EDS, Sun,Cobalt and Killdara Launch DealerSphere At NADA

NEW ORLEANS, NATIONAL AUTOMOBILE DEALERS ASSOCIATION CONVENTION, Jan. 27 EDS , in conjunction with Sun Microsystems, The Cobalt Group and Killdara Corporation, today launched a new data exchange platform designed to address the ever-growing burden of Information Technology (IT) compatibility and data integration on automotive dealerships. EDS made the announcement at the 2002 convention of the National Automobile Dealers Association in New Orleans. A data exchange platform allows disparate systems and applications to communicate with one another through an online network. Called DealerSphere(TM), this new data exchange broker creates a "plug and play" environment by enabling dealers, automakers and vendors to select quality products and smoothly integrate their data. Users gain access to a consistent universal data and transaction interface, enabling them to integrate any other DealerSphere-compliant offering. "EDS has collaborated with Sun, Cobalt and Killdara, three companies that understand the importance of open systems and are experienced in the retail market. Together, our goal is to enable dealers to seamlessly share information between applications of their choice and do so at a lower cost," said Mark Allen, vice president of products and technology for EDS' Automotive Retail Group. "From an IT management perspective, automotive retailing has become an overly complex environment. Dozens, if not hundreds of new applications are thrust upon this market space each year," said Bill Gerould, group manager, automotive and discreet manufacturing worldwide for Sun Microsystems. "Yet instead of increasing the levels of systems integration, we see a steady degradation of systems or application integration at the dealership data level. DealerSphere is a comprehensive initiative to address this problem." The DealerSphere initiative demonstrates the highly collaborative nature of the Sun-EDS alliance relationship formalized by the companies' Continuum of Services agreement announced last year. Through this agreement, Sun and EDS jointly offer customers an array of complementary, on-demand IT offerings. According to Mike Martinez, vice president of marketing for The Cobalt Group, "We're excited to participate in the DealerSphere initiative. No one knows better than Cobalt the difficulties encountered when trying to integrate data among the many disparate systems found across the automotive retail environment. DealerSphere's open systems approach is right on and entirely compatible with Cobalt Nitra, our newly announced e-business technology platform, which will be an important component in the realization of the DealerSphere vision." "Other market sectors have adopted technologies and approaches that allow them to effectively access and use critical business and customer data from a myriad of applications and systems," said Rick Crutchlow, CEO, Killdara Corporation. "We are pleased that EDS has taken the lead in drawing together a consortium of players that are uniquely positioned to change a dealer's experience when it comes to systems and data integration issues."