Epicor Announces Portal Strategy with Support of Microsoft

Epicor Software Corporation (NASDAQ: EPIC), a leading provider of integrated enterprise software solutions for midmarket companies, today announced a new portal strategy that will provide rich portal content to Epicor customers through a secure, standardized portal platform. Concurrently, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) today announced its support of Epicors portal strategy.

In developing Epicor Portal (scheduled for general availability in Q4 2005), Epicor is leveraging its platform strategy of Microsoft .NET across all product families Enterprise, Manufacturing, and iScala. In addition, Epicor Portal will deliver data exploration and collaboration using Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services and Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003.

The crux of Epicors portal strategy is to leverage the leading portal infrastructure, SharePoint Products and Technologies, to provide a secure and collaborative portal environment. In turn, Epicor will provide rich, industry-specific content as SharePoint Web Parts with role-based security and straightforward end-user authoring.

We are pleased that Epicor has chosen to standardize on SharePoint Products and Technologies in building its new standardized portal solution, Epicor Portal, said Sanjay Manchanda, director, product management for portals at Microsoft. With Epicors expertise in creating targeted industry-specific content, combined with the extensible portal framework provided by SharePoint Portal Server 2003, Epicor Portal will provide a feature-rich resource of information that is distributed from a central, secure point of access.

With more than 40 million seats of SharePoint Portal Server sold since its release, SharePoint Products and Technologies offers rapid deployment, can be implemented with limited or no support, and presents a competitive price point, all critical features for midmarket companies.

SharePoint Products and Technologies provide a sound and cost-effective portal framework to effectively unify and consolidate Epicors portal strategy, said John Hiraoka, senior vice president and chief marketing officer for Epicor. In addition to supplying security, stability and flexibility, use of SharePoint Products and Technologies enables significant cost savings for Epicor customers over competing portal solutions.

A Fresh Perspective for the Portal User

Epicor Portal aims to end the game of relying on IT to anticipate, interpret and provide valuable business insight within an online portal infrastructure. Instead, the solution is designed to put these controls in the hands of the people who find value in the information they seek. Furthermore, by utilizing SharePoint Products and Technologies, Epicor Portal will incorporate collaborative tools for multiple audiences. Collaborative user workspaces that combine documents, business data queries, announcements, tasks, and more can be used by project teams, work groups, departments or can act as a communications tool for the entire organization. Collaboration also extends to customers, partners, and the suppliers to increase communication, further supply chain visibility and foster greater business transparency.

A Standardized Portal Solution

With the release of Epicor Portal, each of the Epicor product families will leverage a single, consistent portal strategy and platform Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies. The convergence of Epicors product families through the new portal strategy is inline with the companys commitment to continue to support and enhance its existing products, while leveraging opportunities for providing standard infrastructures and features.