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What is Coremetrics announcing?

Today, Coremetrics is announcing the acquisition of the IBM SurfAid Analytics business, a premier on demand Web analytics services provider headquartered in Dallas, Texas. In addition, IBM WebSphere™, the leading software platform for on demand business, and Coremetrics have joined forces to deliver a best-of-breed multichannel business analytics solution tailored for web sites running WebSphere Commerce software.

Acquisition of IBM SurfAid

When did the acquisition close?

April 1, 2006

What were the terms of the acquisition?

Terms will not be disclosed

Who is SurfAid Analytics?

IBM Global Services launched the SurfAid Analytics group in 1996 with a mission of providing the data and insights that drive business success on the Web. SurfAid has long been known in the Web Analytics community for its commitment to service, powerful ad hoc report building capabilities, segment analysis, business language reporting paradigm and flexibility to meet unique customer needs. Their customer base spans multiple industries including communications, manufacturing, media, publishing, intranets, retail, financial services and travel/transportation. Companies serviced by IBM SurfAid include ACS Publications, AMD, Cirque du Soleil, IBM, Moody's KMV, Toyota Motor Sales, Union Bank of California, and Verizon Super Pages.

SurfAid Analytics has approximately 50 employees and over 100 enterprise customers. The team is guided by a proven management team with substantial Web analytics expertise coupled with deep backgrounds in software development, product management, consulting and sales.

Why is Coremetrics acquiring SurfAid?

Coremetrics is acquiring SurfAid to grow our business and better serve our customers. The combined offering allows us to provide a more complete offering for action oriented marketing analysis and visualization needs. It also strengthens Coremetrics position in core markets; increasing its presence in retail, expanding the company's financial services and travel portfolio and establishing a foothold in publishing and content. Finally, it ensures faster product development capabilities and product innovation with influx of talent.

What are the expected synergies of the combined companies?

Like Coremetrics, SurfAid Analytics offers a differentiated technical architecture. Further, like Coremetrics, SurfAid collects and reports on every page accessed by customer Web site visitors and allows for detailed, ad hoc queries against custom data relationships, hence SurfAid team's deep database prowess melds well with that of Coremetrics. Beyond the data architecture, Coremetrics plans to integrate many of the features that differentiate the SurfAid platform. The combined team is working on an integrated roadmap that will be announced in the coming months.

How will SurfAid customers benefit from this acquisition?

At the highest level, SurfAid customers benefit from the combined technology and services expertise of two of the Web analytics' industry's most successful and tenured companies. Specifically, customers will benefit immediately from a much larger service, support, and account management team which draws on the proven strengths of both organizations. SurfAid customers will benefit from a choice of best-of-breed solution offerings to best address their business requirements. Further, Surfaid customers will benefit from the combined intellectual property and market-proven development resources which will focus their energies on delivering market-leading solutions and functions which will continue to set the standard for the industry.

How will Coremetrics' customers benefit from this acquisition?

SurfAid team's deep database prowess and vast Web analytics expertise melds well with that of Coremetrics. Beyond the data architecture, Coremetrics plans to integrate many of the features that differentiate the SurfAid platform. Specifically, Coremetrics customers will benefit from enhanced usability through the integration of features such as Visitor Experience Analysis, Action Ready Reports, Real-Time Monitor, Report/Notebook Scheduler, Ad-hoc Report Builder and its distributed computing architecture.

What will happen to Surfaid clients?

SurfAid customers have the option to continue to use SurfAid Analytics or transition to Coremetrics. If they choose to remain with SurfAid, they will continue to receive the same great service they have come to expect in addition to leveraging some Coremetrics' technology and analyst support. If clients choose to transition to Coremetrics, they will experience an easy transition and benefit from a rapidly accelerating platform.

Why is IBM selling the SurfAid Analytics business?

Given SurfAid's market position, IBM decided that it would be in the best interest of the SurfAid customers and employees to merge with another market leading Web analytics vendor that had aggressive growth plans and the capital backing to pursue market leadership. IBM will no longer be competing in the Web analytics space.

In combining Coremetrics' deep analytics and industry best practices with SurfAid's solutions—such as Visitor Experience Analysis, Action Ready Reports, Real-Time Monitor, Report/Notebook Scheduler, Ad-Hoc Report Builder—and their dynamic distributed computing architecture, clients will experience powerful analytics enhancements and improved usability.

Management

Who makes up the management team of the combined organization and what are their roles?

John Payne, founder and executive of the SurfAid business joins the Coremetrics executive team.

Did any SurfAid executives or board members join the Coremetrics board?

No.

Where is SurfAid headquartered? What will happen to SurfAid's offices? Where will the combined team reside?

IBM SurfAid is headquartered in Dallas, TX. The team will remain in Dallas but move to a non-IBM building in the near future.

Will there be a reduction in workforce as a result of this acquisition?

No. Coremetrics is hiring all SurfAid employees. All SurfAid Analytics employees and operations will be rolled into various departments of the Coremetrics organization and operate jointly to ensure maximum customer satisfaction.

What will happen to the SurfAid brand?

Coremetrics will continue to support the SurfAid product, for the near future it will be called Coremetrics SurfAid.

How many people will Coremetrics now employ?

Over 200.

Product Strategy

What is the combined product strategy?

Coremetrics will take advantage of the strengths of both the Coremetrics and SurfAid solutions for the benefit of all customers as well as our combined business. Clearly, it is in not in Coremetrics' or our clients' interest to propagate and invest significant development, sales and marketing resources into multiple solution platforms. Focusing most resources on a single platform will deliver more value for our customers. As a result, although some development resources will be invested on enhancing the SurfAid application, the majority of resources will be focused on combining the best functionality of the SurfAid and Coremetrics products and delivering it on the Coremetrics platform.

The combined roadmap will take a number of months to be built out, but it will be done thoughtfully and with a primary focus on customer satisfaction.

What is the product roadmap for the new combined solution?

The joint teams are working on an integrated roadmap that will be announced in the coming months.

What is your combined sales strategy moving forward?

For the immediate future, the SurfAid and Coremetrics sales teams will continue to manage the opportunities they have within their respective pipelines and sell both solutions. Over time, appropriate changes to the sales force will be made to take advantage of economies of scale and additional leverage in the marketplace with a larger combined team of focused sales representatives. Prospects in the retail, financial services and travel industries will be redirected to a Coremetrics solution. Prospects in the publishing industry, prospects who desire to run log files and prospects that greatly value some of SurfAid's unique features will be directed to the SurfAid solution.

WebSphere Commerce Partnership

What does the Coremetrics partnership with IBM WebSphere Commerce mean to the market?

As the premier partner, Coremetrics becomes the integrated web analytics solution for WebSphere Commerce. By offering WebSphere Commerce Analytics powered by Coremetrics, IBM is able to deliver the metrics and analysis capabilities that allow commerce customers to transform data insights into business action. The two product groups are jointly collaborating on a solution that provides insight into all WebSphere Commerce-driven channels including web, partner sites, in-store kiosks, contact center, gift registries, hand held devices and more. By combining insightful merchandise reporting, push button data sharing and rapid implementation with Coremetrics' rich reporting interface, deep commerce expertise, aptitude for integrating data across channels, and detailed visitor and transaction data collection, customers will spend less time investigating and more time taking action on the data. Further, this synergy puts the offerings in lockstep to ensure that WebSphere Commerce customers' analytics needs are continually addressed.

How will WebSphere Commerce customers get started with Coremetrics?

WebSphere Commerce will incorporate auto-tagging of all web pages with Coremetrics page tags. This functionality enables any WebSphere Commerce customers to begin using Coremetrics at any time without the need for a separate Coremetrics implementation.

Why did WebSphere Commerce choose to partner with Coremetrics rather than one of the other analytics vendors?

Coremetrics is the undisputed leader in servicing commerce oriented Web sites. The Coremetrics team simply knows more about the needs of commerce customers than do any of the other web analytics vendors. Coremetrics has established vertical specific applications and has all the vital dashboards, reporting and partnerships required for successful commerce analytics.

What happens to the SurfAid—WebSphere Commerce relationship and its associated roadmap?

This relationship is now the Coremetrics—WebSphere Commerce relationship. Coremetrics is the analytics offering for WebSphere Commerce customers and team is working with the WebSphere Commerce team to further integrate the offerings with common terminology, tag libraries, convenient segment transfers to WebSphere Commerce and more.

What happens to the SurfAid—MacMillan Publishing Services relationship?

This relationship also remains intact with Coremetrics servicing customers in the publishing vertical and ensuring COUNTER compliance of the offering.

Do any current WebSphere Commerce customers use Coremetrics?

Yes, there are dozens of success stories and more will be added. Some of the current common customers include Abercrombie & Fitch, Carrot Ink, REI, Staples, Sterling Jewelers: kay.com, jared.com, and The Home Depot.

What is the partnership roadmap and timeline?

Coremetrics will immediately begin enabling its solutions for IBM's WebSphere Commerce software with initial integration as soon as June. Additional phases of the integration will be released over the coming months.

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