Press Release

OpenMFG to present at Mid-Atlantic Venture Association Capital Connection 2003

Privately-funded ERP software company debuts at East Coast's largest VC event

NORFOLK, Va., April 24, 2003 - OpenMFG, the only company using open source software to bring full-featured enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications to small manufacturers, has been selected as a presenter at the prestigious Mid-Atlantic Venture Association (MAVA) Capital Connection 2003. Capital Connection, to be held in Baltimore May 27-28, is attended by the nation's most prominent venture capitalists, representing investment funds with more than $10 billion in assets.

OpenMFG has been privately funded to date, and has concentrated on completing development of version 1.0 of its product. At the same time, the company has brought several early customers online, and trained its first 10 value-added-reseller (VAR) partners in the implementation and customization of the OpenMFG software. With the general release of version 1.0, and the forthcoming 1.1 product (which includes three additional accounting modules), OpenMFG is poised to reshape the small manufacturing market.

Despite the $42 billion spent annually on ERP solutions, the small to medium business (SMB) market remains essentially untapped. Among 300,000 manufacturing SMBs, most are managed primarily using spreadsheets and low-end, off-the-shelf accounting packages. SMBs need - and OpenMFG provides - high-end ERP functionality that is easy to deploy and manage, at an affordable price.

All OpenMFG products are built with robust open source components including the Linux operating system, the PostgreSQL database, and the Qt framework for C++. This underlying technology, invisible to the user, enables OpenMFG and its partners to deliver sophisticated ERP functionality at a very low total cost of ownership. It also enables a true multiplatform solution for individual workstations; the OpenMFG Client runs on Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, and various commercial Unix systems. By leveraging this open source "stack," and through an innovative partner program which borrows from the open source software development process, OpenMFG brings a competitive new approach to a sorely underserved market.

"An open systems stack for small companies opens interesting market opportunities," said Gisela Wilson, director of the supply-chain program at industry analyst firm IDC. "There is clearly a void in the marketplace for affordable, full-featured ERP for companies at the low-end, where a sizeable percentage of small manufacturers is concentrated."

"We're delighted to be presenting at MAVA," said OpenMFG president and CEO Ned Lilly. "We believe that we have that rarest of combinations: a large, underserved market; a simple and affordable solution for that market that meets or exceeds their needs; and a competitive advantage that cannot be readily duplicated. We look forward to sharing our vision for the future of business software with MAVA attendees."

About OpenMFG

OpenMFG, LLC, develops enterprise software tailored to the needs and budgets of small, entrepreneurial manufacturing companies. OpenMFG products give companies visibility into costs, supply chains, processes, inventory and financial operations with a lower cost of ownership than competing enterprise resource planning (ERP) products, and are sold to end-user customers through a network of value added partners throughout North America. For more information, visit the company Web site at www.openmfg.com, or contact sales@openmfg.com.