“This collaboration is a pilot project for both companies, which is to be spread successively to other markets and industries. It is the beginning of an alliance that can be a model for how members of the European software and service industry can work together globally to remain fit for the future,” says Karl-Heinz Streibich, CEO of Software AG.

Software AG focuses on its product portfolio dealing with business infrastructure software. GFT is responsible for project implementation. The advantages for both companies lie in accelerated development of the market by combining existing skills and products. On the market side, business customers benefit from the complementary expertise of two companies who are world leaders in their market segment. In the future, Software AG will use GFT’s offshore development center in Brazil for customers from the financial services industry in North America. This move provides Software AG’s North American customers with access to a cost-effective nearshore development center. During the next one to two years, GFT’s development center is expected to add 50 to 100 employees for Software AG projects.

As an internationally leading supplier of IT solutions to the financial services industry, GFT has been represented in Brazil for four years and maintains a software development center there that currently has 70 employees. Recently GFT successfully concluded a large-scale project with up to 500 IT experts for Brazilian private bank Bradesco. GFT expects that this cooperation will give it access to a broader customer base in Brazil, as well as accelerating development of the North American market. “Our partnership with Software AG offers us excellent growth opportunities. By bundling the skills of the two international companies with German roots, we have created an optimal basis to tap the full synergy potential and to jointly benefit from the attractive market opportunities in Brazil and the United States,” explains Ulrich Dietz, CEO of GFT Technologies AG.

As of the beginning of 2008, Software AG is now represented directly in Brazil for the first time. The company ended its collaboration with its previous IT service provider, and chose to enter into a partnership with GFT rather than taking the time to build up its own IT service capacities. Using the existing GFT IT-services infrastructure gives Software AG quicker market access in Brazil. The Darmstadt-based software company is strengthening its market position in Latin America’s largest IT market through its partnership with an IT service company that has extensive experience in the Brazilian market. Brazil is strategically important for Software AG: The company expects revenues of US$ 20 to 30 million in 2008.