| Alliance to Create Virtual Supply-Chain Network Linking Foundries, Customers, Suppliers, Subcontractors, and Trading Partners Worldwide LOS ANGELES (May 11, 1999) –Paragon Management Systems, Inc., the leader in supply-chain value and innovation, today announced that it has aligned with UMC Group (Taiwan) to co-develop an industry-standard supply chain management package that supports the fabless–foundry model. The results of this project will further enable the growing fabless design community to effortlessly engage with foundry suppliers. UMC Group will offer this package to its customers as a value-added service, and also encourage its adoption as an industry standard so that multiple-customers and multiple-suppliers can engage on a standardized virtual supply chain management platform. Paragon’s decision-support system already synchronizes UMC Group’s manufacturing planning across five foundries in Taiwan. UMC Group will leverage Paragon’s supply-chain software and semiconductor industry expertise to further support external efforts including sharing accurate, real-time planning data with customers, suppliers, subcontractors, and trading partners around the world. "We envision the IC industry of the future as a rich community of thousands of fabless companies working with their dedicated foundry suppliers," said John Hsuan, CEO of UMC Group (Taiwan). "As this model emerges, industry standards must be developed to enable seamless supply chain management between the many design houses, suppliers, and manufacturers involved in the production process. UMC Group and Paragon believe that this joint-development project is an important step toward the adoption of an industry-standard supply chain management package for the semiconductor industry of tomorrow." Paragon’s role in UMC Group’s Virtual Supply Chain Management (VSCM) project extends beyond local enterprise planning. By creating a virtual supply chain linking all of UMC Group’s customers, suppliers, subcontractors and trading partners, Paragon will provide instant visibility to UMC Group’s customers and partners, allowing for more agile decision-making and better responsiveness to customer needs. UMC Group’s customers will benefit from real-time access to a plug-and-play, subscription-based virtual supply-chain management network jointly developed by UMC Group and Paragon. Fabless companies around the world will be able to plug into the VSCM network for online access to the latest production plans, schedules, inventory levels, shipments, and other supply-chain information from UMC Group, or even from other foundry companies. They can also retrieve up-to-the-minute status information regarding existing manufacturing orders. "With this automated virtual supply-chain solution in place, UMC Group’s fabless customers will be freed up to focus on what they do best, the design and prototyping of next-generation products," said Hsuan. "UMC Group’s subcontractors and trading partners will benefit as well by having instant visibility into the latest manufacturing requirements and up-to-the-minute shipment information." "UMC Group’s plan for a synchronized supply-chain community linking multiple supply-chain partners, spanning multiple continents, is one of the most ambitious anywhere in industry today," said Cyrus Hadavi, Paragon’s president and CEO. "We are honored that UMC Group has selected Paragon as a strategic technology and consulting partner to make this vision a reality. And we congratulate UMC Group on its vision and commitment to its customers and trading partners." Paragon’s single data model and native Web architecture creates a single environment linking all planning stakeholders via the Internet. The expanded Paragon-UMC Group supply-chain initiative will enable UMC Group to propagate planning data both within and beyond the enterprise to automate order fulfillment, enhance customer service levels, reduce information lead times, and allow for fast collaborative decision making based on business rules and exceptions. "Not only has Paragon delivered an upwardly scalable planning solution at UMC Group’s Taiwan manufacturing planning facilities, Paragon is also delivering value to fabless customers and strategic partners such as S3 Inc.," continued Hsuan. "Based on these successes, we have a solid foundation in place for crafting a virtual supply-chain network." About UMC Group
UMC Group is a world leading semiconductor foundry group consisting of United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC), United Semiconductor Corp. (USC), United Integrated Circuits Corp. (UICC), United Silicon, Inc. (USIC), UTEK Semiconductor Corp. (UTEK), and the first dedicated foundry in Japan, Nippon Foundry Inc. (NFI). The group leads the dedicated foundry industry in value-added design support with its Gold IPTM program. In 1998, UMC Group's L250 (0.25m) and L220 (0.22m) process technologies set the foundry industry benchmark for production volumes, capacity and yields in very deep sub-micron technology. In 1999, UMC Group will have production-ready 0.18m (L180) and copper-interconnect technology. The UMC Group Silicon ShuttleSM test-chip program enables library vendors, IP vendors and foundry customers to verify their designs in silicon at low or no cost. UMC Group companies are headquartered in Taiwan, with marketing and customer support offices located in the United States, Japan, and the Netherlands. UMC Group (USA) offices are located at 788 Palomar Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA 94086, tel. (408) 733-8881, fax (408) 733-8090. The company's web site address is www.umcgroup.com. About Paragon
Paragon Management Systems, Inc., with corporate headquarters in Los Angeles and sales and support offices worldwide, is the leader in supply-chain value and innovation. Paragon provides software and services to innovative companies seeking to improve delivery performance, minimize excess or obsolete inventory, reduce cycle times, and improve synchronization of product flow within and between plants. Paragon's software suite is based on a single data model and native Web architecture, ensuring real-time information critical to supply chain optimization, planning and scheduling, demand and transportation planning, and inventory management.
| 
