WEBM Webmediabrands (MM)

New stand-alone utilities company to implement trusted solution for mission- critical business processes FAIRFAX, Va., Dec. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- webMethods, Inc. (NASDAQ:WEBM), a leading business integration and optimization software company, today announced that Wales & West Utilities Limited has selected webMethods Fabric as its enterprise platform for integrating a range of new IT systems as part of a large scale, front office systems replacement project. "We needed a proven, well-known technology to make integration simple for us that would also provide us with an infrastructure that would be easy to maintain and develop," said Phil Pike, Chief Information Officer for Wales & West Utilities. "We were looking for a technology that was future-proof and that would represent a low cost of ownership over time." Wales & West Utilities was formerly the Wales and South West England gas distribution division of utilities company National Grid Transco plc until its sale to private investors in June. As a result of the sale, Wales & West Utilities had 18 months in which to move away from National Grid's front office business systems to a completely independent, business process architecture. "We are changing all the mission-critical systems for running a gas business within an aggressive timeline, so we need to use tools that are tried and tested," said Pike. "But this is also a great opportunity to remodel all of our business processes in the most efficient way possible and achieve world-class best practice." Wales & West Utilities chose webMethods Fabric as a result and is using a range of purpose-specific adapters, including those for integrating directly to SAP, JMS and JDBC-based interfaces, to speed the implementation. In evaluating the best approach, Wales & West Utilities had chosen Wipro Technologies as it systems integration specialist. The company rated a wide range of competing integration software products against Wales & West Utilities' requirements criteria prior to recommending webMethods. "webMethods has a history of hundreds of installations under its belt and a lot of these are with the SAP technologies that form the backbone of our front and back office systems architecture, so that was key to us," said Pike. "Wipro had also implemented webMethods before and were familiar with it for this kind of installation." Among the kinds of business processes webMethods will be integrating are the handling of emergencies, repair and replacement of the gas network and the connection of new customers -- all high profile public-facing functions that must be robust for reasons of safety, regulation and reputation. "It's hard to overestimate what a massive project this is," said Pike. "Given the pressures, we could have just replaced like with like, but we decided to employ best-of-breed applications, like webMethods, throughout." "webMethods has long prided itself on helping clients 'get there faster' with this project for Wales & West being a superb example of this commitment in action," said Martyn Eley, webMethods' SVP and General Manager for EMEA. "As they evolve to compete within more competitive markets, energy sector firms like Wales & West are adding new requirements around system adaptability and flexibility to their non-negotiable demands for flawless performance. With our long track record of serving these firms on a global basis, webMethods is well acquainted with these challenges, including the need to comply with a variety of regulatory requirements while supporting mission- critical operations. By combining this experience with the unique capabilities of webMethods Fabric, we can provide them with a robust, flexible platform for integrating, automating and optimizing their most critical business processes." 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, and webMethods Fabric is a trademark of, webMethods, Inc. All other marks mentioned are trademarks or service marks of their respective companies. This press release may contain various remarks about the future expectations, plans and prospects of webMethods that constitute forward- looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions of U.S. securities laws. Actual results of webMethods may differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, risks and uncertainties, including those discussed under the heading "Factors That May Affect Future Operating Results" in the Business section of webMethods' Form 10-K for the year ended March 31, 2005 and Form 10-Q for the three months ended September 30, 2005 which are on file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and may be accessed at http://www.sec.gov/ or webMethods' investor relations web page at http://www.webmethods.com/investors. DATASOURCE: webMethods, Inc. CONTACT: John Conley, +1-703-980-8259, or , and Brianna Boyle, +1-703-460-6034, or , both of webMethods, Inc. Web site: http://www.webmethods.com/ http://www.webmethods.com/investors

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