Partnership Reduces Time, Resources, Risks of SAP Unicode Enablement and Modernization

WALLDORF / MANNHEIM, GERMANY – January 28, 2010 – Levi, Ray & Shoup, Inc. (LRS) announced that it has signed a global marketing agreement with smartShift, the leading international provider of solutions for tool-based modernization of complex IT systems. This new level of cooperation will provide organizations with a detailed view of their print landscapes, thus significantly reducing the time needed to Unicode-enable their output environments, as well as significantly reducing project duration, resources, risks and costs of ABAP custom code analysis and remediation during upgrade, Unicode, modernization and consolidation projects.

“This collaboration will bring significant savings to our customers in terms of both time and money,” said John Runions, LRS Senior Manager of Global Alliances. “LRS output management software provides reliable delivery of SAP documents to any destination. During the Unicode upgrade process, the smartShift solution provides an automated view of complexities in the print landscape. Using this information, we can implement an output management solution to ensure reliable SAP output delivery.”

“Through our alliance with LRS, we can offer our customers a solution to simplify the output management challenges often uncovered during an upgrade,Unicode, and consolidation project,” said Stefan Hetges, Chief Executive Officer at smartShift. “We are able to provide a detailed analysis of the customer’s source code and give them a clear view of what, when, and where they are printing. By then demonstrating how an LRS solution can centralize control of all of their output and save money, we are able to add value to our customer offering. This collaboration likewise offers mainframe and SAP customers with upgrade, Unicode conversion, modernization and consolidation projects a solution that delivers easier, significantly faster and risk-free projects.”

LRS and smartShift have already begun informing their respective customers of the collaboration and value of the combined offering.

For more information about the partnership, contact Volker Kyra, LRS’ Manager of Global SAP Alliances at +49 (0) 6227 841 9490+49 (0) 6227 841 9490 or volker.kyra@lrs.com or Thomas Iseler, Managing Director of smartShift at +1 415 359 6099+1 415 359 6099 or thomas.iseler@smartshiftgroup.com.

About LRS

LRS is a privately-held company whose corporate headquarters are located in Springfield, Illinois. Remote offices are located throughout the United States and in key geographic regions around the world. More than half of the Fortune 500 and Fortune 500 Service companies rely on industry-leading LRS solutions, with products in use in over 30 countries. Gartner and other analyst groups recognize LRS as a global IT leader. Software Magazine consistently ranks LRS as one of the top software companies in the world. For more information about LRS, visit www.VPSX.com.

About smartShift

smartShift is the leading international provider of solutions for tool-based modernization of complex IT systems by transforming IT systems into new environments, helping customers to continue to leverage their IT investments. In addition smartShift provides a successful solution for the SAP market that helps customers and partners with accelerating and improving upgrades, Unicode enablement, modernization and consolidation of custom ABAP programs. www.smartShift-group.com

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