Microsoft and Plumtree Software Form Global Strategic Alliance To Bring Customers Integrated Corporate Portal Solution

REDMOND, Wash., and SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 20, 2001 — Microsoft Corp. and Plumtree Software today announced a global strategic alliance to offer organizations a scalable, end-to-end corporate portal solution that is easy to deploy and integrates with a wide range of industry-leading enterprise applications. Within 30 days, the companies will begin to jointly market a portal solution that combines the Plumtree Corporate Portal with the Microsoft® family of .NET Enterprise Servers. Deployment support will be offered by Cap Gemini Ernst & Young and Compaq Global Services. The integrated portal solution is designed to help organizations quickly maximize the value of their corporate systems by giving employees, partners and customers personalized, consolidated access to critical information from strategic applications.

Under the alliance, Plumtree and Microsoft also will cooperate in technology development to evolve their integrated portal solutions into .NET Services.

“Plumtree is taking advantage of the scalability and reliability of Windows® 2000 Server, SQL Server™ 2000 and the other Microsoft .NET Enterprise Servers to deliver an enterprise-class portal that gives end users access to the information they want and need to respond quickly to new business challenges and opportunities, regardless of the source or location of that information,”
said Charles Stevens, vice president of the Enterprise and Partner Group at Microsoft.
“This solution helps customers achieve greater business agility today, and it also helps lay a foundation for the .NET Services of the future. We look forward to a close relationship with Plumtree to advance the vision of .NET and deliver ‘anywhere, anytime’ access to information.”

Integrated, End-to-End Portal Solution

Plumtree and Microsoft will jointly market an integrated solution that is easy to install and maintain, helping customers quickly realize the value of the corporate portal. The solution includes the Plumtree Corporate Portal 4.0, a license for Microsoft SQL Server 2000, select Plumtree Portal Gadgets™
for integration with Internet-based information and a wide range of enterprise applications, and new Plumtree Portal Gadgets for integration with Microsoft Exchange Server 2000. Customers can purchase the package, including SQL Server 2000, from Plumtree under a single part number, and the solution can be easily installed. The majority of Plumtree customers, representing more than 3.3 million users, have implemented the Plumtree Corporate Portal on the Microsoft SQL Server database, proving the enterprise-class scalability of the solution at Fortune 500 companies such as Ford Motor Co. and Kmart Corp.

Cap Gemini Ernst & Young and Compaq Global Services will provide lifecycle services to help customers quickly design and deploy the new integrated corporate portal from Plumtree and Microsoft. Cap Gemini Ernst & Young will support customers worldwide by implementing the solution architecture, security and entitlement, directory taxonomy, and productivity tools. It also will help organizations to create collaborative work methods using the portal solution.

Compaq will apply its experience in systems and application integration, messaging and Internet infrastructure, as well as planning and design services to customers to help them maximize the business value they realize from the solution. In addition, Compaq’s ProLiant DL series of servers is a preferred hardware platform for the corporate portal solution from Plumtree and Microsoft.

“Cap Gemini Ernst & Young regards the comprehensive Microsoft and Plumtree corporate portal solution as a premier platform for enterprise knowledge-sharing,”
said James Aselta, vice president, Cap Gemini Ernst & Young Support Services.
“We are excited about the opportunity to work with this next-generation solution to create a connected operation that extends beyond traditional boundaries.”

“Because of our strong alliances with Microsoft in the enterprise and with Plumtree around their corporate portal software, Compaq Global Services expects to play a significant role helping customers implement the integrated solution,”
said Rick Fricchione, group practice vice president, Compaq Global Services.
“Compaq’s experience, as well as its leadership ProLiant server platforms, uniquely positions us to support this initiative.”

Application Integration

Today Plumtree also is announcing the availability of the Plumtree Web Parts Adapter, a component framework technology that allows the use of Microsoft Web Parts and Plumtree Portal Gadgets within the Plumtree Corporate Portal. Plumtree Portal Gadgets integrate services from Internet sites and enterprise applications from vendors such as SAP AG, Siebel Systems Inc., PeopleSoft Inc., Cognos Inc., FileNET Corp. USA, IBM Corp., Lotus Development Corp. and many others. Microsoft Web Parts are reusable components that deliver Web-based content within the Microsoft Digital Dashboard. The Plumtree Web Parts Adapter makes available to customers and business partners the combined library of application-integration and content-delivery components from Plumtree and Microsoft.

In addition, the integration of the Plumtree Corporate Portal and Microsoft’s newly branded SharePoint™
Portal Server will provide complementary value to customers by seamlessly incorporating information from their business units with SharePoint Portal Server’s content aggregation and document management capabilities. SharePoint Portal Server allows companies to easily find, share and publish information. This information can be integrated directly into the Plumtree platform as Plumtree Portal Gadgets or Microsoft Web Parts.

A charter member of the .NET ISV Early Adopter Program, Plumtree also has embarked on a development plan with Microsoft to deliver .NET Services as part of the Plumtree product offering. The integration of .NET Services with Plumtree’s technology will create a comprehensive, language-independent platform for developing portal services.

Plumtree and Microsoft are training their sales and consulting forces on the integrated portal solution and also will pursue a wide range of joint marketing and sales activities, including customer seminars, Web seminars and guidebooks for hardware and software capacity planning.

About Plumtree Software

Plumtree Software is creating a simple, personalized Web portal to the information and applications that businesses use every day. Plumtree’s extensible portal platform organizes links to different types of corporate documents in a Web directory, and assembles application and Internet services from different systems in a personalized Web page. Plumtree embeds services from other systems in its portal platform using plug-in components called Plumtree Portal Gadgets, which can be developed in a wide variety of programming environments, on a broad range of platforms. Hundreds of gadgets have been developed by Plumtree and its partners, integrating into the portal application services and content from such vendors as Business Objects, Documentum, eRoom Technology, IBM, Microsoft, SAP, Siebel Systems and others.

Plumtree’s strategy is to build a network of portal technology and deployment expertise that is unmatched in the industry. Plumtree has more than 60 systems integrators, including Cap Gemini Ernst & Young and Compaq Computer, and over 100 clients, including Ford Motor Co. and Procter & Gamble. Plumtree is working with technology vendors, systems integrators and clients to fortify the Plumtree platform with new gadgets, client-syndicated content, better deployment methodologies and industry-specific portal applications.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq
“MSFT”
) is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software – any time, any place and on any device.

Microsoft, Windows and SharePoint are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.

The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

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