Retail Systems 2003, Chicago-June 10, 2003 - i2 Technologies, Inc. (OTC: ITWO), a leading provider of end-to-end supply chain management solutions, and the WorldWide Retail Exchange (WWRE), the premier Internet-based business-to-business (B2B) exchange for retailers and suppliers, announced today an agreement to co-market i2`s Product Content Management and WWRE`s Data Synchronization solutions and services to WWRE members and their trading partners.
"Through this relationship with i2, we will offer solutions to our members that can allow them to get clean, quality data to their item masters faster," said Cindy Cruzado, Director of WorldWide Item Management (WIM) at the WWRE. "By integrating standardized data into their legacy systems, retailers and manufacturers can finally work together on a single, standardized format for core, country and relationship dependent data."
As a result of the agreement, i2 and WWRE will market and sell Product Management and Data Synchronization solutions and services. The offering will consist of:
• WWRE`s WIM solution (powered by i2), consisting of a source and recipient data pool and data synchronization service that enables the search, introduction and maintenance of product information. In addition to maintaining data integrity and standards compliance, the solution will also provide a single point of integration to the Global Data Synchronization Network (GDSN), as defined by the Global Commerce Initiation.
• i2`s Product Content Management solution and services, including i2 Content Exchange, Discovery Knowledge Manager and Syndication, which are designed to enable a company`s back-end systems to share data with the WWRE and conduct item synchronization. The i2 solutions can allow manufacturers and retailers to efficiently cross-reference internal product information from multiple or disparate systems and provide a single enterprise-wide view for analysis, management and delivery to trading partners, data pools, or internal sites. This can make it easier to do business, reduce the cost of acquiring and managing product information, increase revenues and reduce product costs.
Because the WWRE and i2`s solutions are based on the same components, their deployment on the Exchange and behind the firewall can simplify trading partner relationships.
"Partnering with an industry leader like the WWRE allows us to combine the best-practices we have gained through the years, with the depth of knowledge held by the WWRE and its members to ultimately benefit all of the retail and consumer product goods industry," said George Cannon, i2 senior vice president, Consumer Goods and Retail. "We are excited about working with the WWRE to go to market with solutions that will benefit manufacturers and retailers worldwide as they tackle global data synchronization."
The WWRE`s WIM solution has been in operation since June of 2001 and is currently offered in eight languages and in 10 countries around the world. The recent launch of its second generation offering, WIM 2.0, includes validation and business rules engines, and a single, standardized XML format, including core data, country-specific data and relationship dependent data. More than 25 WWRE members have already committed to implementing WIM in 2003/4 and more are expected as the WWRE continues its work launching the Global Data Synchronization Network, through its connectivity with UCCnet`s GLOBALregistry(tm) and connections with local catalog providers around the world such as Sinfos.
The i2 Product Content Management solution is part of the broader Enterprise Data Management strategy of i2, which extends to all master data, metadata and supply chain data required by the enterprise to support the modular deployment of process capabilities. It is designed to enable industry participants to extract, cleanse, manage and distribute data with one solution across the enterprise. This solution can improve the efficiency of internal and external business processes, such as procurement, channel management, product introductions and trade management, as well as facilitate the on-boarding of data onto the WWRE Worldwide Item Management solution.
About the WWRE®
The WWRE® is the premier Internet-based business-to-business exchange for retailers and suppliers. Designed to facilitate and simplify trading between manufacturers, retailers and suppliers, the WWRE® currently consists of 64 members from Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and South America with combined sales of approximately U.S. $900 billion. To date, the WWRE® has saved its members over $900 million through the use of online negotiations, its first product offering. For more information, visit the website at www.wwre.org or www.worldwideretailexchange.org.
About i2
A leading provider of end-to-end supply chain management solutions, i2 designs and delivers software that helps customers optimize and synchronize activities involved in successfully managing supply and demand. More than 1,000 of the world`s leading companies, including seven of the Fortune global top 10, have selected i2 to help solve their most critical supply chain challenges. Founded in 1988 with a commitment to customer success, i2 remains focused on delivering value by implementing solutions designed to provide a rapid return on investment. Learn more at www.i2.com.
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