Briefs

PEORIA, Ill. and TULSA, Okla. - Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) and STATSOFT Inc., (www.statsoft.com), announce the general release of PROCEED, a turnkey software solution designed for manufacturing companies for the modeling, optimization, and simulation of their complex manufacturing processes. The official public showcase of the PROCEED software will be held at the American Society for Quality's World Conference on Quality and Improvement in Seattle, Washington from May 16-18, 2005.

(www.statsoft.com/company/press/release_PROCEED.html)

The PROCEED software is based on the integration of Caterpillar's patent-pending analytic processes powered by the industry-leading suite of STATISTICA enterprise analytics software. Caterpillar's cutting-edge analytic processes are used to effectively simulate, predict, and optimize the outcome of complex manufacturing processes.

"Caterpillar is recognized worldwide for design and manufacturing of machines and engines. What is not so widely known is the tremendous amount of technology coming from our research and development team that makes those industry-leading products a reality," commented Mark Pflederer, Chief Technology Officer and Vice President of Caterpillar's Technology & Solutions Division.

StatSoft deployed Caterpillar's patented approach in its STATISTICA Enterprise analytics platform and will market and support the PROCEED software.

For more information, visit www.statsoft.com.