BÖWE BELL + HOWELL and BÖWE SYSTEC extend SAP hosting agreements with BASF IT Services

Wheeling, Ill., May 2007 – BASF IT Services has announced that is has signed agreements to host all SAP systems of BÖWE BELL + HOWELL and its parent company, BÖWE SYSTEC AG. BÖWE BELL + HOWELL, a leading provider of document processing and postal solutions, recently announced implementation of SAP AG’s mySAP™ Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution to drive process efficiencies across its service organization and deliver a more intimate level of customer service.

In 2003 BASF IT Services took over the hosting of the SAP Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system of Augsburg, Germany-based BÖWE SYSTEC, one of the leading manufacturers of modern high-performance cutting and inserting systems. Nearly two years ago, BÖWE SYSTEC and BÖWE BELL + HOWELL planned the conversion to a joint SAP ERP platform to save costs and optimize synergies.

“Based on our prior experience with BASF IT Services, we are excited to enter into a new contract with them to host our SAP R3 and SAP CRM systems,” said BÖWE BELL + HOWELL CIO Ron Ridge. “We expect to leverage BASF IT Services’ professional hosting environment to ensure high availability and business continuity of our SAP systems and to allow us to focus our internal IT team on more strategic activities to support our current and future business needs.”

BASF IT Services’ agreements with BÖWE BELL + HOWELL and BÖWE SYSTEC include not only the continuation of existing hosting, but also the expansion of services. BÖWE BELL + HOWELL is aggressively developing its SAP landscape and counting on its partnership with BASF IT Services to facilitate the process. The company is currently implementing mySAP CRM along with the Business Intelligence Warehouse system on the basis of SAP NetWeaver. To meet these objectives, BÖWE BELL + HOWELL is working with BASF IT Services to consolidate the hosting environment to enable higher performance.

For BÖWE BELL + HOWELL and BÖWE SYSTEC, BASF IT Services’ highly scalable hardware platform provides the flexibly for future expansion while costs remain transparent. This applies to upcoming release changes as well as the addition of newer modules or sister companies to the joint hardware and software platform.

“From the competence and experience of BASF IT Services, we expect not only the secure and smooth operation of our SAP systems, but also valuable input for future decisions about the IT landscape most suitable for us,” stated Wolfgang Krebs, head of IT at BÖWE SYSTEC.

“Regardless of sector and company size, and across countries and continents, we offer each of our customers a tailor-made concept for operating their IT systems,” said Juergen Koenig, director of account management at BASF IT Services. “We are glad that BÖWE BELL + HOWELL and BÖWE SYSTEC will continue to trust in our global SAP hosting expertise.”

For more information about BÖWE BELL + HOWELL or BÖWE SYSTEC, visit www.bowebellhowell.com or www.bowesystec.com.

# # #

About BÖWE BELL + HOWELL
Headquartered in Wheeling, Ill., BÖWE BELL + HOWELL, a company with more than 70 years of industry experience, is a leading provider of high-performance document management solutions and services. The company’s portfolio of cutting, packaging, inserting, plastic card, sorting, integrity, print-on-demand and software solutions is the most comprehensive product offering for paper-based and digital mail communications. These solutions are supported by one of the largest dedicated service organizations in the industry. For further information on BÖWE BELL + HOWELL, please visit www.bowebellhowell.com.

About BÖWE SYSTEC
BÖWE SYSTEC is one of the leading manufacturers of modern high-performance cutting and inserting systems. BÖWE SYSTEC offers innovative, customer-specific product solutions – and more. Our comprehensive range of services covers everything from quote preparation to project management, system installation and full after-sales service. BÖWE SYSTEC’s headquarters are located in Augsburg, Germany.

About BASF IT Services
BASF IT Services, a BASF Group company, is among the leading IT service providers for the process industry in Europe. The company employs some 2,350 employees and recorded an annual turnover of €373 million in 2006. The company’s key strengths are Business Solutions, Managed Services and Business Process Outsourcing. This expertise is based on years of experience in providing solutions to the world’s leading chemical company, BASF. Today, BASF IT Services operates one of the world’s largest networks and approximately 2,000 servers for some 60,000 users in more than 280 locations. The globally active company is committed to standardizing and developing customer-oriented, tailor-made solutions. BASF IT Services is certified under the international quality management standard ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 27001. More information about BASF IT Services at www.basf-it-services.com.