LOS ANGELES -- (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Nov. 1, 2000 -- Vertical Computer Systems, Inc. (OTCBB: VCSY) today announced its new relationship with Apollo Industries, Inc., operator of ApolloSmart(TM) (www.apollosmart.com).
Apollo Industries, Inc. is a smart card-based financial transaction and service solutions provider located in Los Angeles, California. VCSY has agreed to provide up to $275,000 in funding to Apollo Industries, Inc. for the enhancement of ApolloSmart(TM) technology. Upon completion, ApolloSmart(TM) will be integrated with VCSY's HCGs including the USBridge for added services.
``As we enter the new millennium, we believe that it is incumbent on portal providers to offer more security to their users in credit card transactions. ApolloSmart (TM) will provide VCSY's USBridge.com and its other HCGs enhanced security and convenience, utilizing its proprietary technology. Additionally, the technology will be marketed to the government sector in conjunction with iNetPurchasing, VCSY's venture partner, to enhance its Internet-based statewide procurement systems,'' stated Richard S. Wade, president of VCSY.
Apollo Industries' management includes some of the premier developers of smart card technology and leaders in the financial services industries. Among those leading Apollo Industries is Jerome Svigals, Director of Management Information Systems. He was a senior development, marketing and systems executive for IBM, and became known as ``the father of the magnetic stripe card.'' Svigals is the author of 17 books on smart cards and related topics, a regular columnist for a major financial services trade publication and a holder of 15 patents and a contributor to 44.
Additionally, Walter J. Mix III, former State of California Commissioner of the Department of Financial Institutions and current managing director of Secura Group, is a director of Apollo Industries, Inc.
The Secura Group was founded in 1986 by former Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Chairman William M. Isaac and provides financial advisory, credit, management consulting, risk management, litigation assistance, and regulatory services to banks, thrifts, and other financial services companies throughout the nation and around the world.
Vertical Computer Systems, Inc. is a leading multi-lingual gateway provider, software developer and e-commerce solutions company 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, VCSY has three HCGs in operation -- www.theusbridge.com, www.thebrazilbridge.com, 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 Emily (TM) Framework (www.emilysolutions.com), a programming language that enables the creation of Web sites that use the XML standard and intercommunicate via XML and HTTP. Also, VCSY offers a free, easy and personalized e-mail service for all Web users (www.thepostmaster.net). For more information, visit the company's Web site 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 information from other countries, new product acceptance and those described in the Company's filings with the SEC.