Mr. Carroll: We named our company Ingenuus. Ingenuus is a Latin word, which means simple. Ingenuus is a reengineered company beginning in December 1999. The focus of the company is collaborative product commerce. Collaborative product commerce is the next logical step beyond e-commerce, and it is projected to be at least four times larger. The difference between collaborative commerce and electronic commerce is in its value-based solution. It's not transactional in nature at all. It's powerful because it allows the interaction and connection of multiple locations and differing system platforms or supply chain activities. It takes islands of supply chain information, all the bits and pieces and integrates them. Ultimately, it builds a bridge of information among all the members of the supply chain. The islands of information then become one large mass or a mainland. At Ingenuus we provide intelligent e- business solutions that go beyond visibility. We believe that coordinated execution throughout the total enterprise is everything. My background uniquely qualifies me to run Ingenuus. I'm a turnaround specialist. I've been turning companies since 1973, so I have almost 30 years of experience. This is my ninth turnaround. This company was originally named Aspect Technology. Aspect found itself in quite a bit of trouble in 1998. I was asked by the Board of Directors to reinvent the company. When I arrived the company had about 40 million cash, and no debt; basically the balance sheet was in good shape. The P&L, however, was a whole different story. The company's product previously had been in Systems Intellectual Property. Aspect was an expert in memory design and doing it through the use of library cells. These designs were sold normally from 500,000 each to 1,000,000 and uniquely helped companies get to market faster. In 1998, however, a competitor decided to give their designs away for free. This was not a sustainable business model and the result was a market in turmoil. Aspect Technology found itself with no product line because the market had imploded. No product line meant no top line, and no top line led to a terrible bottom line. I've been working with the company since October of 1999 to bring it into a more exciting product space in a very strong, emerging market.
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