Epicor, Kodak announce expanded strategic alliance to deliver fully integrated print, business, digitised workflow solutions

Epicor Software Corporation (NASDAQ: EPIC), a leading provider of enterprise business software solutions for the mid-market and divisions of Global 1000 companies, and Eastman Kodak Company (NYSE: EK) today announced a strengthened alliance to deliver Epicor's next-generation enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution with Kodak's suite of print industry solutions.

The alliance will help meet the growing need among printing, publishing, and commercial printing and packaging organisations for a scalable and flexible business management solution.

Working co-operatively with Kodak, and building on its own proven success delivering industry-specific ERP solutions to retail, manufacturing, distribution, hospitality, and services organisations, Epicor is further expanding focus on the print, publishing and packaging industry. The alignment with Kodak creates an opportunity to deliver an integrated print production, digital workflow, and business information solution that can leverage printing industry best practices from design and creation to print and delivery.

Under the agreement, Epicor will deliver Kodak's sophisticated workflow capabilities and print-focused KODAK EMS Business Software suite embedded with its Epicor 9 next-generation ERP solution, to be branded Epicor for Printing and Packaging. Together, these software solutions form a complete business workflow solution that can help manage all aspects of printing, publishing, media and graphic communications businesses. As part of the agreement, Kodak has ported its sophisticated print-focused EMS software for printers to the Epicor 9 platform. Epicor and Kodak have a number of joint customers in the printing industry today; Kodak will continue to market and sell the solution jointly with Epicor.

"Our relationship with Epicor to deliver a comprehensive business management solution to the printing industry leverages the key strengths of both organisations," said Kodak Vice-President and General Manager of Business Solutions and Services Group, Dolores Kruchten. "Epicor brings more than 25 years of experience developing, marketing, selling and implementing ERP solutions that provide organisations around the world with a competitive advantage; combined with our expertise in bringing integrated business solutions to the printing industry, this creates a win-win for new and existing customers."

"We have seen a dramatic change in the print, publishing and communications industry with the evolution of the digital printing, imaging and the Internet. We believe integrating these new technologies seamlessly as part of their overall business information system can increase performance and productivity for a wide variety of printing and publishing-related industries," said Epicor Chairman, CEO and President George Klaus. "The partnership with Kodak aligns with our strategic focus to extend the offerings and market presence within industries we've traditionally served, as well as expand into complementary industries. We've been very successful providing business management software to the printing and publishing industry. The addition of Kodak's EMS solution and integrated workflow capabilities, coupled with industry best practices, allows us to create an even stronger value proposition for what is a significant market segment."

Best-in-class organisations are demanding more industry-specific functionality in selecting ERP solutions, according to Cindy Jutras, vice-president and group director for Aberdeen Group.

"As ERP solution providers continue to expand the breadth and depth of coverage in specific industries, it is a rare ERP solution which satisfies every requirement. As such, alliances like the one announced by Epicor and Kodak stand to drive collaboration and innovation for specific vertical market segments; in this case, to the benefit of printing, publishing and packaging organisations."

Epicor for Printing and Packaging is an extensive and flexible ERP solution that combines the strength of Epicor's award-winning ERP software with the sophisticated, industry-leading print and Unified Workflow Solutions technologies from Kodak. Leveraging Epicor's core Epicor 9 ERP suite and built on the Epicor ICE framework, Epicor for Printing and Packaging gives organisations control over business with access to real-time data and automated workflow processes that can link customers, print systems, and services as never before. With Epicor for Printing and Packaging, an organisation is able to immediately determine the value and profitability of jobs, work, or even customers, allowing them to focus their resources most efficiently to sustain and grow their business.

Incorporating Kodak's print industry expertise, Epicor for Printing and Packaging delivers business management software and related services that offer a truly end-to-end, industry-specific solution - from first customer contact to estimating, sales, planning, supply, production, order fulfilment and accounting - providing integrated, paperless workflow management.

Leveraging the services-oriented architecture (SOA) of Epicor ERP and Epicor Service Connect - a central business middleware platform for secure workflow orchestrations within Epicor applications and between Epicor and non-Epicor applications - Epicor for Printing seamlessly connects with KODAK UPFRONT, KODAK PREPS and KODAK PRINERGY Software offerings:

* KODAK UPFRONT Software - a production planning software solution that standardises production planning by automating and digitising the centuries-old craft process of manually folding paper and creating drawing layouts;
* KODAK PREPS Software - a digital imposition tool that leads the industry in the adoption of open standards such as PDF and JDF; and
* KODAK PRINERGY Software - a business link software option that automates the exchange of data between Epicor for Printing and KODAK PRINERGY Production Workflow Systems.

Epicor for Printing and Packaging is designed for midsize to larger organisations in traditional and digital printing businesses. Including software and related professional services, Epicor for Printing and Packaging represents a catalyst for change that will help organisations maximise efficiencies across the enterprise at a low total cost of ownership. For more information, visit the Print and Packaging industry page on the Epicor Web site.

Epicor also recently announced that St Ives Group, a leading UK independent print and display company, and the largest business of its type which shares are traded on the London Stock Exchange, will be implementing Epicor for Print and Packaging. The solution will replace St Ives' existing core financial solution and a bespoke planning solution within in its Service Graphics Division.

"By standardising our financial systems we can streamline our supplier invoice processing across the business to drive operational and purchasing efficiencies, seizing opportunities where they exist," said Simon Young, group IT director at St Ives Group.

He added: "We were particularly attracted to Epicor by the flexibility of the system to support all our business units through automation, business process management (BPM) and strong integration with Microsoft Office and SharePoint, without touching the base Epicor code. This means that we do not have to worry about future upgrades to the solution breaking our deployment when they are applied, which gives us a truly supportable environment. In addition, the print modules developed in partnership with Kodak were very attractive."