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FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT The New Pubnet Announces New, Expanded Service for Members NEW YORK, NY, May 20, 1997--Pubnet LLC announced today the signing of a long term agreement with GE Information Services to develop its planned next generation PUBNET platform and to provide network services and support for the system into the 21st century. Under the terms of the agreement, Pubnet LLC will become a reseller of GE network services on July 1 of this year, thus extending and strengthening its existing relationship with the worldwide leading supplier of electronic data interchange, or EDI, services. This agreement marks the culmination of a year long search and evaluation of over a dozen organizations which were considered for and that aggressively pursued the chance to provide the new PUBNET solution. Commenting on the selection, Pubnet LLC Managing Director Andrew Gregory noted that GE Information Services' position in the industry, their historical supplier relationship and accumulated industry experience, as well as their ability as the incumbent supplier to minimize the difficulties of transition for the existing communities were factors in the decision. "Even more important, however, was the attitude and commitment expressed by GE's new senior management team. This convinced us that GE would be able to effectively deploy the right combination of experience, technology, and operational excellence to provide a state of the art solution which could grow as Pubnet does, thus expanding the value of service to the publishing and book selling communities." GE Information Services President and CEO, Harvey F. Seegers, remarked "We are pleased to be taking our relationship with Pubnet LLC to this level. The solution we develop will enable them to optimize their electronic commerce system, grow the bottom line, and provide customers with a service that is efficient and reliable. It's a win-win situation for everyone involved." Final design and development is expected to take six to eight months, and delivery of the new system is expected in the 1st quarter of 1998. This release will incorporate Internet technologies and many new features including support for additional documents, an EDI to fax bridge, and a unique link between publishers' information and the Books-In-Print database. This link will combine the successful PUBNET college store database with the book industry's universally recognized reference source Books-In-Print. Although these advanced capabilities will not be available until next year, Pubnet will introduce a simplified and lower cost pricing schedule and an expansion of its trading community when it becomes a reseller on July 1st. ---PUBNET is owned and operated by Pubnet LLC, a limited liability corporation owned equally by the Association of American Publishers, the American Booksellers Association, the National Association of College Stores, and R. R. Bowker, a division of Reed-Elsevier Inc. PUBNET currently has over 3700 users including booksellers, wholesalers/jobbers and publishers serving the academic, college, school and trade markets. Expanding each year since its release to the college store community in 1987, PUBNET users exchange over 2,000,000 documents per year. GE Information Services is a global leader in business-to-business electronic commerce solutions, managing the world's largest electronic trading community of more than 40,000 trading partners. GE's global networked solutions include EDI and messaging services, Internet, Intranet and Extranet services, and a full suite of applications that help streamline supply chain management processes. GE Information Services is one of the twelve key businesses of the General Electric Company, USA and is headquartered in Rockville, MD. |
 
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