WEBM Webmediabrands (MM)

World Leader in Printing and Imaging Strikes OEM Agreement for the Japanese Market to Better Integrate Document Workflows FAIRFAX, Va., Aug. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- webMethods, Inc. (NASDAQ:WEBM), a leading business integration and optimization software company, today announced an OEM agreement between webMethods K.K., the company's wholly-owned Japanese subsidiary, and Canon Inc. (NYSE:CAJ), a global leader in printing and imaging technology for the consumer, business and industrial markets. Under the agreement covering the Japanese market, Canon is embedding webMethods technology as a standard feature within its imageWARE Enterprise Gateway, which is the company's data transaction product for easily connecting Canon's input and output solutions with a variety of back-end systems. "Canon is globally recognized as one of the world's top brands. They're continuing focus on innovation, customer service and flawless performance makes the company a top choice within every market it serves," said Andy Wilkinson, senior vice president and General Manager, Asia/Pacific & Japan, webMethods, Inc. "We're excited to be partnered with them in expanding the out-of-the-box performance that their imageWARE Enterprise Gateway delivers. This will allow organizations to more quickly and easily implement and automate document workflow. At the same time, webMethods' robust performance and significant scalability complements and extends the high speed processing and fault-free execution that Canon is known for." Canon is employing webMethods as an integration standard for linking its input and output solution to a number of enterprise resource planning (ERP), supply chain management (SCM), and customer relationship management (CRM) platforms. As a result, enterprises can significantly reduce processing costs, order cycles and error rates as documents like invoices, purchase orders and payments are automatically entered into each system. Likewise, linking these systems directly to a variety of digital outputs ensures that fulfillment and billing can be addressed more quickly and efficiently. As an OEM partner, Canon is taking advantage of webMethods' industry- leading business integration technology to reduce the cost, time and complexity associated with on-boarding new applications and trading partners. As an open platform boasting broad support for a number of industry standards and ready access to a wide variety of pre-built adapters, webMethods' technology can be easily embedded in a variety of applications to deliver out- of-the-box connectivity and interoperability to a wide range of applications, databases, and trading partners. As enterprise-class technology, it also meets the scalability, performance, security and reliability requirements associated with business-critical implementations. The imageWARE Enterprise Gateway has been developed solely for the Japanese market. Canon has no current plans to expand availability to additional markets, such as the United States or Europe. About Canon Inc. Canon Inc. (NYSE:CAJ), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a leader in the fields of professional and consumer imaging equipment and information systems. Canon's extensive range of products includes copying machines, inkjet and laser beam printers, cameras, video equipment, medical equipment and semiconductor-manufacturing equipment. With over 115,000 employees worldwide, Canon has manufacturing and marketing subsidiaries in Japan, the Americas, Europe, Asia and Oceania; and a global R&D network with companies based in the United States, Europe, Asia and Australia. Canon's consolidated net sales for fiscal 2005 (ended December 31, 2005) totaled $31.8 billion (at an exchange rate of 118 yen = US$1). Visit the Canon Inc. website at: http://www.canon.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 over 1,400 global customers. webMethods is headquartered in Fairfax, Va., with offices throughout the U.S., Europe, Asia Pacific and Japan. 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. DATASOURCE: webMethods, Inc. CONTACT: John Conley of webMethods, Inc., +1-703-460-5996, Web site: http://www.webmethods.com/ http://www.canon.com/

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