WEBM Webmediabrands (MM)

Firm Improves Operational Efficiencies, Reduces IT Costs and Secures Greater Process Visibility by Using webMethods to Transform Legacy Applications into Orchestrated Web Services FAIRFAX, Va., Oct. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- webMethods Inc. (NASDAQ:WEBM), a leading business integration and optimization software company, today announced that Superpartners, the leading Australian superannuation administrator with over 5.2 million member accounts and AUS$42 billion in funds under administration, recently completed its implementation of a new IT infrastructure leveraging components of webMethods Fabric(TM). By standardizing and consolidating its IT operations on the webMethods Enterprise Services Platform(TM), Superpartners is now able to deploy application functionality as fully-orchestrated Web services within a comprehensive service-oriented architecture (SOA), which increases operational flexibility, reduces integration costs, and enhances end-to-end process visibility. The financial services firm has credited the project with helping it to win Australia's largest industry superannuation fund, the Australian Retirement Fund (ARF) with more than 600,000 members, due to Superpartners' enhanced abilities to easily integrate the fund's existing workflows and processes. "We had been working to win the ARF contract for several years, but previously, our technology architecture had let us down," said Gary Evans, CIO, Superpartners. "To be competitive, we needed to demonstrate a clear strategy moving forward, underpinned by the use of world class technology. This included an integration strategy that would allow new systems to be deployed as required whilst leveraging the existing legacy system. Thanks to webMethods Fabric, we were able to do so." Superpartners provides administrative services, such as bulk contribution processing, fund take-ons, benefit processing, insurance and claim management, member communications, and customer relationship management, for more than 390,000 employer accounts. With its focus on integrating, assembling and optimizing end-to-end business processes, the deployed components of webMethods Fabric have provided Superpartners with the ability to automate and streamline significant aspects of these extensive operations. The adoption of the webMethods Enterprise Services Platform as a centralized SOA platform for the enterprise has also had a significant impact on Superpartners' IT operations. Specifically, by exposing IT assets as Web services, the firm has been able to greatly expand its reuse of existing components, which reduces development and maintenance costs while improving performance. To date, thirty to forty percent of existing interfaces and Web services have been reused across additional functions. Overall, company officials estimate that the project has allowed them to cut integration costs by about a third compared with previous approaches. From an operational perspective, Superpartners' IT team has been able to reduce its resource commitment to day-to-day application maintenance, as developers have shifted their focus to leveraging Web services as a means for more quickly and flexibly deploying business logic to address specific requirements. A key focus of these efforts has been in the development of composite applications allowing end-users to take advantage of a number of new self-service features, including extended visibility into real-time account status. The expectation is that customers will eventually be able to manage and process 50% of their transactions themselves. "The nature of the contract award meant that Superpartners needed to meet a very aggressive integration schedule for taking on the additional ARF accounts," said Andy Wilkinson, senior vice president and General Manager, Asia-Pacific/Japan, webMethods Inc. "By providing them with an 'off-the- shelf' SOA platform encompassing a portfolio of pre-defined services and proven scalability, webMethods Fabric ensured that Superpartners was able to meet this challenge. Equally important, it has positioned the firm well for future wins by providing Superpartners with the streamlined ability to develop and deploy new business processes at a significantly reduced cost." 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, and webMethods Fabric, webMethods Enterprise Services Platform and webMethods Workflow are trademarks, of webMethods, Inc. All other marks mentioned are trademarks or service marks of their respective companies. DATASOURCE: webMethods Inc. CONTACT: John Conley of webMethods, +1-703-460-5996, Web site: http://www.webmethods.com/

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