GLOUCESTER, Mass. and MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., May 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- TradeStone Software, a pioneering leader in collaborative e-sourcing software that enables companies to mainstream international trade as a key part of their business, and ILOG(R) (Nasdaq: ILOG; Euronext: ILO, ISIN: FR0004042364) today announced that ILOG JRules(TM), a key offering in ILOG's Business Rule Management System (BRMS) product line, will enhance TradeStone's flagship product, SteppingStones. The combination of SteppingStones e-sourcing software and ILOG JRules will enable manufacturers, retailers and other businesses involved in global trade to configure, maintain and change their business processes with increased agility in response to business growth and other dynamic business demands.

E-Sourcing refers to the ability to bring together different trading partners over the Web into a supply chain network that responds to changing market demands. Based on Web services, SteppingStones is the first solution designed to provide businesses with the ability to deploy a scalable, global e-sourcing capability, either as a complete trade management supply chain package or layered into an existing application mix. While other solutions on the market tend to focus on limited sourcing processes, SteppingStones is designed to address the entire sourcing supply chain, including the Request for Quote (RFQ) process, order management, event management, track-and-trace visibility, compliance certainty, and payment processing.

ILOG JRules, which allows the business logic that is embedded in business applications to be represented as rules that can be managed by business analysts, supply chain planners and other business users, enables businesses to automate business policies, procedures and best practices, improving resource management and accelerating investment in business process management. As a key component of SteppingStones, ILOG JRules will enhance supply chain usability for IT and business users, helping to ensure that SteppingStones is scalable to the needs of TradeStone's customers.

"TradeStone selected ILOG's BRMS due to its ability to scale, flexibility and performance, which combine to offer the greatest amount of usability for both IT and business users," said Sue Welch, President and CEO of TradeStone Software. "Because SteppingStones is designed to address our customers' global e-sourcing needs, we had to partner with the business rules vendor who provides the most advanced set of features on the market. JRules' business rules management capability will help us provide customers with a tool set for developing and deploying a trade platform that meets the demands of the global sourcing market. "

ILOG has consistently built on its history of product innovation to make ILOG JRules the industry's leading business rule software. For the second year in a row, ILOG has been named to the leader quadrant of Gartner's Magic Quadrant for Business Rule Engines. ILOG's BRMS provides a competitive advantage for many strategic business applications. Compliance solutions powered by ILOG JRules monitor high volumes of data in real time, enabling the immediate detection and reporting of faulty or fraudulent information. For business process management, ILOG JRules enables the effective management of the complex, dynamic rules that can number in the thousands for a discrete business process, maximizing business agility. Customers of the award-winning ILOG JRules include CitiStreet, eBay, Zurich, MetLife, Sabre and many other leading Global 2000 companies and governments worldwide.

About TradeStone Software, Inc.
TradeStone Software enables retailers and manufacturers to plan, design, collaborate on and purchase goods from across the world as easily as from across the street. TradeStone's Unified Buying Engine uses Web services technology to layer across an organization's existing infrastructure while its modular software fills in buying process gaps to provide a single view, access and interaction across the entire procurement process. The first and only complete solution for global sourcing, product lifecycle management, and unified order management, TradeStone's intuitive "No Training" technology helps people throughout the supply chain to collaborate globally, enabling users to focus on speeding innovative products to market. Marquee customers include American Eagle Outfitters, The Children's Place, Deutsche Woolworth, Ocean State Job Lot, Pacific Alliance and Federated Department Stores. TradeStone Software is based in Gloucester, Mass. and can be found on the Web at www.TradeStoneSoftware.com.

Contact:
Chuck Tanowitz
Schwartz Communications
781-684-0770
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Tania Stockbridge
TradeStone Software
978-281-3723
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