Naperville, Illinois - October 23, 2000 -- Nexgen Software Technologies and its French strategic partner, AGI, a member of Groupe IBS Europe, today announced the formation of the Collaborative Enterprise Alliance (CEA) for multinationals that rely on the BPCS® ERP system from SSA Global Technologies (SSA GT) to run their manufacturing, distribution and financials on IBM's AS/400 computer system.

"Some 6,500 companies worldwide have bet their business on SSA GT's BPCS. They need and want a single source for comprehensive support of their ERP system, whatever version they run," explained Rick Halsten, President and General Manager of Nexgen. "Since the early August purchase of SSA by Gores Technology Group, there has been some concern among BPCS users about future support. Both Nexgen and AGI have been the leaders in supporting BPCS for more than a decade. By forming CEA--which will expand as more BPCS services firms around the world join us--we can assure these multinational users of comprehensive, 24x7, worldwide support for all of their divisions and subsidiaries."

"CEA was established to help large multinational clients manage their global ERP strategies, whether that means upgrading to a new release of BPCS, adding new functionality like e-commerce, SCM or CRM, or even migrating to other ERP systems." added Jean-Paul Patureau, Director General of AGI. "Additionally, CEA will help companies maintain all versions of BPCS including modifications and enhancements (SSA GT restricts maintenance to only the most recent unmodified version)."

Between them, Nexgen and AGI marshal the forces of over 200 BPCS consultants around the world. Nexgen has customers in 40 countries, and offices in the U.K. and the United States. AGI has hundreds of customers and offices in France, Italy, Spain and Brazil.

About Nexgen Software Technologies

Since 1990, Nexgen Software Technologies, Inc., headquartered in Naperville, Illinois, has provided implementation and custom modification services to BPCS and CA-PRMS users. The company also develops and markets an automated Euro conversion tool for BPCS, NexgenEuro, as well as NexgenCommerce for BPCS and for PRMS. For more information, contact Heather Caile, Marketing Specialist, Nexgen Software Technologies at +1 630/300-6000, or via e-mail to info@nexgensoftware.com. Information is also available on the World Wide Web at http://www.nexgeninfo.com.

About AGI

AGI is part of Groupe IBS with over 2,400 people in 30 countries worldwide. AGI has been a SSA Affiliate and Business Partner since 1987 and has over 13 years of BPCS implementation and consultancy experience. AGI delivers a comprehensive spectrum of midrange software solutions as well as consulting and training services to meet the needs of different industries, supporting them to achieve rapid business growth. AGI employs over 150 people and maintains 4 offices in and near France, serving more than the 300 BPCS implementations they have helped bring live since 1987. AGI's Web site is at http://www.agi.ibs-france.com.