INDUSTRY

Information Builders, the leader in enterprise business intelligence (BI) and real-time Web reporting, today announced the company has strengthened its presence in the global market through a series of strategic initiatives designed to capitalize on the growing global business intelligence market. Despite a highly competitive global economy, Information Builders international revenue grew by 10 percent in 2003, signing on 86 new international customers and expanding into four new regions. In addition, Information Builders has named software industry veterans, Dennis Allan as Vice President of EMEA to lead the company's global operations and new market strategy and John Humphreys as Managing Director of the Asian Pacific region, to spearhead corporate growth in the rapidly expanding Asia Pacific market. In today's dynamic marketplace, global organizations are exploring more innovative ways to propel their business. By utilizing strategic business intelligence applications to leverage data assets across the entire organization, enterprises have the ability to put the right information in the right hands at the right time, resulting in faster, more accurate business decisions. To address the growing need for global business intelligence solutions, Information Builders expanded geographically into a number of countries in 2003 including new branch offices in Brazil, China, Mexico, Norway, and Singapore. This local market presence and understanding of specific end-user needs has generated significant customer wins in the global market such as Hino Motors in Belgium, KELA in Finland, Prorail in Holland, Nestle in South Africa, and the Israel Postal Authority in Israel. Other key customer wins include: * Asia -- Chinese Petroleum Corporation, Dia Systems, Seiko Instruments, Shanghain Yue Yang Hospital, UFJ Bank * France -- Banque Populaire, Moet & Chandon, Peugeot * Germany -- Lufthansa Technik, Phoenix Pharma, Siemens Business Services * Spain -- Caja Rural de Cordoba, CEES * UK -- Bourne Leisure, Gimlet eSolutions, GMAC, PITO, State Street Bank To spearhead Information Builders European growth, the company has named Dennis Allan as vice president of EMEA. Allan has spent more than 25 years in the enterprise software industry at world-class organizations such as IBM, Onyx Software, and S2Systems. Throughout his career, Allan has achieved a successful track record of increasing global revenue while driving day-to-day business operations. At Information Builders, Allan will be responsible for executing the company's worldwide goals and vision, driving sales, and increasing revenues. Information Builders has also hired John Humphreys to serve as the managing director of the Asia Pacific region. Humphreys was formerly the executive chairman for KPMG Consulting (now Bearing Point) in Asia Pacific. As managing director of Asia Pacific, Humphreys will be leveraging more than 10 years of executive experience securing and servicing large-scale enterprise customers. "As the business intelligence market continues to gain momentum, global organizations need more scalable, flexible solutions to handle various information needs in multiple locations," said David Rode, vice president of International for Information Builders. "Information Builders provides international users the ability to turn data into actionable information to help customers, employees, managers, and business partners make better decisions. We are looking forward to leveraging the experience of both Dennis and John to expand upon the success of the organization and help drive greater corporate visibility in the global market." In 2004, Information Builders will execute plans to expand operations in Nordic countries such as Belgium and Holland, as well as focusing efforts around Brazil and Japan through added partnerships. The company will also look to open branch offices in many of the Asia Pacific locations as the region continues to show signs of high demand and exponential growth for enterprise business intelligence. "As companies become more global, the ability to access data anytime and anywhere becomes a powerful tool for productivity and business gain," said Gerald Cohen, president and CEO of Information Builders. "Through expanded partnerships, greater geographical presence, and dedicated customer emphasis, Information Builders continues to provide world-class business intelligence solutions for users around the globe."