Press Release

KALMAN SAFFRAN ASSOCIATES IDENTIFIES "PROCESS ACCELERATION" AS NEXT MAJOR U.S. INDUSTRY TREND

KSA's QLM (Quantum Leap Methodology) Provides One Answer to Global Search for Methods that Reduce Product Development Time, Speed IT Development, and Increase Productivity of American Industry

Newton, Mass., March 9, 1999 - Kalman Saffran Associates (KSA), as a leading developer of state-of-the-art products, product development methodology, and IT (Information Technology) systems for the communications, medical, financial, manufacturing, and insurance industries has identified the next major business trend in the US, "Process Acceleration." KSA offers its innovative QLM(tm) as one solution to development process acceleration.

Because of KSA's close working relationship with industry leaders and the completion of 3000 projects for over 50 organizations (mostly "Fortune 100" companies), KSA has identified a common trend that is occurring at a majority of these companies. The nature of business is forcing companies to accelerate all their processes, and due to shorter product life cycles and increasing competition, they are striving to reduce time-to-market for product development. Also, increased internal demands and the need for more rapid and efficient customer service is driving the trend for new IT systems to be developed at a faster pace.

Earlier American industry trends have included downsizing and reengineering, but today's competitive marketplace requires that products are not only better than the competition's, but also faster-to-market. Companies trying to accelerate the process of bringing successful products to market face several hurdles, including a general shortage of highly qualified personnel. In the past, project managers had the choice to shape the existing development teams to be more efficient and effective, or hire additional staff to get the job done. In today's full employment market, adding more staff is not an efficient or in some cases a viable choice. Increasing the productivity of existing staff through development methodology improvement is the most viable and effective alternative. KSA's proprietary development methodology (QLM) is at the forefront of these solutions.

"Time-to-market pressures are accelerating, especially in the telecom and data communications arenas, and as product development cycles shorten, today's discerning company needs to find the best way to minimize product time-to-market in order to ensure a substantial market share," said Kalman Saffran, President of Kalman Saffran Associates "KSA recognizes this significant new trend in American industry and can recommend solutions based on years of developing products for leaders in the telecom and data communications industries, and then help implement those solutions by applying our finely-tuned product development methodology."

KSA's QLM is a complete life cycle system for product development. It addresses all phases of the life cycle from product concept through turnover to manufacturing. The Information Technology (IT) version (QLM-IT) is tailored for information systems development in the financial services, insurance, banking, and manufacturing industries. The QLM and QLM-IT systems address project planning, estimating, and management, staffing/resource planning, and financial planning and control as well as product development. QLM has proven its ability to substantially increase a company's profitability and market share.

Pricing and Availability

The QLM / QLM-IT offerings are available now starting at $25,000. For more information: Contact Us

About Kalman Saffran Associates

Established in 1978, Kalman Saffran Associates (KSA) is a leading advanced OEM product development, IT systems design, and technology licensing firm that rapidly creates products and innovates systems for premier companies in the data communications, telecommunications, financial, insurance, manufacturing, and banking industries. To ensure success, KSA applies a proven, advanced engineering methodology (QLM / QLM-IT) to all projects. KSA has a staff of more than 100, including personnel specializing in today's "building block" technologies such as OOP, CASE, SONET/SDH, ATM, xDSL, fiber optics, MPEG and PCI. KSA's clients include industry leaders such as AT&T, Lucent, Nortel, Cisco Systems, Fidelity Investments, State Street Bank, 3COM, Scientific-Atlanta, PictureTel, Hewlett Packard, Alcatel, Compaq and Motorola, among others. For further information, visit KSA at http://www.ksa1.com