Sapiens International Corporation N.V. (SPNS)

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JA Ishikawa Awards Sapiens License and Maintenance for $500,000
Monday August 15, 3:13 am ET


RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, North Carolina, August 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Sapiens International Corporation N.V. (NASDAQ: SPNS, TASE: SPNS) today announced that JA Ishikawa Computer Center has signed a 60 million Yen (approximately $500,000) license and maintenance agreement with Sapiens Japan.
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JA Ishikawa has been a Fujitsu mainframe user for 25 years, but has decided to replace its system and migrate to IBM iSeries by the end of 2006, in order to rebuild its system with Sapiens eMerge(TM).

Because of mandatory retirement, many individuals leading Japan's economy will retire in 2007, or soon thereafter. This is expected to cause difficulties in passing accumulated know-how down to younger generations. Similarly, in IT departments, application developers from the mainframe era will retire with the remaining individuals lacking full understanding of the complete system. It is believed that system rebuilding by staff of all generations is crucial to prepare for the near future.

Each of the 47 prefectures in Japan has a JA, a Japan Agricultural Cooperative. Japan Agricultural Cooperatives has been promoting a nationwide revolution in utilization of its system. JA Ishikawa is the fourth JA to introduce Sapiens, after JA Kumamoto, JA Chiba and JA Nagano.

In an interview with the Japanese magazine, Computer Report, Managing Director Yoshikazu Akamaru, and Mikio Ohyama, Consultant, of JA Ishikawa Computer Center described their decision to use Sapiens eMerge(TM). "Using package software or outsourcing would not ensure flexibility to meet drastic changes in the JA business environment. From our observations of other JAs, we learned that outsourcing is very expensive both in development and operation, and that developing new systems with eMerge(TM) is more cost efficient than customizing existing software packages. Introduction of eMerge(TM) will be the best way to reduce TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) by efficiently utilizing our expertise and Sapiens' developed business knowledge, to overcome the year 2007 issue."

Manabu Okada, President, Sapiens Japan's, commented, "JA Ishikawa made a decision to introduce eMerge(TM) a few months after our presentation in February. We hope their move will have an impact on other JA prefectural organizations. Sapiens Japan is committed to giving full support to rebuild JA's system that is currently running on a Fujitsu mainframe and will make this project a success."

About JA Ishikawa Computer Center

JA Ishikawa Computer Center develops and operates systems for local groups in the Ishikawa Prefecture. The JA systems cover (1) collection of agricultural and stock farm products and the offer of these to market, and payment for products, (2) provision of fertilizer and manure, pesticide, livestock feed and gasoline and kerosene.

About Sapiens International

Sapiens International Corporation N.V. (NASDAQ: SPNS, TASE: SPNS), a member of the Formula Group (NASDAQ: FORTY, TASE: FORT), is a leading global provider of proven IT solutions that modernize business processes and enable insurance organizations to adapt quickly to change. Sapiens' innovative solutions are widely recognized for their ability to cost-effectively align IT with the business demands for speed, flexibility and efficiency. Sapiens operates through its subsidiaries in North America, the United Kingdom, EMEA and Asia Pacific, and has partnerships with market leaders such as IBM and EDS. Sapiens' clients include AXA, Allianz Group, Liverpool Victoria, Norwich Union, OneBeacon, Principal Financial Group, Abbey National, ING, Menora and Occidental Fire & Casualty among others.

For more information, please visit http://www.sapiens.com or contact Manabu Okada.

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