REI Endorses Softshare's Suite of EDI Solutions

To make EDI compliance more appealing to its vendors, REI is promoting Softshare's affordable and easy-to-use EDI solutions

Santa Barbara, CA.— August 15, 2002 — Softshare Inc., a friendly provider of e-commerce products and services, announced today that they will play a crucial roll in REI’s second-tier EDI rollout efforts by providing suppliers with a competitive suite of EDI solutions. For REI, an international supplier of specialty outdoor gear with more than 60 retail stores, 100% EDI compliance among its suppliers, big and small, is critical to the success of its electronic supply chain.

REI chose Softshare’s suite of EDI products for its low cost, ease of use, and scalability. For those suppliers handling a low volume of EDI documents, Softshare is offering Softshare Athena, a Web-based EDI application that requires only a browser. For those suppliers experiencing a more significant amount of EDI traffic, Softshare is offering Softshare Vista, a sophisticated Windows-based desktop EDI application. To achieve seamless EDI integration with back-end applications, REI vendors can throw Softshare Delta, Softshare’s any-to-any translator, into the mix.

All Softshare solutions provide REI vendors with everything needed to exchange EDI purchase orders, purchase order change requests, invoices, and advance ship notices— as well as generate the required UCC128 carton labels. In addition, REI vendors will be able to use Softshare's EDI solutions to exchange EDI (or XML) documents with other commercial trading partners.

"Softshare understands that no two trading partners are alike,” said Kari Swindle, REI Vendor Development Representative. “The scalability and affordability of their EDI product suite is what originally caught our attention, but the responsiveness they’ve shown is what has kept it. We feel confident that vendors using Softshare’s services will be well taken care of."

"Softshare Athena is fantastic," said Brian Bishop, Director of Operations at Timbuk2 Design and a long-time REI vendor. “Its Web interface is very intuitive and advance ship notices with bar codes are now a breeze to create. Athena is a big improvement over my previous Web EDI provider."

About REI

REI was established in 1938 by a group of 23 Pacific Northwest mountaineers who formed a consumer cooperative to ensure quality outdoor products for its members. Today, REI has more than 2 million active members served by 61 retail stores and operates two Internet sites: REI.com and REI-OUTLET.com. A portion of REI's profits is set aside each year for support of conservation and recreation causes. REI has given more than $8 million since 1976 to such efforts around the nation.

About Softshare

Softshare (www.softshare.com) offers a multi-tiered approach to electronic commerce with EDI/XML software solutions that range from desktop applications to fully integrated server applications. Supporting these applications is Softshare’s value added network and accessible customer service. Headquartered in Santa Barbara, California, Softshare has more than 20,000 clients using its various network, software, and EC services. For more information, call 800-346-6703 or e-mail sales@softshare.com.

Softshare Media Contact: Diane Springhuth, 800-346-6703, dianes@softshare.com

Softshare and Softshare Athena are registered trademarks of Softshare. All other company and product names referenced herein are registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective owners.