Financial Watch:

INVESCO Awards Contract to Sand Technology

Sand Technology announced that INVESCO has awarded Sand a contract to supply and implement Sand's Information Integration solution for management analysis and reporting in INVESCO's Enterprise Management service. INVESCO is part of the AMVESCAP Group, one of the world's largest investment management organizations.

INVESCO currently use a wide number of Enterprise Management products to monitor and manage applications and services running in their UK and overseas offices. Prior to the Nucleus-powered solution from Sand, INVESCO could not effectively provide management information and reporting across these products.

"The Nucleus solution from Sand will provide both IT management and the business with up to date information and analysis," says Gary Crawford, Enterprise Management Manager, INVESCO. "This increased level of information will enable our IT management to provide the best possible level of service to the business, and empower the business to better understand their critical applications."

"We are very excited about being awarded the contract by INVESCO," says Duncan Painter, president, EMEA. "Once again, this clearly demonstrates the flexibility and rapid business-benefit delivery that we offer through our unique technology and solutions approach."

About INVESCO

INVESCO forms part of the AMVESCAP Group, one of the world's largest investment management organizations, which has more than 8,500 employees, offices in 25 countries, and US$397.9 billion of funds under management. AMVESCAP has a significant presence in the investment management industry in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, and services clients in more than 100 countries.

INVESCO UK offers clients a wide range of unit trusts, investment trusts, private client portfolio, UK Institutional and Defined Contribution fund management. Following the acquisition of Perpetual in December 2000, INVESCO is now the second largest independent fund management company in the UK, with assets under management of £23.3 billion. INVESCO operates under the brand INVESCO PERPETUAL in the UK retail market. Further information about INVESCO can be found on www.invesco.co.uk.

About Sand Technology

Sand Technology helps leading organizations across North America and Europe cope with data overload, by giving them rapid access to the information they need to make the right business decisions. Sand focuses on delivering business-driven solutions which are built upon its unique and innovative Nucleus data management system with "next generation" analytical functionality. Sand's powerful and highly scalable Information Integration solutions leverage the existing IT investment, require no additional human resources, and deliver business value quickly-resulting in a rapid return on investment (ROI). Sand's solutions include CRM and CRM analytics, Web analytics, healthcare analytics, supply chain management, inventory & production optimization, financial analysis, and strategic planning. Sand Technology has offices in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Central Europe. For more information, see Sand's Web site at www.sand.com.

Sand Wins $2.8M (CD) Contract for Telco CRM Analytics

Sand Technology announced the signing of a prestigious $2.8 million (CD) contract to provide a major European telecommunications operator with a CRM analytics environment which will allow the organization to become more customer-centric and build closer, more profitable relationships with its network users.

Pushing the Boundaries of Analytical CRM

"Jointly, our two organizations have pushed the boundaries of Analytical CRM," said Duncan Painter, president of Sand EMEA. We are both very proud of this achievement."

"Sand won this contract against stiff competition. The speed with which our teams can deliver a workable solution and demonstrate ROI were key differentiators. In an environment where CRM managers are under pressure to prove return on their investments, the analysis they can derive from the Sand solution is invaluable not only in driving growth, but also in measuring the value of the CRM program itself," Painter explained.

Contract Marks Sand's 7th Major Telecommunications Sector Win

"Sand is rapidly making its mark in the highly competitive telecommunications sector. This is now the seventh major European telecommunications company to select us for a CRM Analytics solution," Painter said.

"This significant win is further proof that our unique combination of technology, methodology and expertise puts us at the forefront. It is a story that is gaining weight and momentum, bolstered by similar contracts which we expect to sign imminently," Painter concluded.

About Sand Technology

Sand Technology, www.sand.com, provides Information Integration solutions that help organizations cope with data overload, by giving them rapid access to the information they need to make the right business decisions. Sand's solutions are built upon its unique Nucleus data management system that enables "next generation" analytical functionality. Nucleus leverages the organization's existing IT infrastructure, requires no additional human resources, and delivers business value quickly resulting in a rapid return on investment (ROI). Sand's solutions have been applied in a wide variety of business environments including: CRM and CRM analytics, Web analytics, healthcare analytics, supply chain management, inventory & production optimization, financial analysis, and strategic planning. Sand Technology has offices in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Central Europe.

WearGuard-Crest Selects Unica's Affinium

Unica Corporation, a provider of award-winning enterprise marketing management solutions, announced that WearGuard-Crest, a division of Aramark Uniform and Career Apparel Inc, has selected Unica's Affinium software to optimize its business-to-business marketing. Affinium will provide WearGuard-Crest with best-of-breed technology for multi-channel marketing initiatives that integrate catalog, email and Web communications with outbound telephone selling.

WearGuard-Crest expects Affinium marketing management software, with its sophisticated customer analytics and response modeling, to be a powerful tool for extending the company's long-standing tradition of customer focus. By using Affinium to create highly targeted, optimized campaigns, WearGuard-Crest plans to solidify long-term, profitable customer relationships thereby increasing revenue and profitability. WearGuard-Crest will also leverage Affinium's sophisticated data mining and e-marketing capabilities to create, execute and track personalized, permission-based email campaigns to a variety of customer segments.

"As our marketing strategy and techniques evolved, we sought a solution that allows us to use timely data to interact with customers in a way that shows our sensitivity to their needs and preferences," said David Gold, president and CEO of WearGuard-Crest. "Unica's marketing tools will help us design, execute, analyze, and continuously improve our integrated, multi-channel customer campaigns."

When reviewing marketing automation alternatives, WearGuard-Crest considered solutions from a dozen vendors, selecting Unica's Affinium for its modeling strength, its flexible architecture that can easily be integrated with the company's legacy systems, and Unica's credibility. WearGuard-Crest was impressed with Unica's customer references and reputation for ensuring the successful implementation of its products.

"Leading business-to-business marketers like WearGuard-Crest, with its 50-year tradition of providing exceptional service to its customers, understand the need for robust marketing management solutions that enable them to speak directly to customers' needs and desires," said Yuchun Lee, Unica's co-founder and CEO. "By enabling WearGuard-Crest to fully utilize its customer knowledge and leverage new customer contact channels, Affinium will help WearGuard-Crest drive long term, profitable customer relationships."

About WearGuard-Crest

WearGuard-Crest is a division of ARAMARK Uniform and Career Apparel, Inc, the nation's largest supplier of business apparel. Founded in 1952, the company is the uniform supplier of choice for businesses ranging from the world's largest corporations to small independent companies. WearGuard-Crest's reputation for high-quality personalization assures companies that their employees are outfitted in logo'd and screen-printed apparel that reflects a consistent, professional brand image.

About Unica

Unica Corporation provides award-winning enterprise marketing management solutions for innovative companies that want to optimize customer acquisition and relationship management, streamline processes, and empower strategic planning for added profitability and marketing success. Based on an open, scalable architecture, Unica's Affinium Suite enables marketers to gather and analyze knowledge from multiple data sources; identify customer wants and needs; plan, execute and manage tailored programs for interactions through multiple touchpoints; and measure and optimize marketing effectiveness. Hundreds of businesses worldwide rely on Unica's software and services. Customers include Lands' End, Merck-Medco, Bank of Montreal, Nordstrom, ABN AMRO, Cintas, Scotiabank, Choice Hotels and Nationwide. Unica is a privately held, global company with offices in the U.S., London and Singapore, and a network of world-class partners, including Acxiom, Compaq Computer, Braun Consulting, IBM, PeopleSoft, and PwC Consulting. For more information, call 781-259-5900 or visit www.unicacorp.com.

Contact Unica Corporation, Beth Sulak, 781-259-5900, bsulak@unicacorp.com.