ERP Software Industry News

Kirkland, Washington – October 11, 2005 – Intuitive Manufacturing Systems, a leading provider of enterprise resource planning software for discrete manufacturers, will host Synergy 06, the Intuitive ERP 2006 Worldwide User Conference, for all Intuitive customers and partners in San Diego, California, at the Omni Hotel, May 2-5, 2006. Due to the overwhelming request of past attendees, Synergy 06 has been extended to four full days so that more time can be allocated to each of the conference’s activities.

This worldwide gathering of Intuitive customers, business partners, executives and product experts will provide valuable networking and educational opportunities, including sessions on industry and technology trends as well as real-world business solutions utilizing the various Intuitive ERP software and service products. Attendees will be able to review Intuitive ERP version 8.0, the next release of Intuitive’s .NET product series to be released prior to the conference, which features completely new Purchasing and Manufacturing cycles.

“Synergy 06 will provide a terrific venue for Intuitive ERP users to come together with other professionals in their industry and learn about the latest advances, tools, and best-practice applications of Intuitive ERP to increase their success,” said Chuck Gillam, CEO of Intuitive. “The Synergy conferences give us the opportunity not only to provide Intuitive ERP users with direct insights they can use immediately in further optimizing their operations, but also to share Intuitive’s innovative technology vision and future product direction and make sure we’ve got their full input into that direction.”

At Synergy 06, attendees will be able to select from dozens of sessions, including valuable product training, industry discussions, customer-driven panels, product workshops and more. Back by popular demand are the “Ask the Expert” sessions, where event attendees have the opportunity to schedule one-on-one sessions with an Intuitive product expert to address issues specific to their own company.

Attendees will of course be able to review the latest release of Intuitive ERP; computer labs will be available for the duration of the conference, giving users the opportunity to explore the latest product features. Formal and informal networking opportunities will also be available to give attendees the chance to meet with other Intuitive partners and users to share knowledge and learn new strategies.

Kirkland, Washington – October 18, 2005 – Intuitive Manufacturing Systems, a leading provider of enterprise resource planning software for discrete manufacturers, today announced it has attained Gold Certified status in the Microsoft Partner Program with a competency in ISV/Software Solutions, recognizing Intuitive’s expertise and total impact in the technology marketplace. As a Gold Certified partner, Intuitive has demonstrated expertise with Microsoft technologies and proven ability to meet customers’ needs. Microsoft Gold Certified Partners receive a rich set of benefits, including access, training and support, giving them a competitive advantage in the marketplace.

Intuitive has been a Microsoft Certified partner since 1994, dedicated to providing enterprise solutions based solely on the leading-edge technologies offered by Microsoft. Intuitive’s flagship product, Intuitive ERP, was originally built using 100 percent Microsoft technology. Intuitive is now pioneering the use of Microsoft .NET technology in enterprise applications for the manufacturing industry.

“We are extremely pleased to have attained Gold Certified status in the Microsoft Partner Program. We’ve always been a Microsoft-based solution, and this allows us to even further promote our expertise and relationship with Microsoft to our customers,” said Chuck Gillam, CEO of Intuitive. “The benefits provided through our Gold Certified status will further our close relationship with Microsoft and allow us to continue to enhance the offerings that we provide for the manufacturing industry.”

“Customers are looking for partner companies that can bridge the gap between their business demands and technology capabilities. They need to trust in someone that can act as an expert adviser for their long-term strategic technology plans. Microsoft Gold Certified Partners, which have certified expertise and direct training and support from Microsoft, can build a positive customer experience with our technologies,” said Allison Watson, vice president of the Worldwide Partner Sales and Marketing Group at Microsoft Corp. “Today, Microsoft recognizes Intuitive as a new Microsoft Gold Certified Partner for demonstrating its expertise in providing customer satisfaction with Microsoft products and technology.”

As one of the requirements for attaining Gold Certified Status, Intuitive had to declare a Microsoft Competency. Microsoft Competencies are designed to help differentiate a partner’s capabilities with specific Microsoft technologies to customers looking for a particular type of solution. Each competency has a unique set of requirements and benefits, formulated to accurately represent the specific skills and services that partners bring to the technology industry. The Microsoft ISV/Software Solutions Competency recognizes the skill and focus partners bring to a particular solution set. Microsoft Gold Certified Partners that have obtained this competency have a successful record of developing and marketing packed software based on Microsoft technologies.

“Solutions Competencies are an important way for Microsoft to better enable ISVs to meet customer needs,” said Sanjay Parthasarathy, corporate vice president of the Platform Strategy & Partner Group at Microsoft. “They allow ISVs to keep and win customers with their deep knowledge of solutions-based Microsoft platform technologies. Microsoft has a long history of working closely with ISV partners to help deliver compelling solutions and applications to our mutual customers, and the Solutions Competencies are an important step in continuing to enhance vital relationships with ISVs worldwide.”

The Microsoft Partner Program represents Microsoft’s ongoing commitment to the success of partners worldwide. The program offers a single, integrated partnering framework that recognizes partner expertise, rewards the total impact that partners have in the technology marketplace, and delivers more value to help partners’ businesses be successful.

Kirkland, Washington – September 15, 2005 – Intuitive Manufacturing Systems, a leading provider of enterprise resource planning software (ERP) for discrete manufacturers, announced today their OEM partnership with Seagull Scientific, the developer of BarTender label design software.

With the integration of the BarTender solution, Intuitive ERP 7.2 provides a state of the art label-printing solution that allows customers to print customized labels for any part of their manufacturing operations, including shipping, shop floor labels, inventory labels, etc.

Sara Gillam, Executive VP of Product Development at Intuitive, said “We are excited about the Barcode Labeling offering now available to our customers through this partnership with Seagull Scientific. With this option, we are allowing Intuitive ERP users to customize the exact labels they need for their operations, including providing different shipping labels designed specifically for each of their customers.”

BarTender is completely integrated into the Intuitive ERP software and, as an OEM relationship, the licensing and support of this module is managed via a single point of contact with Intuitive to ensure that Intuitive’s customers have the highest ROI as possible, with the least amount of implementation and effort. The Intuitive ERP Barcode Labeling option is available in the version 7.2 release of Intuitive ERP.

Kirkland, Washington – October 3, 2005 – Intuitive Manufacturing Systems, a leading provider of enterprise resource planning software (ERP) for discrete manufacturers, announced today the release of Intuitive Mobile; a Designed for Windows Mobile certified product.

Intuitive Mobile is an innovative approach to hand-held transaction processing. There is no middleware, no expensive hardware, and no batch processing required. The hand-held system runs on any device that runs Microsoft Windows Mobile 2003 SE, and is real-time on the Intuitive ERP system.

Intuitive CEO Chuck Gillam said “We looked long and hard for a bar-coding partner who could leverage the new technologies Microsoft offers, but all we could find were solutions with old technology, proprietary code, and problematic batch processing requiring very expensive hardware and often additional servers. It became very clear that the only appropriate approach was to extend our 100 percent .NET managed code architecture into the hand-held arena to provide a robust yet reasonably priced solution. With Intuitive Mobile, Intuitive ERP users are now able to run inventory transactions from a hand-held device of their choice, real time on the shop floor, without any expensive proprietary middleware. This is a revolutionary approach for mobile barcode-capable transactions for discrete manufacturing.”

Intuitive was able to leverage its investment in the Microsoft .NET platform to design a product that would meet the stringent requirements set out by Microsoft’s Designed for Windows Mobile Software logo-certification testing process conducted by Veritest.

“Discrete manufacturing customers need flexible solutions that can improve quality and time-to-market speed,” said Chris Hill, group product manager at Microsoft Corporation. “The Intuitive Mobile solution is an innovative approach to hand-held processing, providing our mutual Windows Mobile customers with real time visibility into inventory at an affordable price.”

Kirkland, Washington – August 26, 2005 – Intuitive Manufacturing Systems, a leading provider of enterprise resource planning software for discrete manufacturers, announced today the release of Intuitive ERP 7.2, the only enterprise software solution with a pure Microsoft .NET managed code framework and now over 80 percent of standard product functionality released in .NET.

Intuitive ERP 7.2, a complete enterprise business system for discrete manufacturers, is the follow-up to Intuitive ERP version 7.0, Intuitive’s groundbreaking .NET-based release (which also included over 700 customer suggestions and over 50 new features). The release of Intuitive ERP 7.2 marks the next step in Intuitive’s conversion of all Intuitive ERP system functionality to pure .NET managed code.

“Intuitive ERP 7.2 is not only a huge step forward in our mission to deliver the only ERP solution that is based on pure Microsoft .NET technology,” said Intuitive Executive VP of Product Management Sara Gillam. “Version 7.2 also provides our users with even greater levels of functionality and usability as a result of our progress in converting Intuitive ERP to pure .NET—as well as literally thousands of enhancements to the software and several exciting new modules.”

As part of Intuitive’s .NET conversion strategy, each update of the Intuitive ERP system contains new features that have not only been redeveloped using .NET technology, but also redesigned and enhanced with superior new capabilities. For instance, the new .NET “Buyer’s Workbench” tool in Intuitive ERP 7.2 (a companion to the .NET Planner’s Workbench released in version 7.0) brings together all the information, tools, and functions needed for procurement and consolidates all purchasing activity into one interactive, .NET-enabled workbench.

Key enhancements found in Intuitive ERP 7.2 include, among others:

.NET RMA cycle
.NET Quoting cycle
Completely redesigned and enhanced .NET CRM module
.NET “Buyer’s Workbench” purchasing functionality
.NET Bills of Material and Routings
FIFO Costing
New Intuitive Advanced Analytics module
New Intuitive Forecasting module
New Intuitive Mobile module – handheld devices
E-Commerce: Redesigned Sales Portal and Customer Portal
VeriSign Integration for secure credit card transaction processing
System-wide enhancements in Version 7.2 include field-level change tracking across the entire system, field-level security on all .NET forms, and advanced search capabilities.

Kirkland, Washington – March 30, 2005 – Intuitive Manufacturing Systems, a leading provider of enterprise resource planning solutions for manufacturers, announced its partnership with Business Forecast Systems (BFS), the developer of leading forecasting software Forecast Pro.

Intuitive has entered into an OEM relationship with BFS, and the Intuitive Forecasting module will be shipped as an optional module as part of the Intuitive ERP software package. Intuitive Forecasting is fully integrated into Intuitive ERP.

Intuitive ERP’s base system functionality already includes the ability to plan to forecasts either through MRP, CTP, or a combination of the two, and complete analytical tools that allow users to graphically compare forecasted to actual quantities and values. Intuitive Forecasting will allow users to generate forecasts based on historical data using methodologies such as exponential smoothing, Box-Jenkins, low volume and intermittent demand models, curve fitting, Census X-11 seasonal decomposition, dynamic regression, and more.

“Adding this forecasting capability provides our customers with one more tool for better running their businesses,” said Sara Gillam, Intuitive CEO. “We are excited to be providing this solution, and we are impressed with the functionality that this forecasting module includes.”

INDIANAPOLIS, March 14, 2007 — Consona Corporation (Consona, formerly known as M2M Holdings, Inc.), the privately held holding company jointly owned by Battery Ventures and Thoma Cressey Bravo, today announced it has closed on its acquisition of KNOVA Software, Inc. (KNOVA), a leading provider of knowledge management (KM) and service resolution management (SRM). The all-cash transaction announced in December 2006 was valued at $5.00 per share, or approximately $47 million. With the close of this transaction, KNOVA has completed its transformation to a private company after being publicly traded on the OTC Bulletin Board under the KNVS symbol since May 2005. KNOVA is Consona’s sixth acquisition in the last eighteen months (past acquisitions include Cimnet Systems, Inc., AXIS Computer Systems, Inc., Encompix, Inc., Intuitive Manufacturing Systems, Inc., and Onyx Software Corporation).

The acquisition effectively launches Consona CRM, the new name for the CRM-focused operating division of Consona Corporation, which now houses sister product lines KNOVA and Onyx® CRM. Pete Strom, general manager of Consona CRM, will oversee KNOVA going forward. In his role, Strom will be assisted by members of the KNOVA management team to profitably grow the business. As part of Consona’s proven operating model, the complementary KNOVA and Onyx solutions will retain their brand identity and be sold both separately and together to new customers via a shared sales force. As such, KNOVA’s KM and SRM solutions will continue to be sold, maintained, supported and enhanced to augment all popular CRM platforms, including—but not limited to—the Onyx solution. The model also ensures that existing customers of both products will be served by dedicated, product-specific account management, development, customer support, and professional services teams.

“The combination of Onyx and KNOVA will create the first and only operational and collaborative CRM offering available in the market, and we can’t be more excited about that,” said Strom. “Future releases of KNOVA and Onyx will deliver a completely unique CRM solution to enterprises of all sizes, featuring adaptive but tightly integrated customer relationship management, business process management, business intelligence, and service resolution management functionality.”

Beyond a stronger value proposition for both product lines, Strom cited a number of benefits to operating the Onyx and KNOVA businesses together as Consona CRM. “Once the integration is completed,” said Strom, “numerous cross-selling opportunities will open up—particularly for Onyx customers who are seeking guided selling functionality [from Active Decisions] or strengthened Web self-service and service resolution management functionality. And the advantages don’t stop there. Both businesses now have a broadened worldwide sales and services presence, as well as additional industry, product and process expertise to offer customers.”

Jeff Tognoni, CEO of Consona, stated that KNOVA’s privatization also will bring about a number of advantages for KNOVA and its customers. “As a private company within the Consona family of companies, KNOVA will be free from the constraints of being a public company and have improved access to investment capital for strategic initiatives. And even more compelling is how our aggressive growth strategy for Consona CRM will add to the KNOVA business throughout the year.”

INDIANAPOLIS, March 8, 2007 – After experiencing tremendous growth in 2006, the executive team at M2M Holdings Inc. decided a new name was needed to describe the unified vision behind its growing line of world-class enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM) solutions. That’s why today, they will officially rename their holding company Consona Corporation (Consona).

“M2M Holdings was never intended to be a widely-known name,” said Tom Millay, vice president of sales and marketing for Consona. “We started the business with the Made2Manage product and, now, seven acquisitions later, keeping the ‘M2M’ as part of the holding company name has caused confusion in the marketplace. We wanted to find a clearer way to convey the vision behind our various product lines, so we put a team together that would find a name that is not only memorable and unique, but also whose meaning will better reflect what we’re trying to do as a corporation.”

Jeff Tognoni, CEO of Consona, pointed out that nothing is new but the name. “Everything the market has seen from M2M Holdings to date is still completely valid,” he said. “We’re still the same company with the same strategy and vision. We still have the same owners, management team, and personnel working in our existing office locations. And we continue to actively sell, support, maintain and enhance our various ERP and CRM product lines.”

According to Millay, Consona will adopt a branding strategy that is similar to Johnson & Johnson’s, with each product line marketed, sold, and operationally supported separately, but also identified by the master brand. Within Consona Corporation, there will be three major divisions:

Consona CRM

- Onyx® CRM, BPM and BI for the enterprise

Consona ERP

- Intuitive™ ERP for discrete manufacturers
- Made2Manage® ERP for discrete manufacturers
- SupplyWorks® supplier collaboration and supply chain visibility tools

Consona Industry Solutions

- AXIS’s AXIOM® ERP for metals, wire and cable manufacturers
- Cimnet Systems™ ERP for printed circuit board manufacturers
- DTR Plastics™ ERP for plastics processing manufacturers
- Encompix® ERP for project-based, engineer-to-order manufacturers
- Relevant’s INFIMACS II® ERP for aerospace and defense manufacturers

So what does Consona mean? Tognoni said the new name is derived from the concept of “consonance,” which describes the perfect alignment of elements within a single entity.

“We like the meaning because it emphasizes the aspects of our strategy that remain central to each line of business within the company,” he said. “First, we strive to build high-fit software that closely aligns with the business processes of our customers. Second, we encourage our people to be similarly aligned in order to provide excellent service and support. And finally, we try hard to keep our internal processes consonant so that we remain an efficient, profitable vendor for our customers.”

M2M Holdings becomes Consona today. To learn more, visit www.consona.com.

INDIANAPOLIS and SEATTLE, July 14, 2006 – Made2Manage Systems Inc., a leading provider of software and a broad range of services for the enterprise, today announced that it has acquired Seattle-based Intuitive Manufacturing Systems (Intuitive), a leading provider of enterprise resource planning (ERP) software for discrete manufacturers.

The acquisition of Intuitive, backed by investors Battery Ventures and Thoma Cressey Equity Partners, marks Made2Manage Systems’ sixth since being taken private in August 2003. It enhances the company’s portfolio of enterprise resource planning products focused on the manufacturing sector and reaffirms its commitment to the small and midsize manufacturing space.

“I’m thrilled to bring two very strong companies together,” said Jeff Tognoni, CEO of Made2Manage Systems. “The Intuitive product line will become a sister product line to the Made2Manage product line, allowing us to serve an even broader share of discrete manufacturers in the small and midsize enterprise market.”

Tognoni believes that Made2Manage Systems’ strategic initiatives of providing superior product fit and unparalleled industry expertise will be enhanced by growing both the Made2Manage and Intuitive product lines within the same company. “As the companies form synergies and share best practices, we can create new value for our community of customers in discrete manufacturing,” he said.

Made2Manage Systems’ unique technology strategy will allow the two product lines to significantly enhance one another while protecting customers’ investments. “Intuitive’s product line is 95 percent pure Microsoft .NET—and it’s not a .NET wrapper around legacy technology,” said Steve Bailey, chief technology officer for Made2Manage Systems. “We can leverage the expertise and best practices of our new colleagues while we implement an event-driven, Service-Oriented Architecture across our other Microsoft-technology-based product lines.”

Made2Manage Systems will continue to support, maintain, enhance, and sell the Intuitive product line, just as it has with all previous acquisitions, using its proven integration model. The model ensures that customer touch-point roles, including support, service, account management, and development, remain focused on each of their respective product lines. Tognoni added that the primary reason Made2Manage Systems supports and enhances each of its acquired products is the company’s ongoing strategy to be the industry leader in customer care. “In the spirit of customer care,” he said, “we believe in protecting our customers from the disruption of forced upgrades.”

Using the same integration model, Made2Manage Systems also intends to support, maintain and enhance Intuitive’s recently-acquired product lines: SupplyWorks (acquired in March 2006) and Relevant (acquired in April 2006).

Intuitive’s headquarters in Seattle, which will remain open to serve customers, adds a west coast presence to Made2Manage Systems’ existing offices in Indianapolis (headquarters), Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, and Jacksonville.

KIRKLAND, WASH. and INDIANAPOLIS, November 16, 2006—Intuitive Manufacturing Systems (Intuitive), a leading provider of enterprise resource planning (ERP) software for discrete mid-market manufacturers and a business unit of M2M Holdings Inc., today announced the achievement of several milestones since being acquired in July, including an increase in the quantity and size of new system sales.

According to Scott Malia, general manager of the Made2Manage-Intuitive business unit, Intuitive’s May 2006 release of Intuitive ERP 8.0—the first and only full-function, integrated, discrete ERP solution built with pure Microsoft .NET-managed technology—is the catalyst for the recent uptick in sales. “Version 8.0 (v8.0) is the culmination of a complete redesign of the Intuitive ERP product using .NET-managed technology,” he said. “With the v8.0 product, all major manufacturing and distribution processes have been converted to Intuitive’s exclusive .NET-managed architecture. This value proposition is attracting larger, technology-driven companies and minimizing pricing issues.”

Indeed, after v8.0 hit the market, Intuitive’s second-quarter software sales were more than 50 percent larger than first-quarter sales, and third-quarter software sales were nearly 20 percent higher than second-quarter sales. Intuitive’s sales executives report their success is due in part to an overall higher average number of seats per deal compared to historical data.

“By using .NET-managed code, Intuitive is able to offer its customers advantages that other ERP packages using .NET wrappers around legacy code cannot,” said Malia. “Although these vendors are able to expose their customers to .NET tools, they are still burdened with spending resources and dollars on developing and supporting their third-party legacy code. With a .NET-managed system in place, we are now a more efficient vendor, which translates into value for our customers. Our customers see better performance and faster, higher-quality development.”

While Intuitive enjoys the inflow of new business, existing customers are already seeing the fruits of the recent Made2Manage-Intuitive merger. On November 1, Intuitive rolled out a new Web site for all customers called Intuitive Expert. Intuitive Expert features user resources and training/support tools modeled after M2M Expert, M2M Holdings’ premier customer portal and three-time winner of the Association of Support Professional’s “Top Ten Best Web Support Sites” award.

“Intuitive is moving forward at full speed as a sister product line to Made2Manage. We review on a daily basis how to implement best practices from both businesses in order to improve the value we offer to our customers,” said Malia.

Thomas Duff, president of Granite Power and one of several new customers to go live on v8.0 since the acquisition, said, “We’ve had a great experience working with Intuitive. Our transition to live operations was very smooth, and our parent company is pleased that we are getting the expected results from the project. They’re already planning to implement Intuitive ERP in five other divisions of the business.”

Intuitive ERP Version 8.0 Availability and Demonstrations

Live demonstrations of the Intuitive ERP 8.0 product are available at bi-monthly webcasts. Event registration is available on the Intuitive Web site at www.intuitivemfg.com.