1. Vignette V7 is aimed at enabling organizations to deploy and manage content-rich Web applications and portals. What are the main business benefits that Vignette brings to enterprise organizations in terms of increased ROI and productivity?

Vignette V7 is driving new levels of productivity, efficiency and business value. Thanks to its unique integration of content management, portal development and deployment, and Web applications, Vignette V7 is able to facilitate true real-time operation for our customers. 

One example of the real productivity gains customers can realize with Vignette comes from Vignette's unique virtual repository technology. Vignette V7 has the ability to consolidate the management of information no matter where it is stored, including documents, enterprise applications, servers, and other silos of information throughout the enterprise. Information workers can easily access the information they need and do it quickly. On the business side, knowledge workers accessing a portal need to be able to customize that portal view and to use it to access exactly the information they need to get their jobs done quickly. The underlying content management foundation of the portal helps to make this possible. 

Vignette V7 is designed around an open, standards-based Java architecture for easy integration with existing enterprise standards and platforms. Customers find value in knowing that they can purchase Vignette solutions and these solutions will integrate with current and future IT investments, important in today's economic environment.

2. Vignette Corp. has completed its acquisition of San Francisco-based Epicentric Inc., a market leading business portal company. How does it leverage this acquisition to enhance its position in the market? How much importance does Vignette see in mergers and alliances?

Vignette is the leader in content management, just as Epicentric was the leader in the portal space. Given the obvious synergies between CM and portals, it made sense for both companies and for our customers. We've already delivered an integrated solution with our Vignette V7 Application Suites, and customers still have the option of buying just Vignette content management and integrating it with a different portal environment or purchasing our portal solution as a stand-alone. We are hearing from customers that bringing together these two companies was a great thing, and we can give our customers' unparalleled flexibility and choice.

Strategic alliances are an important part of Vignette's commitment to customers. By working closely with industry leaders like IBM, Sun and BEA Systems, we are able to benefit from the knowledge share that ultimately benefits our customers in the form of tighter integrations and cutting-edge technology.

3.Vignette has reported a fourth quarter and fiscal year 2002 financial results that delivered a 20% sequential growth in license revenue and exceeded the total revenue and non-GAAP EPS estimates. To what does Vignette attribute this performance, especially in a slack global economy?

We have done an excellent job of realigning our cost structure to compete in today's market place. On the products front, the introduction of Vignette V7 is making an impact, as did the acquisition and integration of Epicentric, which has enabled us to take an expanded portfolio of products to the market and deliver more value to customers. In addition to new customers, we are still seeing significant follow on orders from our installed base, highlighting the fact that customers like our products because they deliver value. As our CEO Tom Hogan says, Vignette is the Switzerland solution for spanning the large and heterogeneous environments that enterprises run today. Customers see this and want to take advantage of Vignette solutions in order to leverage information and application assets and provide a service delivery foundation that allows them to rapidly and cost-effectively assemble and deploy very high impact Web applications. 

4.Over the years Vignette has always managed to stay in the limelight with quality offerings that are being recognized in the industry. Vignette's won a host of awards and recognition, including the Frost & Sullivan Market Engineering Award for Product Innovation, the ITSMA Award for Customer Loyalty and Retention, the Software & Information Industry's (SIIA) 2002 Codie Award, etc. How does Vignette manage to understand customer expectations and bring out products that cater to their requirements?

Vignette's reputation and acknowledgement is well deserved. We take pride in the fact that our new product offerings are truly customer-driven exercises in development. We listen actively to our customers to learn what they want, what they need, and equally important what they don't need. The software industry, in all honesty, has often built solutions first and then gone about figuring out if it's what customers really want later. We set ourselves apart by reaching out to customers early and often and then making them a part of the product development cycle, so we are able to deliver to market the solutions that meet real needs and desires.

5.Since inception Vignette has come a long way. It has managed to succeed even in a global economy that still shows no signs of recovering. How does Vignette see the future and what are its visions for content management and portals? How much is Vignette doing to spread and enhance the technology that brings increased business benefits to the enterprises?

We see the content management and portals markets as continuing growth markets. Many organizations are outgrowing the homegrown solutions they built to handle a problem that has only grown in scope and complexity. Vignette's commitment to Web services support also helps our customers. Today, we are seeing small scale Web services deployments, using a standard like SOAP to connect an older data source to the CMS, for example, but we anticipate that the promise of Web services will emerge as reality on a larger scale within the coming years. We are excited about this precisely because Vignette is a company that has long supported open standards development and adoption, so this is something we feel extremely prepared for. Given that content management is, in many ways, a unification layer across an enterprise, the potential impact of Web services is huge. 


6.What are the strategic focus areas for 2003, especially in terms of increasing the core area of technology and enhancing market areas? What are the vertical industries that Vignette focuses on?

In 2003 our focus remains on delivering the value of Vignette's integrated offerings in powering Web experiences, not just Web sites and portals. We help our customers consolidate and manage information and resources that have grown too complex and too disparate. We solve these problems across a range of industries. For example, financial services companies may want to consolidate the retail banking, corporate banking, high wealth banking, and credit card application processes, and do that in a fully integrated suite of products that are all J2EE compliant. They want to leverage their existing solutions and in an open-ended environment, and that's where Vignette's value becomes crystal clear. Ultimately, the success of our customers is what drives our success. Any company can talk a good game, but delivering on the promises and the vision is what helps us stay successful and retain a leadership position in the marketplace.

In terms of verticals, Vignette's focus is particularly strong in government and education, life sciences, insurance and financial services, manufacturing, media and high tech.

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