IBM and Rockwell Automation Form Strategic Alliance to Deliver Collaborative Business Solutions for Automotive Industry

Joint solution offers core infrastructure capabilities for true collaboration

Somers, NY, and Milwaukee, WI, Nov. 20, 2002 — IBM and Rockwell Automation today announced the signing of a strategic alliance to provide the global automotive manufacturing industry with a complete set of collaborative technologies, services, and experiences that will allow seamless information flow throughout a manufacturer’s entire enterprise.

“Today, a competitive edge for manufacturers lies in the ability to provide useable plant floor information throughout the various levels of the organization - internal and external, and throughout the entire supply chain,” said John McDermott, senior vice president, Rockwell Automation. “Through this agreement, our customers will now have the ability to provide enterprise-wide manufacturing information to suppliers, dealers, customers.”

Under the terms of the agreement, the two companies will jointly market universally-accepted enterprise solutions that use several IBM technologies including WebSphere™ Business Integrator, MQ Series™, IBM eServer xSeries™ and DB2™ database software. These enterprise solutions leverage the open connectivity to the plant floor via Rockwell Automation products. These include RSBizware™ and ControlLogix™ Technologies and the expertise of Rockwell Automation automotive manufacturing services.

“Automotive manufacturers and suppliers are looking for e-business solutions that can help improve business process integration and operations as well as reduce costs — not just within their own four walls but across their extended enterprises,” said Jan Beauchamp, IBM Global Automotive Industry general manager. “Rockwell Automation’s industry leading solutions, combined with IBM’s technologies and our joint consulting and integration services, provide optimized solutions to enable collaboration between suppliers and manufacturers. IBM recognizes that the Automotive industry represents a composite of diverse companies. The combined Rockwell and IBM solutions address the common needs of all the members of this complex mix.”

About IBM
IBM is the world’s largest information technology company, with 80 years of leadership in helping businesses innovate. IBM works with companies of all sizes around the world to deploy a full range of IBM technologies. For more information about IBM, visit www.ibm.com.

About IBM PartnerWorld for Developers
PartnerWorld for Developers is the developer resource for IBM Business Partners. It is a worldwide program designed to help software developers reach broader markets, lower their costs of doing business, and take their products to market faster. For more
information, visit http://www.ibm.com/partnerworld/developer, or call 1-800-627-8363 in North America, 1-770-835-9902 outside North America.

About Rockwell Automation
Rockwell Automation is a leading global provider of industrial automation power, control and information solutions that help customers meet their manufacturing productivity objectives. The company brings together leading brands in industrial automation for Complete Automation® solutions, including Allen-Bradley® controls and services, Dodge® mechanical power transmission products, Reliance Electric® motors and drives, and Rockwell Software® factory management software. The company also is a leading provider of contact management technologies and applications that help companies more efficiently manage interaction with their own customers. Headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the company has about 22,000 employees, serving customers in more than 80 countries

Visit: www.rockwell.com