Covisint opens new high-tech Southfield headquarters

New state-of-the-art facility reflects new entrepreneurial focus for three-year-old technology company

Southfield, Mich. - May 08, 2003 -- Covisint, the global, independent e-business environment for the automotive industry, has relocated its world headquarters to a new, one-story 65,000-square-foot purpose-built facility, specifically designed to meet the needs of the growing technology company. The new headquarters is located at 20921 Lahser Road in Southfield, north of 8 Mile Road.

"Our new headquarters has been designed to allow us to fully embrace our entrepreneurial mission of helping automakers and suppliers reduce costs, increase efficiency, enhance quality and improve time to market," said Bruce Swift, Chairman and CEO of Covisint. "The layout and efficiencies of the building, along with a renewed focus on Covisint's mission, will allow us to help our customers set aggressive standards for competition in the automotive industry, as well as to continue to meet our own growth and financial goals."

While Covisint's new headquarters is located just three miles south of its original home, the two facilities are light years apart in their configuration and flexibility, said Swift. The new design and layout were developed to maximize communication among the company's product workgroups by integrating them into a single workspace. The change will consolidate four floors of Covisint management and technical employees onto one large, single floor with a minimum of walls or barriers which can impede speed to market and the exchange of ideas. Swift's goal: elimination of "silos."

"Taking our cues from the increased agility that's required to thrive in today's automotive industry, we've configured the new building - and the new Covisint - for flexibility and scalability," Swift said. " The building has the flexibility to quickly move or remove walls or even entire offices, as well as easily move our people between projects, as needed. This allows us to adapt to changing customer program needs and growth in existing and new product areas."

To facilitate group meetings, the building features many conference rooms strategically located throughout the building. They are shared by workgroups and executives, who, for efficiency, do not have dedicated conference areas in their offices.

To meet the high level of security required for customer programs, the building incorporates a secure data center in its interior, which is accessible only to authorized employees. Unlike the open workspace and the conference rooms, the super-secure Data Center is windowless, with entry available only by card access.

Swift said the building has the capacity for 400 workers without expansion. Covisint has signed a seven year lease with an option for an additional 15,000-square-feet of space in the building, when expansion space is required.

About Covisint
Covisint is the independent e-business service provider for the global automotive industry. Its business-to-business services connect and enable car manufacturers and their suppliers to reduce costs, increase efficiency, enhance quality and improve time to market. Covisint was founded by DaimlerChrysler, Ford, General Motors, Renault, Nissan, Commerce One and Oracle in 2000. Since its inception, PSA Peugeot Citroën also has joined the initiative. Covisint has its headquarters in Southfield, Mich., and sales offices in Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Paris, Brazil and Mexico. For more information about Covisint, visit www.covisint.com.

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