Press Releases

Arena Solutions Announces Record-Breaking Quarter

Company Achieves 50% Average Quarterly Revenue Growth for Past Five Quarters

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., May 19, 2003 — Arena Solutions, Inc., the leading provider of online product lifecycle management (PLM) solutions, today announced that its first fiscal quarter of 2003, ending March 31, 2003, was the most successful in the company’s history. This follows Arena’s record fourth quarter of 2002 and marks a major milestone of five quarters of increased sales with more than 50% quarter-on-quarter compound average growth.

“In what everyone acknowledges as one of the most challenging software markets ever, our sales continue to accelerate,” said Bill Robertson, Arena Solutions’ Chief Operating Officer. “We are benefiting from the emergence and convergence of two explosive new software trends: PLM and web-hosted software services. Customers know they need PLM to be competitive, but this economy demands low risk and rapid time-to-benefit solutions. Our business model -- on-demand deployment and subscription-based pricing -- meets their needs. While client-server PLM vendors find this among the most difficult of times, we see it as the most opportune.”

PLM -- the “last killer app” according to AMR Research -- is a new category of software that is projected to grow from $5.6 billion in 2002 to $14 billion in 2007. PLM solutions are the first to bridge the gap between product development and manufacturing and promise to drive down the costs of hundreds of billions of dollars of manufactured goods. Some analysts expect the PLM market to eclipse the $30B+ market for enterprise resource planning (ERP) software because PLM presents an opportunity to fundamentally change the way companies design and build virtually every kind of product: electronics, automotive, medical, pharmaceutical, consumer, and others.

Since its launch in early 2001, Arena PLM has emerged as a leader in the PLM software category. Arena Solutions provides its customers with a complete, centralized record of their products, integrating data from design (MCAD, EDA, and PDM) and manufacturing (MRP/ERP) applications and providing a holistic view of all of product components, costs, suppliers, manufacturers, change orders and other critical product data. As a result Arena helps companies drive down the costs of product development and manufacturing, speed time-to-market, and improve product quality — strategic imperatives for manufacturers trying to compete today. Arena provides companies with a centralized view of all relevant product data, so its customers can make informed decisions early in development, when 70% of a product’s costs are determined and critical planning choices can make the difference between hitting shipment dates and cost targets or missing them.

Arena Solutions is the only PLM vendor to offer its solution as a web-hosted software service - what Fortune Magazine in its May 12, 2003 feature story “Tech: Where the Growth Is” describes as one of the “biggest technology innovations” of our time. The emergence of this type of software service marks a dramatic and fundamental shift in the deployment of enterprise software. With web-hosted software, there is no hardware or software to install, upgrade or manage, which means quick deployment, low customer risk, and fast return on investment - requirements for any company contemplating an investment in enterprise software solutions in today’s demanding economy. Web services companies, such as Salesforce.com, have experienced tremendous growth while client-server vendors have seen sales drop.

“Web-hosted software services is an ideal platform for many manufacturers’ core PLM needs, and Arena knows how to hit this sweet spot,” notes Wayne Collier of PLM Network, a second-generation PLM consultancy. “Web-hosted software gets users up and running quickly, making it easy for companies or individuals in different locations to communicate. Also the rapid growth of outsourced manufacturing makes standardized, easy-to-install solutions critical. Web-native PLM solutions provide an easy way to effectively communicate product data and manage product changes in this extended supply chain.”

About Arena Solutions
Arena Solutions is the leading provider of on–demand (SaaS) product lifecycle management solutions for manufacturing companies of all sizes. As the only true on–demand, secure Internet–based PLM service, Arena PLM provides a superior alternative to complicated, lengthy and expensive traditional PLM software deployments. Through its award–winning service, Arena enables product manufacturers and their global supply chains to streamline outsourcing, improve operational efficiencies, and speed time–to–market. Arena PLM has been adopted by more than 15,000 users across companies at all stages of development, including industry leaders Foundry Networks, Color Kinetics, Intuit, Sierra Wireless, Align Technology and more.

Arena Solutions’ market–changing approach to PLM has received significant recognition in the industry, including Manufacturing Business Technology’s Top 40 Emerging Vendors, the Supply & Demand Chain Executive 100, Industry Week’s “Technology of the Year – Notable Innovators” and Start Magazine’s “Hottest” Companies.

Founded in February 2000, Arena Solutions is headquartered in Foster City, California. For more information, please visit the company’s website at www.arenasolutions.com.

Contact:
Cindi Goodsell
cgoodsell@arenasolutions.com
1.510.479.9015

Arena PLM is a trademark of Arena Solutions, Inc. Other product and company names are the property of their respective holders.