OASIS Member News: AC Industrial Chooses SoftQuad MarketAgility Enterprise

[Bruce Wigle <bwigle@softquad.com>]

Title:

AC Industrial Chooses SoftQuad MarketAgility Enterprise To Create Customized e-Catalogs From Over 2.3 Million Products

America's consolidated industrial supply network speeds time-to-market with XML-based catalog management system

TORONTO, ON - February 15, 2001 - SoftQuad Software, Ltd. (OTC BB: SXML), an internationally recognized developer of XML-enabling technologies and e-commerce solutions, today announced that AC Industrial, a leading MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Operations) wholesale supply company for government and institutional buyers, has selected SoftQuad MarketAgility Enterprise to collect, manage and deliver its customized e-catalogs from over 2.3 million product listings. AC Industrial chose MarketAgility Enterprise because it required a robust and scalable catalog management solution that allowed it to consolidate product data from multiple sources into one central location and to quickly create customized catalogs for a variety of online distribution channels, as well as its own online catalog.

MarketAgility Enterprise will allow AC Industrial to ensure the accuracy and validity of its 1.5 million-item product catalog for the Department of Defense eMall, one of its largest customers.  To produce and update this catalog, MarketAgility Enterprise automates the collection of product information from AC Industrial's own internal systems, as well as normalized manufacturer data supplied weekly by ec-Content, a leading e-catalog content solution provider, which maintains a base of product information that includes millions of individual items from thousands of manufacturers.

"SoftQuad delivered 100 percent of what we required in a catalog management solution," said Jerry Cooper, vice president at AC Industrial, based in Huntsville, Alabama. "MarketAgility Enterprise allows us to quickly create customized catalogs on the fly for all our distribution channels, complete with contract pricing and product codes.  We can now create buyer-specific catalogs with unique product selections and discounts in hours instead of weeks."

"Speed-to-market is critical for maintaining leadership and winning new business in this economy," said Roberto Drassinower, CEO of SoftQuad Software.  "Timely, customized catalogs for specific customers and markets is key.  We're very pleased to provide AC Industrial with the XML-based solution they need to effectively manage their e-market presence."

MarketAgility Enterprise is a self-hosted catalog management solution, built from the ground up around XML (eXtensible Markup Language), the new language of e-business and a technology that SoftQuad helped develop.  Because information is stored in XML, catalogs are easily transformed into the proper formats required for publishing to multiple electronic markets.  Currently, MarketAgility Enterprise supports output formats for Ariba, Commerce One, e-procurement systems, content aggregators and syndicators, Web publishing systems, and wireless applications.

MarketAgility Enterprise is a server-based solution built on Microsoft SQL Server and is administered through a simple browser interface.  It automates the collection, normalization and incremental updating of product information from wherever it resides in an enterprise into an XML-based master catalog.

Customized catalogs with buyer-specific prices or discounts can be easily created, reviewed, updated and approved using MarketAgility Enterprise's Web-based catalog management tools.  It provides customers with an automated catalog management solution tailored to their existing technology infrastructure, business processes and
e-catalog requirements.

About AC Industrial 
AC Industrial, Inc., America's Consolidated Industrial Supply Network, was founded in October 1992.  Combining deep expertise in wholesale supply, with products from over a thousand manufacturers and suppliers, AC Industrial has created a leading one-stop supply network for government procurement.  AC Industrial was awarded a worldwide supply contract for over 1.5 million items this year by the Defense Logistics Agency, available online at the DoD Emall: http://www.emall.dla.mil.  Products include commercial HVAC, plumbing, electrical and industrial MRO.  An approved supplier for both the Commerce One and Ariba networks, the company is now leveraging its expertise with electronic procurement into the commercial procurement sector, targeting the Global 2000, institutional, and state electronic markets.

About SoftQuad Software, Ltd.
SoftQuad Software, Ltd. (OTC BB: SXML) is an internationally recognized developer of XML-enabling technologies and commerce solutions for e-business.  A founding member of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) and XML.org, SoftQuad has been instrumental in shaping and developing both the standards and technologies that are changing the way companies exchange information and do business over the Web.

Headquartered in Toronto, Canada, with U.S. offices in Seattle and San Francisco, and European operations based in London, United Kingdom, SoftQuad was first to market with an advanced, yet easy-to-use XML content creation solution, XMetaL.  It has already become the premier enabling technology for XML-based content applications in electronic publishing, e-commerce and knowledge management.  SoftQuad is targeting the growing business-to-business (B2B) marketplace with MarketAgility Enterprise and MarketAgility Express, supply-side catalog content solutions that allow companies to effectively join and compete in B2B e-markets. 

Awards: XMetaL won the PC Magazine (UK) "Technical Innovation Award" for "Best Development Tool" in November 2000; the Web Techniques 1999 "Web Authoring Tool of the Year" Award; was an Internet Week "Best of the Best," winning the "Most Innovative" category; and is an XML Journal "World Class" recommendation for 2000. 

For more information, visit SoftQuad's Web site at http://www.softquad.com.

SoftQuad and XMetaL are registered trademarks of SoftQuad Software, Ltd.  MarketAgility is a trademark of SoftQuad Software, Ltd.  Ariba is a registered trademark of Ariba, Inc. (Nasdaq: ARBA).  Commerce One is a registered trademark of Commerce One, Inc. (Nasdaq: CMRC).  Microsoft is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation (Nasdaq: MSFT).  All other products or company names mentioned are used for identification purposes only, and may be trademarks of their respective owners.

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Caution Concerning Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  Words such as "anticipates", "estimates", "expects", "will", "should", "projects", "intends", "plans", "believes" and words and terms of similar substance used in connection with any discussion of future operating or financial performance identify such forward-looking statements.  Those forward-looking statements are management's present expectations of future events.  As with any projection or forecast, they are inherently susceptible to uncertainty and changes in circumstances, and SoftQuad is under no obligation to (and expressly disclaims any such obligation to) update or alter its forward-looking statements whether as a result of such changes, new information, future events or otherwise.

SoftQuad is an early-stage growth company that operates in a highly competitive and rapidly changing environment, and its business results are dependent on numerous factors, including demand for its products and services, especially its newly introduced MarketAgility product, growth in the market for XML products, its ability to manage costs, generate revenues and become profitable, the potential impact of any mergers, acquisitions or other business combinations, the transition from its past reliance on revenues from its HoTMetaL (HTML-based) product to its XML-based products, its ability to meet its future capital requirements, technological developments, competition from other companies that may have longer operating histories or greater financial resources, protection of its intellectual property rights, its ability to attract and retain key personnel, the resolution of issues concerning commercial activities via the Internet, including security, reliability, cost, ease of use and access, government regulation, risks related to international sales and potential foreign currency exchange fluctuations, political, business and social conditions in the geographic areas in which it operates and in which its products are sold, its ability to successfully obtain inclusion of its common stock on the NASDAQ National Market and other risks detailed from time to time in periodic reports filed by SoftQuad with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulatory authorities.  SoftQuad's actual results could differ materially from management's expectations because of such factors.