GFT Technologies SE — Regulatory Filings 1999

Sep 28, 1999

News Details

Ad-hoc | 28 September 1999 20:32

Ad hoc-Service: GFT Technologies AG

Ad-hoc announcement sent by DGAP. The sender is solely responsible for the contents of this announcement. —————————————————————————— Design – Bringing the Internet to Life with Emotions and Impact GFT and Via4 Design sign strategic cooperation agreement St. Georgen/Nagold, September 28, 1999 – GFT Technologies AG, software and IT service company for integrated, web-based solutions, has signed a cooperation agreement with Via4 Design, Nagold. Thomas Gerlach, the highly acclaimed top designer and Managing Director of Via4, will head GFT’s Design Group. The two companies plan to leverage their expertise in integrated interactive services and design to create web-based brand presences and virtual branding for their customers. The core activity of the GFT Design Group is creating identities – be it individual or virtual, for business, products or brands. With the claim being internet professionals (www.internetprofi.com), around 80 digital designers, multimedia experts and marketing specialists design, develop and implement innovative brand presences in new media and on the Web. The breathtaking speed at which Internet technology is evolving, and the tremendous amount of international information available call for unmistakable corporate and brand identities that have an impact on visitors. In a medium where the competition is just a mouse click away, customer loyalty can make the difference between the success and failure of a company. “Design arouses emotions and virtual worlds in the Internet, giving rise to virtual space where people feel at home. Once this emotional element has been integrated in business processes and marketing strategies, the basis for successful electronic commerce is established,” explains Thomas Gerlach, Head of GFT Design Group. “With Thomas Gerlach, we have attracted a top- notch designer who, besides his creative talents, brings the requisite business expertise to create a digital brand presence for our customers. The aim is to develop integrated Web worlds for our customers, and business strategies for the future,” says Ulrich Dietz, Chief Executive Officer of GFT AG. Interactive Services and Design – The Interactive Integration Architect The company’s Design Group currently includes Pixel-Factory in Offenbach and New York-based Plumb Design new media agency. GFT has stakes in both companies. Both are significant in GFT’s business model, setting the company well apart from the competition. As Interactive Integration Architect, GFT spans the entire digital value chain, encompassing IT business consulting and digital design to system integration and base technology development. With this integrated approach, the company offers complete turn key Web solutions. Thomas Gerlach, 39, has an excellent reputation in the world of design. Already during his time as an industrial design student at the renowned Folkwangschule in Essen, he received countless prizes and awards. In 1983, Gerlach started off his career with the top agency frogdesign. The agency set new industrial design standards with the Apple Macintosh, amongst others. He stayed with frogdesign as Head Designer and Managing Director for the European business until 1992. In 1992, he set up his own agency – Via4 Design. With a team of fourteen people, the agency offers services ranging from check-up to integrated corporate design and has a promising outlook with CI consulting, product, graphic and communication design. Via4’s international customer base includes ADI, Acer, Hewlett Pack ard, Karstadt, Mercedes Benz, Peacock, Samsung, Siemens, Swarovski and Villeroy & Boch. Thomas Gerlach is a member of the Managing Committee of the Deutscher Design Verband (DDV – German Design Association) and of the Managing Committee/Board of the Verband Deutscher Industrie Designer (VDID – Association of German Industrial Designers). In 1998, for the second time in a row, GFT Technologies AG (GFT AG) ranked amongst Europe’s 500 most innovative and fastest growing companies. As a software and IT service company for web-based solutions, GFT AG sets itself apart with an all-encompassing range of product packages and services on a fixed time/fixed price basis for customized Internet, e-commerce, customer care and supply chain ma nagement solutions: in-depth technological expertise, software development tools, design competency, multimedia and image transfer onto new media, many years of project and methods experience as well as IT business consulting. GFT was founded in 1987 and has recorded an average growth rate of around 45 per cent per year. GFT Group revenues for fiscal 1998 amounted to DM 39.8 million. The Group, headquartered in St. Georgen, currently employs around 300 people in eleven locations in Germany, Switzerland, Ireland and USA. GFT Technologies AG shares have been traded at the Neuer Markt segment of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange since June 28, 1999 under the ticker symbol GFT (WKN 580 060). For further information on GFT AG, visit http://www.internetprofi.com Press Contact: Sandra Strüwing, GFT Technologies AG Leopoldstrasse 1, D-78112 St. Georgen Germany Tel.: +49 (0)7724/9411-423 Fax: +49 (0)7724/9411-883 E-mail: sandra.struewing@gft.de End of Message