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Partnership Brings Together Key Capabilities for Establishing Continuous Compliance on a More Cost-Effective Basis FAIRFAX, Va. and CUPERTINO, Calif., Sept. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- webMethods Inc. (NASDAQ:WEBM), a leading business integration and optimization software company, and Certus, a leader in corporate governance and compliance software for the enterprise, today announced a strategic partnership designed to help corporations and government agencies transform regulatory compliance into a repeatable, sustainable, and cost-effective process. The partnership builds upon the Certus Governance Suite, an enterprise-class framework for implementing and maintaining internal controls required for regulatory compliance, through the addition of webMethods' continuous controls monitoring solution, webMethods for Compliance, which provides enterprises with the automated ability to monitor and enforce documented compliance procedures. By bringing together the two core components of the compliance lifecycle as a joint offering, enterprises benefit from a single control environment for compliance management that delivers continuous and automated assurance. Sarbanes-Oxley and similar regulatory mandates require enterprises to document and disseminate specific policies and internal controls used to ensure compliance with corporate governance objectives. At the same time, enterprises must also put in place demonstrable means for consistently enforcing these actions, including periodic evaluation and attestation for compliance with sections 404 and 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act with additional real-time evaluation and testing required for section 409. While manual approaches allowed most enterprises to meet initial deadlines and baseline requirements for compliance, they did so at significant cost while often failing to secure either real-time visibility or comprehensive coverage of all control points. As enterprises struggle to expand these efforts, the need for new approaches has become apparent. According to a recent report from Forrester Research [Controls Monitoring Solutions Gaining Momentum -- Companies Seek Better Automated Capabilities for SOX Compliance by Paul Hamerman with Ian Schuler (August 29, 2005)], "The general approach to SOX 404 compliance has been to respond based on the periodic timing of the financial reporting cycle. Going forward, continuous - - rather than periodic -- monitoring of internal controls will be necessary to optimize the controls environment and provide better assurances of reducing errors and discouraging fraud." By combining the Certus Governance Suite with webMethods for Compliance, enterprises can take advantage of a single platform for addressing all of these requirements with greater completeness, cost-effectiveness and efficiency than otherwise possible. Specifically, Certus offers an integrated solution for helping enterprises design and implement appropriate internal controls, evaluate their operational effectiveness and maintain their long- term performance. webMethods' flagship compliance solution adds additional features that automate business processes to remediate potential exceptions along with a continuous controls monitoring framework for proactively alerting users to potential violations and at-risk activities. The joint offering ultimately provides enterprises with a single platform for simultaneously managing and monitoring both the control points and business process associated with continuous compliance. "Our partnership with Certus allows us to jointly deliver a comprehensive compliance solution that minimizes the cost and risk associated with attesting to the status of internal controls. This provides management with greater certitude to the quality of the financial data in which they are reporting upon," said Richard Chiarello, executive vice president, Worldwide Operations, webMethods Inc. "With compliance establishing itself as a long-term concern for all major enterprises, the need for truly scalable and fully-automated solutions for compliance becomes an imperative. We're proud to be partnered with Certus as this relationship advances our ability to offer complete, automated and sustainable compliance assurance." "We are delighted to partner with webMethods, not only because of the unique synergy between our compliance software offerings, but also because of our shared philosophy on what continuous compliance practices can deliver to a company, by way of improved overall business efficiencies and value," said Bruce Johnson, president and CEO, Certus Software, Inc. "The goal for enterprises should be transforming initial compliance into sustainable compliance -- and technology is the enabling factor. Certus, like webMethods, views compliance as a never-ending journey that begins with specific mandates and leads to a better, more profitable business." About Certus Certus Software, Inc., a proven leader of corporate governance and compliance software for the enterprise, helps organizations build a consistent and sustainable compliance practice that extends beyond compliance requirements to generate lasting business value. Its powerful Certus software suite ensures the transparency and accuracy of internal controls, while leveraging Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) conformance as a change agent for immediate accountability and even greater business benefits in the future. Certus' customers include Alcon, Inc., Dell, DIRECTV, E*TRADE, Countrywide Financial, Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance Company, The Mills Corporation, PepsiCo, Polaroid, Seagate Technology, Ross Stores, Suntron, and T-Mobile. To learn more about Certus, visit http://www.certus.com/. About webMethods, Inc. webMethods (NASDAQ:WEBM) provides business integration software to integrate, assemble and optimize available IT assets to drive business process productivity. webMethods delivers an innovative, enterprise-class business integration platform that incorporates proven integration technology with next generation capabilities into one interoperable set of tools that delivers a unique combination of efficiency, agility and control. webMethods combines industry leadership with a zealous commitment to customers to deliver tangible business value to more than 1,300 global customers. webMethods is headquartered in Fairfax, Va., with offices throughout the U.S., Europe, Asia Pacific and Japan. More information about the company can be found at http://www.webmethods.com/. The webMethods name and logo are registered trademarks of webMethods, Inc. All other marks mentioned are trademarks or service marks of their respective companies. Certus and Certus Governance Suite are trademarks of Certus Software, Inc. All other products or company names mentioned are used for identification purposes only, and may be trademarks of their respective owners. DATASOURCE: webMethods, Inc. CONTACT: John Conley of webMethods, +1-703-460-5996, ; or Becky Quinlan, +1-650-480-4032, , for Certus Software Web site: http://www.webmethods.com/ http://www.certus.com/

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