Press Releases

Arena Solutions Names Martin Huml as Chairman of the Board

Successful Entrepreneur and Private Equity Investor Brings Experience to Fastest-Growing On-Demand PLM Company

MENLO PARK, Calif., August 9, 2004 — Arena Solutions, Inc., the leading provider of on-demand Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), today announced the appointment of Martin Huml as chairman of the board of directors. A successful entrepreneur and venture investor, Huml is founder and managing partner of Runway Capital LLC and a current Arena Solutions director.

“Martin brings that rare combination of strategic and tactical insights, which is so important to a fast-growing company. It is a win for Arena to have Martin in this role,“ noted Yogen Dalal, managing director of Mayfield.

“We have experienced tremendous growth over the last year,” said Michael Topolovac, chief executive officer of Arena Solutions. “During that time I have been fortunate to work closely with Martin as a board member, and I could not be more pleased to have him assume the role of chairman. Few CEOs are fortunate enough to have a chairman who provides guidance not only in what to do, but also in how to do it. Keen insight into the latter is what entrepreneurs find most valuable--and what Martin is so adept at providing.”

Prior to starting Runway Capital, Huml founded and ran a consulting business advising venture capital firms on their portfolio companies. His clients included blue-chip firms such as Mayfield, Soros, JPMorgan Capital Partners, and Technology Crossover Ventures. Previously he was a vice president in the private equity group at Credit Suisse First Boston in London. Huml began his business career as an entrepreneur, founding, running and successfully selling a company that he had built into the exclusive Apple distributor for Russia, Czechoslovakia and most of the rest of Central and Eastern Europe.

“Arena is playing a significant role in the evolution of enterprise software. The 1980s were about mainframes, the 1990s about client/server solutions, and the 21 st century brings on-demand computing,” said Huml. “The recent successful IPO and strong market valuation of Salesforce.com validate that trend. I’m excited to continue working with the team at Arena to help drive the next big wave in software.”

By providing an alternative to cumbersome and costly client/server solutions, Arena offers the most widely chosen PLM solution today. Its more than 170 customers and 300 percent annualized revenue growth have come as the company has added more new customers per quarter than larger PLM providers. With its unique on-demand approach, the company is well positioned to address the $2.3 billion PLM market that is expected to grow 25 percent annually.

Huml graduated with honors with an M.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the Czech Technical University, and he holds a postgraduate degree in Finance from the Stern Graduate School of Business at New York University. Huml currently serves on the board of directors for Agraquest, Inc. and is chairman of Konsepti.

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.