Made2Manage Systems' Developer Honored for New Web Service

SOURCE: Made2Manage Systems Inc.

New Web Service Helps Bridge Language Barriers

INDIANAPOLIS, May 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Made2Manage Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: MTMS - News), a leading provider of comprehensive enterprise business systems for mid-market manufacturers, today announces one of its employees has earned state and national recognition for a new Web service. The new Web service helps users speak to people from different countries.

Phill Miller, Elwood, Indiana, will receive the 2002 Indiana Student Software Awards Competition (ISSAC) award for the most outstanding undergraduate software at the 2002 INITA CyberStar Awards Gala tonight at the Indiana Roof Ballroom in Indianapolis.

Miller is a Ball State University computer science and Honors College graduate. As part of his undergraduate thesis project for Ball State's Honors College, Miller developed an online language translator service that works with Web-enabled devices such as computers, cellular phones and PDAs. Miller's Web service was recently a top finalist in Microsoft's Best of the .NET Awards and received an honorable mention at an Association of Information Technology Professionals competition.

"The translator service could have endless uses," said Miller, "I see it helping students learn a new language or assisting business people from different countries talk to one another without a human translator. It could also help leisure travelers."

"You can imagine a traveler sitting in a restaurant in Mexico City who wants to order shrimp, but can't remember the correct word or phrase," Miller said. "That person would only have to type in the word or phrase on a cell phone and hold it up to the waiter, who would then hear the order in Spanish." The service has been tested with Spanish and French, but it could be used for any language.

Miller believes the Web translator is more powerful than other translators on the market because it also provides images and audio clips of the words being pronounced properly. "Pronunciation can often be a major hurdle when trying to communicate in another language and this multimedia service helps eradicate some of that problem," he said.

A critical piece of this service is a technology Miller is calling "flexible services architecture." This allows the translator to run on any device that is Internet ready and supports XML without installing software. "This type of technology allows communication between devices that hasn't been possible before," Miller said. "It is an idea that is being embraced by many software companies."

In this kind of system, instead of working locally from its own memory, the device communicates remotely with a Web server. The server contains software that allows it to communicate with a multitude of devices. This allows the software to be updated much more frequently than when it resides on an individual device.

"What Phill has created is so new, its fundamental technology has not even been standardized yet," said Miller's thesis advisor Fred Kitchens, a Ball State management professor and director of the College of Business' Cluster Computing Research Project.

"We are proud of the work Phill has completed not only for this award but for his development within the Made2Manage Enterprise Business System," said Dave Stenger, vice president of development for Made2Manage Systems.

A paper authored by Miller, Kitchens and another management professor, Sushil Sharma, about the translator and the technology behind it has been accepted in an international conference on mobile services next month in Lyon, France. Together, the three developed the concept of flexible services architecture.

During the last two years Miller has been doubling as a college student and a developer at Made2Manage Systems. The company is assisting Miller in developing and marketing the Web translator service to other companies.

About Made2Manage Systems Inc.

Made2Manage Systems helps mid-market manufacturers improve access to real- time information for their critical business decisions. The Made2Manage Enterprise Business System offers one complete integrated application solution for automating business processes from selling and design, finance and human resources, customer service and support, through scheduling and distribution. This end-to-end solution, which utilizes Microsoft-based technology, helps strengthen customer relationships, enhances collaboration throughout the supply chain and develops employees.

For the fifth consecutive year, Made2Manage Systems was named to MSI's "Top 100 Software Vendors" and for the fourth consecutive year to Start magazine's "Hottest Companies." Also, for the third time, the company was listed on Software Magazine's "Top 500." Visit the Made2Manage Web site at www.made2manage.com . Made2Manage Systems can be reached via e-mail at info@made2manage.com or by calling (800) 626-0220.

SOURCE: Made2Manage Systems Inc.

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