Only one example of many is needed to illustrate this point. I2 (Nasdaq: ITWO) has seen its share price fall from a high of over $100.00 in 2000 to $1.18 recently. The company was dropped from the S&P 500. Those two factors and the low market capitalization prohibit many institutional investors from owning it. This means that while I2 stock is cheap, it may not be a bargain.

As investors pick through the ruins of the market, how are they to evaluate the potential impact the Universal Application Network (UAN) is likely to have on the fortunes of Siebel Systems?

On the surface, the UAN seems pretty dull. Compared with saving the world from the change in millennium or changing the face of retail, the technological ambition of linking together systems never designed to work together to allow industry best practices sounds a little depressing.

One way to think of the UAN is to consider it as insurance - another depressing product. (As my father likes to say, "Any deal you have to die young to get ahead on doesn't sound like a good deal".)

It is no secret that a revolution is taking place in the world of technology, driven by new web based standards. The concepts in this revolution go by funny names like .Net, BPEL4WS, J2EE, UML, WSDL, WSFL, and XSD, but then again, at one time, communism seemed like a funny name too.

What the Universal Application Network is for Siebel Systems is insurance. Because it is based on all of the above standards, the UAN insulates the company from the unpredictable change in fortunes of technology standards. J2EE or .Net? From Siebel Systems' perspective, it doesn't matter which one wins because the UAN supports both. If both J2EE and .Net become partially adopted, then all the better for Siebel Systems.

In this world world of diminished expectations, a little insurance might be a good thing.

Deloitte Consulting Teams With Siebel to Offer Enhanced Complaints Management Solution

Deloitte Consulting -- soon to become Braxton -- will collaborate with Siebel Systems to design and deliver a complaints management prototype for medical device companies.

The joint prototype will deliver an integrated process for tracking complaints by product, problem, symptom, outcome, geography, lot number, and customer type. The solution will enable companies to report complaint details and resolutions to the appropriate regulatory agencies, as well as automate follow-up actions and communications between the complaints management and product development departments. Additionally, these departments will be able to communicate complaint information back to the field.

"The Food and Drug Administration, as well as other regulatory bodies around the world, have very strict regulations surrounding the handling of complaints received by medical device companies. The cost and effort required to meet these requirements is significant," said Jonathan Horn, principal and leader of Deloitte Consulting's Life Sciences CRM practice. "The consequences of non-compliance for medical device manufacturers can be significant. But for most companies in the industry today, complaints management processes can be difficult to manage."

"Today, complaints management systems are often a fractured set of activities and information that burdens efficient business activities," said David Salazar, general manager, Siebel Medical. "We are collaborating with Deloitte Consulting to deliver customers a standard, automated best practice for complaints management."

By combining deep industry experience and the process knowledge of Deloitte Consulting with Siebel Medical software, the complaints management solution promises to deliver a significant return on investment to companies in this industry.

Siebel Medical is a suite of applications designed for the global medical products industries. Its functionality addresses key business areas such as channel management, pricing, and contract management.

Deloitte Consulting is one of the world's leading management consulting firms and one of Siebel System's most important partners. The firm has 15,000 professionals in 33 countries, and serves more than one-third of the companies in the Global Fortune 500. It is the only consulting firm with five straight appearances on Fortune Magazine's list of "100 Best Companies to Work for in America". Deloitte Consulting will become Braxton upon its separation from Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu.

Siperian Activity Server Validated

The Siperian Activity Server 2002 has been successfully validated for Siebel 2000. It acts as a cached data store to streamline enterprise wide business processes to helping gather, understand, and act across organizational boundries. The Siperian activity server captures relevant interactions and meaningful events, so that current business scenarios can be understood and cross organizational context rules can be applied. These context rules can alert different users, recommend actions, and/or trigger systems to automatically act on a critical business process.

"Siebel is just kind of a natural for us," said Ken Hoang, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Siperian. "If you think about it, people spend 90% of their times dealing with exceptions. Our technology helps determine the next course of action."

Siperian technology leverages web services and is compatible with all types of applications, including front-office, back-office, data warehouse, phone, Web, email and mobile systems. It is based on a patent-pending Virtual Composite Object which is a bi-directional, dynamic, aggregated, in-memory, and coherent cached business object native to Siperian.

The privately held Siperian was founded by executives from CRM, EAI, BI, and Portal companies. The company is headquartered in San Mateo, California. For more information contact Ron Wastal at rwastal@siperian.com or 650-350-2200.

The Siperian Activity Server for Siebel eBusiness Applications is now shipping.

Inforte Expects A Better Quarter

Inforte Corp (Nasdaq: INFT) is increasing its prior guidance for the fourth quarter, and for the full year as well. The firm now estimates December 2002 quarter net revenue guidance will range between $8.5 million and $9.5 million, up from the $8.0 million previously expected. Full year 2002 net revenue is expected to range between $38.9 million and $39.9 million.

"Results have firmed within the quarter, and this allows us to again raise guidance," said Philip Bligh, Inforte's CEO.

Founded in 1993 by Bligh, Inforte is headquartered in Chicago and has offices in Atlanta, Dallas, London, Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco.

Glenn Gutwillig Joins Braun Consulting

Glenn Gutwillig has been appointed by Braun Consulting (Nasdaq: BRNC) to be Senior Vice President of its Enterprise Applications group. Most recently Glenn was a Vice President at Answerthink. Prior to Answerthink, he held executive positions with eLoyalty, The Bentley Group, Hewlett Packard, and Teradyne.

At Braun, Gutwillig will be responsible for shaping the company's front office and integrated marketing offerings. He can be reached at 1-800 68 BRAUN ext 4646 or at ggutwillig@braunconsult.com.

ClickSchedule Validated for Siebel 7

The service optimization package ClickSchedule 7.1 has been validated with Siebel 7. The ClickSchedule Adapter for Siebel eBusiness Applications provides scheduling and optimization capabilities to call centers and field service organizations. The integration will allow joint customers to take advantage of ClickSchedule's ability to optimize thousands of field engineer's service trips using street-level routing, reliable appointment time promises, and continual background schedule optimization.

"We are pleased to be aligned with Siebel Systems and to be working with a global market leader," said Corey Leibow, Chief Operating Officer for ClickSoftware.

ClickSoftware (Nasdaq: CKSWE) optimizes customer service by providing management with forecasting, planning, scheduling, execution, monitoring, and service performance measurement tools. Some of the joint clients ClickSoftware has with Siebel Systems include Nashuatec, Caterpillar, Alaska Communications, Maytag, and Expanets. The company is headquartered in Burlington, MA, with offices throughout the United States, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Africa. For more information contact Robbie Traube - the Worldwide Director of Business Development at +44 7971 885 368 or robbie.traube@clicksoft.com.