LOS ANGELES, CA., December 27, 2000 - Vertical Computer Systems, Inc. (OTCBB: VCSY), a leading provider of web-based multilingual gateways, e-business solutions and developer of proprietary software, announced today details of the recent annual conference of the National Electronic Commerce Coordinating Council (NECCC) held in Las Vegas, Nevada, Dec. 12-15. At the conference, iNetPurchasing.com (iNPI) officially unveiled details of its strategic alliance and joint ventures with Vertical Computer Systems (VCSY) to use, market and sell VCSY's Emily™ XML technology for the B2G and B2B markets.
The NECCC is an alliance of national state government organizations dedicated to the advancement of electronic commerce within states. The alliance is comprised of the National Association of State Auditors, Controllers and Treasurers (NASACT), the National Association of State Information Resource Executives (NASIRE), the National Association of State Procurement Officials (NASPO), and the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) in conjunction with NGA - National Governors Association, NASCA - National Association of State Chief Administrators, ITAA - Information Technology Association of America and NACHA - National Automated Clearing House Association. The annual conference brought over 500 leaders in state and local government to discuss and review case studies and best practices in e-government.
iNPI CEO Basil Nikas has been a Board Member of this unique organization since inception 4 years ago and serves as the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) representative to the council. A nationally recognized speaker on the new paradigms in e-procurement in the public sector, Mr. Nikas moderated and spoke at the conference. "The Annual NECCC conference is the perfect forum to introduce VCSY’s Emily technology. The most influential people in the public sector e-commerce arena attended including Secretaries of State, Controllers, Purchasing Directors, Governors and leaders in industry," Mr. Nikas was quoted as saying.
The market for e-procurement in the public sector is estimated to be around $3 billion a year and iNPi is firmly established as the recognized leader in the provision of e-catalog purchasing services designed to meet the specific needs of the public sector on the state and municipal levels. iNPI’s ASP (Application Service Provider) model is used by the states of Texas, Idaho and Maine, with a series of additions planned for the 2nd Quarter 2001.
iNPi has exclusively partnered with VCSY to implement, market and sell Emily XML technology to the public sector. Emily provides software for e-commerce, information technologies, web-based data access and process control. The central component of Emily Solutions is the unique and powerful Emily Interpreter, offering extensible, multi-platform scripting language with built-in parsing of XML and HTML data, including support for SQL databases and tailored for the construction of intelligent, dynamic web sites.
Commenting on the developments, Richard Wade, President of Vertical Computer Systems, Inc., said, "This is potentially an enormous market for our proprietary Emily technologies. Our alliance with iNPI will enable VCSY to bring the advantages of Emily XML technology directly to companies that service government organizations. With so many state and municipal government agencies moving to the Internet to make their purchasing decisions, vendors need to react quickly to ensure their continuing success in serving the public sector. With VCSY’s Emily technology, small-to-medium-sized companies can easily create and publish their catalogs on the Internet without any need for additional programming. While this type of technology has been overwhelmingly expensive for smaller company budgets, Vertical has developed our Emily technology to provide ease of setup and use, while remaining cost-effective for even the smallest of companies."
iNetPurchasing, Inc., (iNPI) (www.inetpurchasing.com), is the leading application service provider for Internet-based government procurement services. INPI’s comprehensive e-procurement system is being contracted for by state and local government agencies throughout the United States. This service enables and empowers public sector clients with cost-saving purchasing capabilities that save time and money. It instantly puts government buyers and private sellers together for fast cost comparisons, quick sales decisions and speedy payment.
Vertical Computer Systems, Inc. is a leading provider of web-based multilingual gateways, developer of proprietary software, and e-commerce solutions. The Company is based in the United States. VCSY's products and services, technology and distribution channels complement each other and are supported by its e-commerce business model, the Home Country Gateway (HCG). Utilizing its growing global network of online HCGs, the Company offers B2B, B2G and B2C solutions through its wide range of accessible resources that specifically cater to the needs and desires of targeted communities around the world.
At present, in addition to www.theindiabridge.com, VCSY has four other HCGs in operation: www.theworldbridge.com, www.theusbridge.com, www.thebrazilbridge.com and www.thechinabridge.com, and anticipates other HCG partnerships to be completed. VCSY also acquired Globalfare.com - a complete online travel information center, www.globalfare.com. The company is also developing the EmilyTM Framework (www.emilysolutions.com), a programming language that enables the creation of websites that use the XML standard and intercommunicate via XML and HTTP. Also, VCSY offers a free, easy and personalized email service for all Web users (www.thepostmaster.net). For more information, visit the company's website at www.vcsy.com.
This release contains, in addition to historical information, forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to a number of uncertainties and risks that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. Factors that may cause such a difference include, but are not limited to, competition from other portals, the company's ability to integrate and market the Emily™ software, the continuance of the strategic alliance between VCSY and iNetPurchasing.com, the market reception to VCSY’S new products, the potential benefits to customers, the conversion of sales leads into customers and the ramp-up of ASP users and other factors over which VCSY may have little or no control such as those described in the company's filings with the SEC.