HORSHAM, Pennsylvania, March 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Astea International Inc. (Nasdaq: ATEA), a global provider of service management solutions, today announced a new module for its Alliance service management solution. The "Dynamic Scheduling Engine" is built using intelligent scheduling technology from 360 Technologies Ltd. The 360 solution has been designed specifically for the unique requirements of service organizations. Astea is leveraging the most up-to-date algorithms and sophisticated business rules to provide dynamic workforce optimization. Highly parameterized for maximum flexibility, the new functionality delivers real-time scheduling capabilities that allow companies to pro-actively drive, manage and monitor their engineers through demand forecasting, workforce profiling, and operational optimization.

"Service organizations are under a lot of pressure to deliver higher levels of responsiveness while trying to manage the increase in costs for deploying skilled field-based resources," said Zack Bergreen, CEO and president of Astea International. "With the dynamic scheduling engine from 360 Technologies, we are providing our customers with excellence in operational control by maximizing conformance to Service Level Agreements and resource utilization while minimizing travel time, penalties and overall service delivery costs."

This collaboration has already born fruit with a significant UK service organization using Astea's service management solution coupled with 360's dynamic scheduling engine to optimize a large field-based workforce.

In August 2004, Astea announced the availability of its Alliance service management solution, which was developed from the ground-up on the Microsoft .NET framework (see related press release August 31, 2004). The dynamic scheduling engine has been seamlessly integrated into Astea Alliance and utilizes the standard user look-and-feel, working from one single database.

"The cost reduction opportunities with dynamic intelligent scheduling are significant," said Laurent Othacehe, Managing Director of 360 Technologies. "Our customers have seen reductions of up to 20% in overall service delivery costs, 75% in planning costs, and 15% in travel costs. Available parameters include general service data such as customer service level agreements, penalties, technician skills, spare parts availability, and location; plus very detailed parameters such as technician shifts, breaks and overtime."

About Astea International

Astea is a global provider of service management software that addresses the unique needs of companies who manage capital equipment, mission critical assets and human capital. The Astea Alliance suite supports the complete service lifecycle, from lead generation and project quotation to service and billing through asset retirement. It integrates and optimizes critical business processes for Contact Center, Field Service, Depot Repair, Logistics, Professional Services, and Sales & Marketing. Astea extends its application suite with portal, analytics and mobile solutions. Since its inception in 1979, Astea has licensed applications to companies in a wide range of sectors including information technology, telecommunications, instruments & controls, business systems, and medical devices. http://www.astea.com. Service Smart. Enterprise Proven.

About 360 Technologies

Headquartered in Nottingham, England, 360 Technologies is an innovative technology company with a wealth of experience in the development and deployment of resource management and optimization solutions. 360's Dynamic Scheduling Engine (DSE) is today's performance benchmark chosen by an increasing number of application vendors. Web enabled for ease of integration using 360's leading edge algorithms, DSE provides predictive deployment, demand forecasting, performance analysis and workforce optimization for field service organizations whatever their size.

Astea and Astea Alliance are trademarks of Astea International Inc. All other company and product names contained herein are trademarks of the respective holders.

Web site: http://www.astea.com

Debbie Geiger, Astea International Inc., +1-215-682-2314, dgeiger@astea.com