Voyages-sncf.com Selects BEA WebLogic for Building New Online Travel Information System

BEA WebLogic Server and WebLogic Personalization Server Chosen to Help Deliver Customized, Easy-to-Use, Reliable Services to Travelers at France's Most Visited Web Site

Press Release: BEA Systems, Inc.
June 12, 2001
MUNICH, Germany, BEA eWORLD EUROPE 2001 -- BEA Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: BEAS), one of the world's leading e-business infrastructure software companies, today announced that Voyages-sncf.com, a subsidiary of the SNCF created in June 2000 to develop the online services of France's national railway, has selected BEA WebLogic® Server and BEA WebLogic Personalization Server(TM) for upgrading its new online Travel Information System to handle increased volumes of traffic and to launch new personalized services to its e-customers. Built on BEA, Voyages-sncf.com will provide rapid, real-time, reliable access to tailored information and reservation services, such as travel profiles, departure/arrival times and ticket purchases, or search for the best deals. In addition, BEA Services has been selected to assist SNCF teams during the global implementation of the project.

The SNCF is a major player in the European Transportation Industry, with approximately $16.8 billion (130 billion FF) in total revenues for fiscal year 2000, and a steady increase in passenger traffic. The first-generation Web site (www.voyages-sncf.com) was a huge success, with more than 150,000 visitors per day and 2 million visitors in 2000, making it the most visited Web site in France. Faced with a tremendous increase in Web traffic, Voyages-sncf.com decided to deploy a second-generation Web site built on the BEA platform -- a highly reliable and scalable e-business platform that can handle the growing number of simultaneous requests and help accelerate the rollout of new services demanded by the company's e-customers.

In addition, the system needs to be integrated with the SNCF's legacy back-office applications, where the database of customer profiles reside. And because BEA is a standards-based platform, it is designed to allow the travel system to integrate with future Web and IT systems of Voyages-sncf.com partners to facilitate value-chain transactions and deliver additional travel- related services to its customers. Building on BEA is important to allowing Voyages-sncf.com integrate its online operations today, and to future-proofing these systems with the ability to flexibly connect with partners tomorrow.

``We selected BEA software to build a global an integrated architecture that can leverage our existing systems, helping ensure fast response times and handle exploding transaction volumes,'' said Denis Wathier, president of Voyages-sncf.com. ``Within the past two years, SNCF has implemented a successful campaign to attract and retain customers. Our ongoing objective is to promote train travel as an easy and convenient mode of transportation. Thanks to its cutting-edge products, BEA offers solutions that are important to enabling us to build an adaptable, service-oriented, e-commerce application that personalizes customer interactions and drives online sales.''

``The fact that SNCF feels the need to rearchitect its first-generation Web site-which, by all measures, has been extremely successful-shows how popular its online services have become and reflects the steady increase in rail traffic,'' said John Kiger, director of product marketing for BEA's E-Commerce Server Division. ``By choosing to build on BEA, Voyages-sncf.com is giving France's most trafficked Web site an even stronger, more scalable foundation to help ensure availability to every customer, to deploy new travel services more quickly, and to tailor those services to each customer's needs.''

About BEA

BEA Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: BEAS) is one of the world's leading e-business infrastructure software companies, with more than 10,000 customers around the world including the majority of the Fortune Global 500. BEA and its WebLogic brand are among the most trusted names in e-business. Businesses built on the award-winning BEA WebLogic E-Business Platform(TM) are reliable, highly scalable, and poised to bring new services to market quickly. BEA's e-business platform is the de facto standard for more than 1,900 systems integrators, independent software vendors (ISVs) and application service providers (ASPs) to provide complete solutions that fast-track and future- proof e-businesses for high growth and profitability. Headquartered in San Jose, Calif., BEA has 92 offices in 32 countries and is on the Web at www.bea.com.

BEA and WebLogic are registered trademarks of BEA Systems, Inc. BEA WebLogic Server, BEA WebLogic Personalization Server, and BEA WebLogic E-Business Platform are trademarks of BEA Systems, Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks of the company with which they are associated.

SOURCE: BEA Systems, Inc.