Viewlocity Acquires NEXstep to Expand E-tail Fulfillment Solutions

News Release 2000-02-08 Viewlocity Acquires NEXstep to Expand E-tail Fulfillment Solutions First U.S. Acquisition Establishes Another R&D Center in the Americas ATLANTA, GA, February 8, 2000 - Viewlocity, a global provider of e- infrastructure for business-to-business online trading communities and supply chains, announced today that it has acquired NEXstep, Inc., the Plano, TX-based provider of fulfillment and transportation management solutions for online retail organizations. "Acquiring NEXstep will allow Viewlocity customers to benefit from a new level of expertise in the important area of applying software integration to the world of electronic commerce," said Greg Cronin, Viewlocity CEO. "Viewlocity's retail customers including Carrefour and boo.com will benefit from our talented team's ability to assist business-to-consumer websites with business-to-business integration. The result will be Viewlocity's enhanced product line, which will serve the growing e-tailing industry." According to Forrester Research, the U.S. market for e-tail fulfillment is expected to reach $184.5 billion in 2004. "Viewlocity's e-infrastructure and trading community products in combination with NEXstep's solutions in procurement, inventory management, shipping and customer returns will solve numerous problems e-tailers face today," said Michael Handley, NEXstep's former CEO and Viewlocity's newly appointed Senior Vice President of E-Applications Development. "NEXstep's client roster includes LearningExpress.com and Rack Room Shoes, who will now benefit from Viewlocity's robust products and worldwide customer support." Discussing the timing of the acquisition, Cronin added, "This past Christmas season exposed significant missing links in the ability of companies to fulfill orders. Viewlocity's enhanced solutions could significantly reduce the types of inefficiencies e-tailers face today." NEXstep was incorporated in 1998 to provide e-tailers with a turnkey fulfillment solution. With this acquisition Viewlocity can offer its retail or consumer goods customers a more robust way to tie their front office e-commerce to their back office supply chain and fulfillment operations. These solutions will ultimately allow for a tighter integration among e-tail customers and their trading partners. Cronin also revealed that NEXstep's Plano, TX, headquarters will now serve as another R&D center for the Americas, adding to Viewlocity's existing R&D centers in Atlanta and Stockholm, Sweden. All of its employees will continue to work out of NEXstep's office in Plano. Mohamed Amer, NEXstep's former President and COO, will now serve as Viewlocity's Vice President of E-tail/Retail Solutions; Michael Sherman, former Vice President of Development, will take on the role of Vice President of Application Engineering at Viewlocity. The financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. About Viewlocity Viewlocity is a global provider of e-infrastructure for business-to- business online trading communities and traditional supply chains. With more than 3,200 installations worldwide, AMTrix, Viewlocity's flagship product, empowers organizations and their business partners to "Connect, Communicate and Collaborate" throughout the extended supply chain. Viewlocity has 12 offices worldwide, with its global headquarters in Atlanta, GA, European headquarters in London and its Asia-Pacific headquarters in Singapore. Focused on the high tech, consumer products, retail/e-tail and logistics service provider industries, Viewlocity markets its products and services in more than 50 countries through its direct sales organization and through a global network of integration partners. For more information, contact Viewlocity at 770.512.8900 or visit the company on the web at www.viewlocity.com. Company Contact: Leanne Smullen Viewlocity 770.512.8900 x253 lsmullen@viewlocity.com ------------------------------------------------------------ Please visit http://www.bit.se for further information The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/02/08/20000208BIT00890/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/02/08/20000208BIT00890/bit0002.pdf