Siebel Systems (NASDAQ: SEBL) reported its first quarterly loss since the company was founded. Sales fell to $357 million, down from $406 in the second quarter and $438 million a year ago - a 18% decrease. New license sales fell to $127 million, down from $193 million a year ago - a 34% decrease. The loss was due to a restructuring charge of $109.4 million and a special charge for the repurchase of employee stock options of $54.9 million. The net loss was $92.1 million, or $0.19 per share, compared with net income of $35.2 million, or $0.07 per share in the third quarter of 2001.

The results were undoubtedly influenced by a Nucleus Research survey of 23 of Siebel Systems 3,500 customers. The survey found 14 of those questioned could not report a positive return on investment. Although poor research the survey was widely repeated in the trade press. The timing of the survey, released just before the end of the quarter undoubtedly contributed to the size of the loss.

Despite this difficulty the company reported new engagements with more than 175 new customers and expanded engagements at more than 240 customers.

New customers include Aventis Pharma, Bally Gaming, Bayerische Landesbank, The Canada Life Assurance Company, J-Phone Company, Hoffman-La Roche AG, Mercedes-Benz Portugal, Ministere de l'Industries et du Commerce (Canada), Novartis Consumer Health, Orbitall, Organizacion Nacional de Ciegos Espanoles, Precision Response Corporation, Sallie Mae, State of New York, State of New South Wales, Department of Community Service, United Overseas Bank, University of Virginia, Vodafone Sverige, Volvo North America, Winterthur Iberica AIE, World Editing, and Edicao De Publicacoes.

Existing customers that made significant reorders include American Suzuki, Barclays Bank, Biogen, the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad, Carnival Cruise Lines, Cesky Telecom, Commerzbank, DGZ DekaBank Deutsche Kommunalbank, DKV Deutsche Krankenversicherung, Echostar, Electricite de France, Eli Lilly Canada, Endesa Servicios, Federal Aviation Administration, Fleet National Bank, General Services Administration Federal Supply Service, GISA, GlaxoSmithKline, HSBC Investment Bank, IS: Energy, Michelin North America, Mitsubishi Motor Sales of America, Network Associates, NPower, Reuters, Renault, Royal Bank of Canada, Siemens Energy & Automation, Standard Register, T-Systems CSM, Telecom Italia Mobile, Telesoft, Vertex Data Science, Warner Home Video, and Zapodoceska Energrtika.

The company anticipates an additional restructuring charge of approximately $150 million in the fourth quarter related to facilities consolidation. This may result in another loss next quarter.

HP and Siebel Systems Expand Worldwide Alliance

HP (NYSE: HPQ) has extended its relationship with Siebel Systems to become a Global Strategic Partner. The new partnership represents a strengthened commitment by both companies to joint solution development, global marketing campaigns, and regional sales engagements. As part of the companies' co-marketing program, HP will be a Platinum Sponsor at the upcoming Siebel Worldwide User Week 2002.

"We had a lower profile at previous user weeks, but this year we have a lot to say," said Mike Crowsen, Director of HP Enterprise Partners & Solutions at HP. "We are very pleased about the direction our new partnership is headed and to celebrate, we are hosting Natalie Cole to sing at the Monday night event."

The companies also announced the availability of Siebel 7.5 on the HP-UX 11i platform. This means HP offers the broadest range of platforms - from handhelds and portable computers to high-end Unix servers -of any provider in the market.

"We are ramping up support in a number of areas to optimize our joint offering," said Jeff Scheel, Vice President and General Manager, Alliances of Siebel Systems. "HP has a very loyal installed base of 1.7 million HP-UX installations worldwide. These accounts have heavily invested in HP and they have significant account control within that base. Together we are tracking joint pipelines and incubating deals in the HP installed base."

The announcement is especially significant in that HP was one of Oracle's biggest CRM installations before its merger with Compaq.

NoetixViews and Noetix AnswerPoint Validated

The integration of the Noetix Enterprise Technology Suite version 5 (NETS 5) with Siebel 6 has been successfully validated by Siebel Systems. NETS 5 provides enterprises with a cost-effective reporting platform for Siebel applications that is easy to use. In addition to the introduction of NoetixViews and Noetix AnswerPoint for Siebel 6, NETS 5 includes significant enhancements to Noetix QueryServer and Noetix WebQuery.

"The integration of NETS 5 with Siebel 6 will simplify information access from Siebel applications by providing a library of customizable reports that are automatically generated from an organization's uniquely configured application," said Paul Song, CEO of Noetix.

Founded in 1996 by Aris Corp, Noetix Corp. was spun off by Song in 2000. That year he purchased the company for $2.6 million, and raised $17 million in venture capital.The company increased revenue by 25% in 2001, and is expected to grow another 35% this year. Since 2000 the company has grown from 42 employees to 125 and now has more than 1,000 customers including Motorola, Sony, Starbucks, AT&T, and Yahoo!

Work on the Siebel 7 version is currently underway and is scheduled to be released in this quarter. NETS 5 is currently available for purchase.

For more information about NETS 5 contact the Product Manager for Siebel products at Noetix, Tamara Dull at (425) 372-2756 or Tamara.Dull@noetix.com.

SAP Offers Free Trials in Europe

SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) plans to offer its customers in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa a limited time trial license of mySAP Customer Relationship Management (mySAP CRM) software, bundled with HP hardware, and consulting services.

Called JumpStart, the trial mySAP CRM license lasts for three-months, during which time customers can test mySAP CRM using their own customer data, with any necessary hardware provided by HP on a rental basis. Customers will pay for consulting and support during implementation and usage, a service provided by SAP and HP.

Egger, one of Europe's largest producers of wood materials, has tested the pilot project. The Austrian-based company has been running SAP's enterprise management solution since 1997, and began testing myCRM in July 2002. Based on its success, the company is now rolling out mySAP CRM to branch offices in Austria, Germany, France, and Great Britain, as well as to sales offices around the world.

"We run all our business applications on SAP, so it was the obvious choice for our CRM solution," said Kurt Pikl, CIO at Egger.

The JumpStart program is primarily directed toward companies in EMEA already using SAP. Worldwide more than 18,000 companies have run more than 50,000 installations of SAP software.