The solution consists of the HAHT Commerce Product Information Management Catalog integrated with inovis:Process, a complete end-to-end solution for Business Process Integration with robust capabilities for translating data between disparate data formats. The partnership creates a cost-effective "behind-the-firewall" UCCnet catalog management solution and addresses UCCnet compliance while leveraging existing investments in EAI and EDI infrastructure. The catalog functionality augments and extends existing Inovis UCCnet certified solutions for data transformation, integration, and communication, for organizations that require this functionality. 

This alliance comes at an opportune time for Consumer Products companies, as the combined functionality is becoming a priority. A recent report from AMR Research, entitled Data Synchronization Has Simply Become a Cost of Doing Business, by Kara Romanow, April 14, 2003, states that, "data synchronization should be the No. 1 priority over all projects involving collaboration or B2B interoperability because of the foundation it provides." 

UCCnet's global item registry enables suppliers to register and communicate new and changed product data, so that all trading partners use identical, accurate, and standardized information. Leading retailers such as Wal-mart, Shaws, Super-Valu, Home Depot, Ace, Lowes, and others are increasingly encouraging manufacturers to adopt this standard in order to facilitate a more cost-effective and collaborative business environment. 

"This alliance produces the most powerful solution for UCCnet connectivity and compliance available in the retail industry. By integrating our leading data aggregation and B2B integration capability with HAHT's world-class catalog and item synchronization capability, we're addressing a significant customer problem," said Diane Stuckey, Senior Vice President of Global Marketing for Inovis. "By extending our B2B collaboration capabilities we are giving our customers a set of tools and services that establish a solid foundation for enterprise product information management and data synchronization. We will continue to expand our support for UCCnet through a variety of future initiatives." 

According to Terry Welty, VP Marketing for HAHT Commerce, "with a rich heritage in business-to-business integration, and strong roots in EDI, Inovis is a well known and trusted provider for many Consumer Products companies. With this uniquely integrated solution, these companies and many others will be able to leverage their existing investments to address their current UCCnet requirements and their future strategic Product Information Management needs." 

Both Inovis and HAHT Commerce are experienced UCCnet Preferred Alliance Partners, and members of the UCCnet Partners In-Sync™ program. 

About HAHT Commerce 

HAHT Commerce, Inc. is the leading provider of Demand Chain Management applications that strategically automate, integrate and optimize Order Management, Product & Brand Information Management, Channel Management, Business Intelligence and Customer Services between manufacturers, their channel partners and business customers. The HAHT Consumer Products Suite, HAHT Chemicals Suite, and HAHT Discrete Manufacturing Suite are all built on HAHT's core Commerce Suite 7.1 technology and offer a modular architecture, rapid implementation, out-of-the-box ERP integration, easy customization and support for global deployments. More information on HAHT, its customers, partners and products can be found at www.HAHT.com. 

About Inovis 

Inovis™, Inc. helps companies to rapidly and cost-efficiently build, grow and manage B2B communities. With over 18 years of experience and over 20,000 customers, the company provides businesses large and small with award- winning software, connectivity, business process management and managed services to participate in collaborative partner relationships. Inovis solutions leverage the inovis:Access™ global trading network, which processes over 1.4 million e-commerce transactions each business day. 

Inovis is headquartered in Atlanta with offices in Dallas and the San Francisco Bay area. In Europe, Inovis operates through its wholly owned subsidiaries Harbinger Commerce Limited in the U.K. and Inovis GmbH in Germany. For more information, go to www.inovis.com or call +1 877.4INOVIS.