5Star and A3 Solutions Partner to Deliver Enterprise Analytics to Global 5000

A3 Solutions Signs 5Star Partners as an Authorized Reseller of Its Web-Deployed, Enterprise Spreadsheet Modeling and Automation Solutions

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — April 04, 2004 — A3 Solutions, Inc., a leader in Excel-based analytics for the enterprise, announced today that it has formed a strategic partnership with 5Star Partners, a best-of-breed provider of enterprise performance management solutions for the Global 5000.

The value-added reseller will help deliver A3 Solutions' Web-based spreadsheet budgeting, forecasting, reporting, and analysis solutions to large and midrange enterprises. Solutions will be built on the A3 Modeling platform, an analytic application technology that supports performance management solutions on SQL and OLAP servers, including Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services (Nasdaq: MSFT) and Hyperion's (Nasdaq:HYSL) Essbase.

"As we continue to expand our enterprise solutions built around A3 Modeling and enter new markets, we've been actively seeking partnerships with top-tier resellers who have expertise in business intelligence technologies and in-depth knowledge of the needs of diverse spreadsheet users within the enterprise," said A3 Solutions vice president of sales, Stuart Ratner. "5Star's success in the burgeoning market of enterprise performance management solutions and their traction among key industries provides a complement to our A3 Modeling platform and will help fuel our success in the marketplace."

"A3 Modeling was a perfect fit for the immediate and long-term needs of our Global 5000 customers," said Ed Cherneski, managing partner at 5Star Partners. "The platform's Web-based, open architecture and support of ubiquitous Microsoft Excel business users, makes the company a logical technology partner for us. By allowing Excel users to keep their spreadsheet models and automate them over the Web, 5Star customers will be able to achieve production in a fraction of the time and at a fraction of the cost of traditional, expensive packages."

About A3 Modeling
Leveraging existing spreadsheet processes and ubiquitous Microsoft Excel authoring skills, A3 Modeling revolutionizes the way budgeting, forecasting and reporting applications are created and managed. In addition to fast, low cost deployment, A3 Modeling includes enterprise-class features found only in the most expensive products. These features include:

• Real-time consolidations of budgets and forecasts
• Web-based reporting (read-from) and planning (write-to) on a variety of OLAP and SQL repositories
• Executive performance indicators and dashboards
• Workflow with automated alerts
• Interactive ad hoc reporting and slice & dice analysis

To learn more about A3 Modeling, visit http://www.a3solutions.com, or contact either A3 Solutions at 415-356-2300, or 5Star Partners at 866-308-2070.

About A3 Solutions

A3 Solutions is an innovator in the Corporate Performance Management market (CPM, BPM, EPM). Leveraging its advanced analytic application technology, A3 Solutions competes successfully with market leaders by delivering more powerful budgeting, forecasting, management reporting and executive dashboard solutions that deploy more quickly and at lower total cost. Come to our website (www.a3solutions.com) and see how American Airlines, Avon, Cox Communications, Johnson & Johnson, McDonald's, Safeway, Toyota, Williams Sonoma, and Verizon use software from A3 to reduce the time and labor associated with spreadsheets, increase confidence in reporting and analysis, enjoy more timely and detailed visibility into operational performance, and make decisions more quickly and confidently. A3 Solutions' partners include leading enterprise technology providers such as Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT, News), IBM (NYSE: IBM, News), and Hyperion Solutions (Nasdaq: HYSL, News). A3 Solutions is headquartered in San Francisco, California. To learn more about the company or its flagship product, A3 Modeling, visit www.a3solutions.com, send an email to sales@a3solutions.com, or call (800) 666-CUBE (2823) or 415-356-2300.