Firepond Announces Latest Product Release(email this article)

MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 21, 2003--Firepond (Company Profile, Past Stories, Case Studies), Inc.(Nasdaq:FIRE - News), a leading provider of configuration and interactive selling solutions, announced today the general availability of its Configuration Engine, Version 11, and its Interactive Selling Suite, Version 11.0. The new products are the cumulative release of the most significant development project Firepond has ever undertaken, one that has spanned two major product releases. In order to better leverage industry standard technologies and platforms, Firepond made the decision to re-architect its products. The new architecture dramatically simplifies implementations and upgrades, provides customers with the flexibility to deploy solutions that best match their processes, allows them to use industry standard technologies to integrate with and extend business functionality, and dramatically reduces system maintenance.

The new modular architecture, based on the J2EE platform, provides companies the flexibility they require in product implementation, enabling them to implement the components that address their immediate needs and phase in the remaining components as needed. This flexibility reduces implementation complexities and provides companies with a faster return on investment. The new architecture also provides significant improvements for integration and extending functionality. Using industry standard technologies, such as Java and XML, developers can easily integrate Firepond solutions with other systems, add new or extend existing business logic, and/or modify user interface elements. Further, modifications are now insulated from upgrades, no longer requiring re-work when upgrading, protecting the investment customers make in system modifications. New functionality enhancements further improve the ability to deploy in both mobile and connected environments. Regardless of the deployment environment, the same application and product data are provided to end-users. System administrators have only one environment and data model to maintain and end-users are provided the same user experience in terms of look and feel, usability, and performance.

"Throughout the past two years, Firepond has continued to effectively invest resources in product development with the objective of delivering the most robust, functional configuration and interactive selling solutions to the market. This release is the culmination of that effort." said Klaus Besier, CEO and President of Firepond "Firepond's mission is to create superior business solutions that provide the business and financial value our customers expect. Any time that you can improve how customers can get more from their technology investment and ease the pains associated with implementing, upgrading, and maintenance, you are delivering further value through your products."

Firepond's Configuration Engine is the industry's most powerful configuration system, proven to handle the most complex product and pricing configuration demands. The Configuration Engine provides a best-of-breed solution for needs analysis, product configuration, and pricing that can be integrated with existing systems to enhance functionality or used as the core intelligence to power custom solutions.

Firepond's Interactive Selling Suite is a comprehensive solution that automates processes associated with selling complex products and/or through complex distribution channels. From managing customer information, to configuring products based on customer requirements, to generating high-quality branded proposals, salespeople and sales channels are provided with a simple, yet powerful tool to help them more effectively sell complex products.

About Firepond, Inc.

Firepond provides interactive selling and eService software solutions that help companies more profitably acquire and retain customers. The complementary configuration, guided selling, on-line customer service, and e-mail response management applications incorporate proven intelligence engines and patented automation technology. Firepond's solutions help drive new revenue streams, increase profitability, and manage customer interactions across all channels throughout the sales and service cycle. Firepond is headquartered in Minnesota with additional offices in Europe and Japan. For additional information about Firepond visit www.firepond.com.

Portions of this release contain forward-looking statements regarding future events and are subject to risks and uncertainties. We wish to caution you that there are some factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results indicated by such statements. These factors include, but are not limited to: economic and other factors affecting the demand for e-business sales and service solutions; market acceptance of Firepond's SalesPerformer and Brightware Product Suites and their components in chosen vertical industries; quarterly fluctuations in operating results attributable to the timing and amount of orders for our products and services; difficulties with the implementation and integration of Firepond products; uncertainty, costs, potential damages associated with material litigation; our ability to attract and retain qualified personnel; our ability to keep pace with changing product requirements; and other risks detailed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Form 10-K filed in January and Forms 10-Q filed in March, June, and September, copies of which may be obtained through the SEC's website at www.sec.gov.

Firepond and Firepond product names are trademarks of Firepond, Inc. All other product or company names are the properties of their respective owners.