Profitbase and LS Retail announce Alliance to bring integrated Business Intelligence and Point-of-Sales solution to retailers

Profitbase standards-based ARTS templates are used for fast deployment.

New Orleans, LA, USA — 10 Mar 2009 -- Profitbase, a technology leader in ready-to-use, rapidly deployed data warehouse, business analytics, budgeting and planning software, today announced their alliance with LS Retail to bring a cost effective, functionally rich integrated Business Intelligence (BI) and Point-Of-Sales (POS) offering to retailers using Microsoft Dynamics TM AX and NAV. Profitbase will be demonstrating the solution at Microsoft Convergence 2009 in New Orleans, US, March 9 th – 13 th .

The BI component of the solution features certified connector templates that extract point-of-sales data from the LS Retail AX and NAV systems and proven retail specific business templates that provide comprehensive metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) for store, category, brand and financial performance. The business templates support and extend the National Retail Federation - Association for Retail Technology Standards (ARTS) Data Warehouse standard. ARTS is an international membership organization of retailers and technology vendors whose mission is to enable the low cost, rapid deployment of technology in retail by reducing integration efforts through platform independent and vendor neutral standards.

The retail BI solution is configured and deployed using Profitbase 2009, a scalable, rapidly configured data warehouse and OLAP Cube deployment accelerator for Microsoft SQL Server TM . The Profitbase 2009 software was used to build and certify the LS Retail AX and NAV point-of-sales connector templates and is also used to quickly deploy and easily modify the solution to meet each retailer's unique requirements. Retailers are able to display and distribute their metrics and KPIs throughout their organization using dashboard and reporting tools such as Profitbase InFront, Microsoft SharePoint TM Server, Silverlight TM , and Office TM among others.

The POS portion of the solution is the LS Retail Point-Of-Sales software that is built on Microsoft Dynamics AX and NAV business systems. The integration of LS Retail with Dynamics AX and NAV delivers the breadth and depth of functionality demanded by the busiest retailers without the need to build, manage and maintain multiple applications and interfaces. The solution covers everything from the POS terminals, store systems, and all the functions that retailers would expect to find in a comprehensive solution.

“Given the current economic turbulence, commodity pricing and increased competition, there is an explosive demand for insight - the ability to connect people, data and systems to provide the right information at the right time and in the right format to make a real impact on the business. Alliances like we now see between LS Retail and Profitbase are important to give retailers better and faster insight into their business,” said Jan de Jong, Microsoft worldwide industry solutions manager, Distribution & Services.

“Our integrated POS-BI solution is built on Dynamics AX and NAV which means that retailers using other parts of the Microsoft Dynamics AX or NAV application, such as finance, customer relationship management (CRM), warehousing, or service, have a single platform that addresses all aspects of their business including business intelligence, POS, finance, inventory and purchasing data,” comments Borre Tharaldsen, CEO of Profitbase AS.

“We are very pleased to announce this alliance with Profitbase. Business Intelligence is a top priority for retailers right now and with this alliance we are able to offer and deploy for our customers a proven cost-effective solution very quickly with high value and low risk,” notes Gunnar Bjorn Gunnarsson, CEO of LS Retail.

About LS Retail
LS Retail is one of the principal companies developing retail and hospitality solutions based on Microsoft Dynamics NAV/AX for the international arena. LS Retail has been sold to 130 countries, translated into 33 languages and is distributed through a partner network including more than 75 Certified partners in 51 countries. LS Retail is used by more than 19,000 stores operating over 41,000 POS terminals worldwide. Among many satisfied users of our solutions are: Adidas, Bestseller (Vero Moda, Jack and Jones, etc.), Alliance Pharmacy, Magasin du Nord, Popular Bookstores, IKEA, MIT Italy, Bulgarian Telecom, SPAR Belgium, Starboard/LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton USA, APC Japan, Cili Pizza, Waltons Stationery Company Bidvest Group (South Africa) and many more. To learn more about LS Retail, visit www.LSRetail.com

About Profitbase
Profitbase is a global technology leader in ready-to-use, rapidly deployed data warehouse, business analytics, budgeting and planning software. Their software is deployed throughout the world in retail, healthcare, manufacturing, and many other industries. Their flagship software, Profitbase 2009 is their scalable, rapidly configured data warehouse and OLAP cube deployment accelerator for SQL Server. Profitbase 2009 includes business templates that include key performance indicators (KPIs), metrics and dimensions for point-of-sales, finance, sales, inventory, purchasing, and more. Additionally, data source connector templates are available for Microsoft Dynamics GP, NAV, AX, SOL and many other Point-of-Sale and ERP systems enabling easy connection and extraction of transactional data into the data warehouse.