Axway (PARIS: SOP) announced the finalization of its merger this week with Cyclone Commerce by joining the companies' U.S. assets under the name of Axway, Inc. With over 7,000 customers worldwide now using the company's solutions to enable collaboration and compliance across numerous industries, the merger establishes a new global leader in the collaborative business solutions market. As its first move, Axway launched Synchrony, a comprehensive environment that incorporates integration, connectivity, process management and activity monitoring technologies as the foundation for the company's value chain, compliance and industry applications.

Synchrony delivers competitive advantage for companies by establishing the dynamic connections - within and among enterprises - that make companies easier to do business with. Synchrony enables companies to manage and control business-critical information in motion - improving value chain efficiency, regulatory compliance and quality of service. The company's new offering reflects the evolution of Axway and Cyclone's industry-leading technology for connecting applications, divisions, employees, customers, partners and regulatory bodies.

"With changing market conditions, governmental regulations, and the fervent need to gain a competitive edge, there has never been greater demand for transparency, integration, and collaboration," said Christophe Fabre, Axway's chief executive officer. "The challenge to manage business in motion requires technologies and solutions that can handle millions of moving parts. We're excited that our technology and service offerings have come together as a key part of our customers' strategic initiatives."

Reacting to the announcement of the Axway/Cyclone acquisition, Forrester Research analysts Ken Vollmer and Henry Peyret (IT View Quick Take, "Axway Acquires Cyclone Commerce," February 6, 2006) point out that the new Axway will be a true global force. "Cyclone Commerce has achieved significant success in the healthcare sector with solutions that target that space, while Axway has strong revenue coming from the financial and retail sectors. The new organization will be able to compete effectively across a broader range of vertical markets."

Creating a Real-Time, Collaborative Business

Customers worldwide find Axway's software and services to be catalysts for creating competitive advantage through dynamic collaboration. Featuring an open environment, adaptive industry components and specialized services, Axway's solutions span markets and allow organizations to see and manage physical, informational and financial variables in real-time.

Integrating such technologies as enterprise application integration (EAI), business-to-business (B2B) gateways, business activity monitoring (BAM), business process management (BPM) and a service-oriented architecture (SOA), Axway enables business and IT leaders to seize and capitalize on change as it happens through:

-- A highly flexible environment that rapidly integrates and connects applications, processes, and industry services - both inside and outside the enterprise - to extend companies' existing infrastructure.

-- A set of pre-built solutions for the healthcare and financial services markets, which address collaboration and compliance requirements, such as drug pedigree and accounting rules engines.

-- A Dynamic Specialization feature that speeds the delivery and minimizes the cost of collaborative business solutions by enabling interoperability among disparate technologies and standards.

-- A global team of 800 domain experts and service specialists - as well as a large network of partners - to deploy best practice solutions for business and IT executives.

Eliminating Cost, Complexity and Risk

Axway's proven, standards-based technology - encompassing integration, collaboration and analytics - enables customers to limit the cost, complexity and risk of deploying collaborative initiatives. Axway partners with customers to provide superior, high-performance solutions for their immediate requirements, along with a robust environment for their strategic collaborative initiatives.

While often provided as licensed software, many Axway solutions are also available in hosted and software-as-a-service models. In fact, numerous companies across many industries use Axway technology to provide B2B and value-added services to their own clients.

About Axway

Axway, now merged with Cyclone, is the leading global provider of collaborative business solutions. Axway establishes the dynamic connections - within and among enterprises - that make companies easier to do business with. Over 7000 organizations worldwide depend on Axway to manage and control their business-critical information in motion - improving value chain efficiency, regulatory compliance and quality of service. Axway's solutions feature a highly flexible integration and B2B framework, analytics, services, and customized applications for the financial services and life sciences industries. A division of Sopra Group, SA, Axway has dual headquarters in Paris, France and Scottsdale, Arizona, and offices in 19 countries.