By Yuji Nakasu

Greetings and Happy New Year to everyone. On behalf of Glovia and Fujitsu, I wish you a very prosperous 2005.

I want to thank you all for your business this last year. More and more of you migrated to our latest extended enterprise software and we also welcome and thank our new Glovia users. Exciting times are ahead and your support makes it possible.

At Glovia we are busy making preparations for the new year in all aspects of our operations. From new products and services to increased communications and a new User Group Conference, we are setting our expectations at a high level and planning for the resources we need to reach if not surpass them.

I trust all of you are in a similar mode with your business. Whether or not your new fiscal year has begun or you are in a peak production cycle, the new year always presents the opportunity to take a good look back, resolve a fresh start, and move forward.

Probably the chief asset you need to be successful in these endeavors is visibility. If you want you and your people to make the type of decisions, both day-to-day and long-term, that will result next January in you looking back on 2005 most favorably, then you will need to have as much visibility as possible throughout your enterprise. This is why we have dedicated this first issue of volume three of The Extended Enterprise to visibility.

Of course the primary way that the glovia.com suite offers manufacturers visibility is in Supply Chain Management — and you can read our new white paper, "Sales and Operations Planning: Achieving Long-Term Business Objectives Through Supply Chain Planning," which details how to develop and evaluate the numerous tactical strategies available to your business and how to choose the one that contributes the most toward realization of your long-term objectives. Glovia offers visibility in a number of other areas, which we discuss in our feature article "What You See Is What You Get" and you can find more details in the Solution Highlight section as well.

Some of our readers might be interested in this month's Fujitsu column, "Revolution or Evolution?" where we discuss the rampant consolidation in the enterprise software industry and the expanding importance of the stability that Glovia offers to manufacturers.

Also in line with the new year and our visibility theme, this month's Career Coach column, "What's The Big Idea?" addresses creativity, innovation, and developing the vision to get ahead.

Finally, please be sure to take note of our User Group section. The User Group is just a few months away and will be here sooner than we think. You can find out more about the agenda and early registration rates are now available. We are working hard to assure our best conference yet — but we do need your help in one key area: presentations.

I have heard from you and from my colleagues throughout Glovia about your successes in Lean Manufacturing, Supply Chain Management, Corporate Compliance, Collaboration, Post-Sales Service and so many other areas using our solution in 2004. We all want to hear from you this May in Long Beach! User Group is the ideal way to maximize your Glovia investment by sharing your insights with your fellow manufacturers. Please do consider making a presentation; I think you will be very glad you did.

As always, thank you for taking the time to read The Extended Enterprise and please feel free to submit your comments to me at extended-enterprise@glovia.com.

Best Wishes in 2005 — we will see you in Long Beach.

Regards,

Yuji Nakasu
President and CEO
Glovia International, Inc.