IBM Joins With Clear Technologies, Inc. to Deliver Customized CRM Solutions

Customized Solution Edition Now Available for Award Winning C2CRM Application Suite

ARMONK, NY, 02/16/2005, Today IBM announced that it has teamed with Clear Technologies, Inc. to expand on the previously announced eServer i5 Solution Edition to deliver a customized solution for its C2CRM Application Suite. As a consolidated offering, the IBM eServer i5 Solution Edition for C2CRM is delivered to customers with software and operating system options specifically designed to integrate complex and diverse applications. The offering will contain IBM middleware components on the eServer i5 550 server with capacity on-demand options.

“The IBM eServer i5 Solution Edition for C2CRM really streamlines business processes for customers,” said Peter Bingaman, vice president, IBM eServer iSeries. “This offering helps enable companies to better manage existing customer relationships while acquiring new customers at a lower cost. It’s yet another example of the terrific solutions we can bring to our SMB customers when we work closely with our partners.”

This Solution Edition was designed to help iSeries customers increase organizational efficiency, strengthen customer loyalty, and improve business processes and marketing and sales effectiveness. It offers access to critical customer and prospect information that enables users to help maximize their opportunities and increase customer satisfaction.

“The customized offering is a tremendous value for our CRM customers. With the customized offering, traditional back office operations will benefit from the power of the IBM eServer i5 system while delivering C2CRM for the sales, marketing and customer service operations. The addition of the IBM middleware components to an already attractively priced solution will create interest from all customers,” said Mickey Patton, President of C2CRM. “Once again, the IBM iSeries platform shows its versatility in consolidating and quickly deploying different workloads that growing companies need in today’s computing environment.”

Tripp Lite, a power protection product manufacturer located in Illinois and is over eighty years old, has relied on its iSeries server for nearly the last decade to power its core business applications. Almost two years ago, Tripp Lite added Clear Technologies, Inc. solutions to their company’s IT infrastructure.

“Our IBM solution powered by the iSeries platform offers our company a lower total cost of ownership for deploying mission critical applications such as ERP and logistics,” says Matthew Phifer, Business Analyst for Tripp Lite. “While a company’s return on investment is not always easily measured in dollars, we believe the C2CRM applications on the iSeries platform have streamlined many of our business processes resulting in increased customer satisfaction which, we believe, translates into increased revenues.”

C2CRM is a web-based CRM solution that helps companies get a complete view of every customer and prospect in their database. C2CRM is implemented in application suites that cover needs in enterprise contact management, sales force automation, customer support, lead management, marketing, customer self service portals and workflow. Using these application suites, C2CRM increases efficiency in all areas of customer interaction.

The IBM eServer i5 Solution Edition for C2CRM is planned for availability on February 18, 2005. Pricing information is available from IBM. Information on the IBM eServer i5 and the IBM eServer i5 Solution Edition for C2CRM is available at http://www.ibm.com/eserver/iseries and http://www.ibm.com/eserver/iseries/hardware/editions/soledition.

About Clear Technologies, Inc.

Clear Technologies, Inc. is focused on delivering customer centric technology solutions in an effort to help companies develop better relationships with their most important customers. Clear Technologies, Inc. developed the C2CRM Application Suite, designed to integrate sales, marketing and customer service into one seamless, collaborative operation. In addition to traditional CRM aspects, C2CRM provides eBusiness portals, effective marketing automation, customer analytics and project-related service activity tracking. Clear Technologies, Inc. is located in Coppell, Texas, and was founded in 1993. For additional information on C2CRM, visit www.C2CRM.com or call 1-888-339-4244.

About IBM eServer iSeries

The world’s most popular server for mid-size business operations, the IBM iSeries holds the IT industry’s largest install base for midrange servers. In May 2004, IBM introduced the POWER5 processor for the first time on the iSeries platform with the eServer i5 server. The iSeries system starts at a single processor and scales up to a 64-way processor and offers customers super-integration and hardware compatibility simplifying operations. The iSeries powers thousands of the world’s most popular business applications while running multiple operating environments simultaneously reducing the cost of IT environments so companies can reinvest in growth.

About IBM

With 80 years of leadership in helping businesses innovate, IBM is the world’s largest information technology company. IBM is a leading provider of e-business solutions and is dedicated to helping companies, Business Partners and developers leverage the potential of the Internet and network computing across a wide range of businesses and industries. The company offers a host of cross-industry and industry specific solutions designed to meet the needs of companies of all sizes. For more information on IBM, please visit: www.ibm.com.

Information on IBM eServer is available at www.ibm.com/eserver. IBM news releases and fact sheets are available at www.ibm.com. The following are either trademarks or registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation in the United States or other countries or both: IBM, the IBM e-business logo, eServer, iSeries, i5/OS, POWER5.

All others are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Statements concerning IBM’s future development plans and schedules are made for planning purposes only, and are subject to change or withdrawal without notice.

Other company, product, or service names may be trademarks or service marks of others.

Contact Information

Colleen Haikes

Media Contact

IBM

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