RosettaNet Press Release
RosettaNet Members Mark EConcert Readiness Day With Continuing Achievements In Global It Supply-Chain E-Business Standards

2.2.2000 Milestone Date Focuses on Internal Readiness to Implement New Standards

For Release February 2, 2000

SANTA ANA --

Leading companies in the information technology (IT) industry today marked EConcert Readiness Day - a milestone target date for RosettaNet consortium members to report the state of internal preparations for partner-to-partner supply chain e-business.

Since the June 1999 launch of EConcert, the implementation phase of RosettaNet, members and their solution partners have been tasked with pilot implementation tests of one or more "Partner Interface Processes" (PIPs) that fulfill supply chain business processes, such as price changes, new product introductions and catalog updates.

EConcert Readiness Day consists of the alignment of internal business processes with one or more published PIPs; preparation of internal systems to exchange one or more PIPs with another supply chain partner; adoption of the Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) sponsored by the Uniform Code Council (UCC) and EAN International, the D&B D-U-N-S® Number and the UN/SPSC and as their standard for unique product identification and the RosettaNet Technical Dictionary; and participation in an industry-wide campaign to assist trading partners in achieving a state of readiness.

In a poll of members conducted over the past three weeks, respondents indicate a continuing high level of commitment to implementation of RosettaNet standards.

"Most companies participating in EConcert have fulfilled the readiness conditions and are prepared to support PIPs in a production mode during the next phase of implementation," said Colin Evans, chairman of the IT Managing Board and director of E-Business Strategy and Operations at Intel. "We are especially proud of the momentum we have as we work toward the next step - the implementation of production processes with multiple trading partners using RosettaNet PIP standards." Among those members reporting readiness of internal business process alignments with selected PIPs are Avnet, Cisco Systems, Compaq Computer, Computacenter, Federal Express, GSA, Insight, MicroAge, NEC Technologies, Netscape, Solectron, Tech Data and UPS. Trading partners that have reported readiness and are also exchanging PIPs in pilot or production mode include Intel and Arrow Electronics, Hewlett-Packard and SAP, 3Com and CompUSA, and Ingram Micro with CompUSA.

"Reaching this milestone in such a short period of time reflects the high level of commitment by this industry's leaders to RosettaNet. We're all very excited about moving onto the next step of the implementation phase," said Steve Kaufman, member of the RosettaNet Executive Board and chairman and CEO of Arrow Electronics.

European activity will also highlight EConcert implementation in the year 2000, with companies including Fujitsu-Siemens Computers taking a leading role in ongoing adoption of the global RosettaNet eBusiness standards.

About RosettaNet
RosettaNet is an independent, self-funded, non-profit consortium dedicated to the development and deployment of standard electronic business interfaces to align the processes between supply chain partners on a global basis. Launched in June 1998, RosettaNet is currently in the pilot phase of its implementation cycle.

More than 60 companies representing $600 billion in annual revenues currently provide the mandate for RosettaNet's standards development strategy. A complete list of member companies and more information on RosettaNet can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.rosettanet.org.