "Extranet Data Warehouse" applications. TDWI provides in-depth, high quality education and training in the data warehousing and business intelligence industry.

Penske Logistics received the award for its innovative supply chain extranet, which provides comprehensive supply chain and logistics information directly to Penske's customers via the Internet. Penske was nominated for the award by Business Objects, a leading provider of e-business intelligence solutions. Penske uses WebIntelligence, the query, reporting, and analysis solution for the Internet from Business Objects.

"Penske Logistics is pleased to be recognized as a leader in using extranet applications to provide our customers with a competitive advantage," said Vincent Hartnett, president, Penske Logistics. "It is an honor to receive this award from The Data Warehousing Institute."

"We were happy to sponsor Penske Logistics and congratulate them on winning this award," said Bernard Liautaud, president and CEO of Business Objects. "As a leader in supply chain management, Penske Logistics realizes the significant benefits extranets provide for their customers."

About Penske Logistics

A wholly-owned subsidiary of Penske Truck Leasing, Penske Logistics provides integrated logistics services through more than 220 locations in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Penske Logistics Europe provides pan-European logistics solutions. Cotia Penske Logistics Ltda, a joint venture between Penske Logistics and Cotia Trading, offers supply chain management services in South America.

Headquartered in Reading, Penske Truck Leasing is a joint venture of Penske Corporation and GE Capital. A global transportation services provider, the company operates approximately 208,000 heavy-, medium-, and light-duty trucks and serves customers from more than 700 locations in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Product lines include full-service leasing, contract maintenance, and commercial and consumer rental. Penske Truck Leasing's annual revenues are approximately US $3.4 billion. Penske Truck Leasing can be reached at www.pensketruckleasing.com.

About Ingram Micro Inc

Ingram Micro Inc is the largest global wholesale provider of technology solutions, products and services. The company operates in 36 countries with sales of $30.7 billion for the fiscal year 2000. Ingram Micro's global regions provide the distribution of technology products and services, marketing development and supply chain management services to more than 175,000 technology solution providers and 1,700 manufacturers. The company is focused on maximizing shareowner value and achieving customer satisfaction through innovation in the information technology supply chain. Visit www.ingrammicro.com/corp.

About Business Objects

Business Objects is a leading provider of e-business intelligence (e-BI) solutions. The company coined the term e-business intelligence in 1998 to describe the intersection of business intelligence and the Internet. Using e-business intelligence, organizations can access, analyze, and share information in intranet, extranet, and e-business environments. In intranets, the company's products provide employees with information to make better business decisions, and are used in environments ranging from workgroups of 20 users to enterprise deployments exceeding 20,000. In the extranet environment, the company is pioneering the use of e-BI in applications that allow organizations to build stronger relationships by linking customers, partners, and suppliers via the internet. In addition, the company's products can improve the performance of an e-business by providing reporting and analysis against the ever-expanding amount of transaction and profile data that is collected each day throughout the World Wide Web.

Founded in 1990, Business Objects pioneered the modern business intelligence industry by inventing and patenting a "semantic layer" that insulates users from the technical complexity of database systems. Today, the company has over 13,000 customers in more than 80 countries. Business Objects can be reached at 408-953-6000 and www.businessobjects.com.

About The Data Warehousing Institute

The Data Warehousing Institute (TDWI), a division of 101communications, is the premier provider of in-depth, high quality education and training in the data warehousing and business intelligence industry. TDWI is dedicated to educating business and information technology professionals about the strategies, techniques, and tools required to successfully design, build, and maintain data warehouses. It also fosters the advancement of data warehousing research and contributes to knowledge transfer and professional development of its Members. TDWI sponsors and promotes a worldwide membership program, annual educational conferences, regional educational seminars, onsite courses, solution provider partnerships, awards programs for the best practices and leadership in data warehousing and innovative technologies, resourceful publications, an in-depth research program, and a comprehensive Web site.

Contact Business Objects, Sherry Lowe, 408-953-6038, slowe@businessobjects.com or Penske Logistics, Louise Moyer, 610-775-6408, louise.moyer@penske.com.