RALEIGH, North Carolina (January 29, 2003) -- HAHT Commerce has announced general availability of HAHT Commerce Suite 7.1 with three new bundling options for chemical, consumer products and discrete manufacturers.

While manufacturers in different industries share some common needs, they also have very specific differences in their business processes. For example, HAHT has found that consumer products manufacturers are more concerned with managing and sharing branded product information, while a typical commodity chemicals company is more interested in increasing market share via segmentation and customer service levels, and discrete manufacturers are focused more on their channel partners. These differences determine the needs and priorities of manufacturers in these industries and are reflected in the new HAHT offerings.

"Version 7.1 of the HAHT Commerce Suite is the next evolution of demand chain management functionality," said Rowland Archer, CTO of HAHT Commerce. "It focuses on very specific business processes in three distinct industries -- consumer products, chemical and discrete manufacturing -- and provides the foundation for automation, the flexibility for deep integration with partners, and the collaborative and analytical power that allows for optimization of the business over time."

The HAHT Chemicals Suite features the following industry-specific functionality in version 7.1: Quote Management, which shortens the length of time required to reach an price agreement with global customers during negotiations; auto-replenishment, which is based on collaboration, events and order history, reduces errors and enhances customer service; FaxPO functionality, which automatically converts faxed purchase orders directly into ERP system, reducing errors and processing costs; support for Chemical Industry Data Exchange (CIDX) 3.0 Chem eStandards, which increases integration options; and Enhanced Business Intelligence, which helps increase market share through analysis of sales channels and customer segmentation.

Occidental Chemical (OxyChem) is one of the first chemical companies to use the new product offering.

"Rule number one at OxyChem has always been to keep the customer satisfied, so if the customer wants to order via fax, phone, the web, or some other channel, we will support it," said Stacy Palmatary, VP of eBusiness at OxyChem. "HAHT's Chemicals Suite helps us better cut costs and increase market share by enabling us to better segment our customers and target products that fit their needs."

AMR Research has said that HAHT's "ability to enter complex vertical markets has already been shown with its success in the chemicals industry." Gartner Group recently positioned HAHT in the "Visionary" quadrant of its 2002 Sell-Side E-Commerce Magic matrix. According to Gartner, "Visionaries are vendors that have a clear vision of market direction and are focused on preparing for that, but they can still improve in terms of optimizing service delivery."

HAHT Commerce (www.haht.com) is a provider of demand chain management applications that strategically integrate and automate order management, product and brand information management, channel management, business intelligence and customer services among manufacturers, their channel partners and customers. These solutions are part of an all-in-one package called HAHT Commerce Suite 7.0 that offers rapid implementation, out-of-the-box ERP integration, customization and large-scale deployment.