Informission Acquires Chicago-Based Flow
Systems Corporation
APRIL 6, 2000
MONTREAL, QUEBEC--
www2.cdn-news.com
Company to offer automated catalog publishing solutions targeted
at B2B suppliers and distributors
Informission Group Inc. a subsidiary of Quebecor Inc., announced
today that it will expand its automated publishing strategy by
acquiring Chicago-based Flow Systems Corporation, a leading
provider of catalog content management and publishing solutions
for manufacturers and distributors. The transaction, subject to
the approval of regulatory authorities, is expected to be
completed in April, 2000. The acquisition will be made in
consideration of the issuance of common shares and cash.
Flow Systems' solutions enable business-to-business (B2B)
catalogers to manage the entire product information lifecycle from
acquisition of product data from legacy systems through catalog
publishing and delivery. The company's flagship solution, Flow
Publisher, is a comprehensive database-driven solution for B2B
suppliers who need an efficient, scalable publishing process
capable of supporting product information distribution in a
variety of formats, from print and CD-ROM catalogs to Web catalogs
and e-procurement systems. Among the companies using Flow
Publisher to automate their catalog publishing and product data
distribution are 3M, Boise Cascade Office Products, Medline
Industries, Sigma-Aldrich and Snap-on Tools. Flow Systems expects
revenues to exceed $6 million in 2000.
"The management and distribution of product information has become
a key requirement for sellers in B2B markets. Without the ability
to publish catalogs quickly across multiple formats, many
companies find themselves excluded from emerging Internet
marketplaces," said Alister Gibson, President of Flow Systems.
"As part of the Informission family, we can not only meet this
growing demand for multiple-media catalog publishing systems but
also contribute to an integrated set of e-commerce and automated
publishing solutions and services for industrial manufacturers and
distributors."
"A key element of our strategy is the development of automated
publishing solutions in partnership with Quebecor, which produces
25 % of the world's catalogs," said Alexandre Taillefer, Chief
Strategy Officer of Informission Group. "Flow Systems will allow
us to address the growing need among B2B catalogers for an
enterprise publishing system that helps them re-purpose their
digital assets, compress publishing cycles, reduce costs and react
quickly to the needs of a targeted market, whether in print, on
the Web or on CD-ROM."
Flow Systems Corporation
Founded in 1996, Flow Systems Corporation (www.flowsystems.com)
specializes in product information systems for industrial
manufacturers and distributors with large or complex product
lines. Part of a complete solution for B2B sellers, Flow
Publisher, gives employees a shared repository of catalog content
and automated publishing processes that maintain Web catalogs,
support print and electronic catalog production, and distribute
product data to customers and channel partners.
Informission Group Inc.
Informission Group Inc. (TSE: IFN), a subsidiary of Quebecor Inc.,
is an information technology company providing e-commerce, Web
integration and automated publishing solutions for corporate and
public sector clients in North America, Europe and select
locations around the world. Informission employs close to 1000
professionals in its various offices in Montreal, Quebec, Toronto,
Ottawa, Seattle, New York, Boston and Paris.
Quebecor Inc.
Quebecor Inc. (TSE: QBR.A, QBR.B) is a communications holding
company with revenues of approximately $11 billion. With business
activities spread throughout North America, Europe, South America
and Asia, the Company operates in five main sectors. The Company
has publishing (including distribution and retail), broadcasting
and multimedia activities through its subsidiaries Sun Media
Corporation and Quebecor Communications Inc. Through its
subsidiary Quebecor Printing Inc., it ranks as the largest
commercial printer in the world. Through its subsidiary Donohue
Inc., it is a major integrated forest products company engaged in
forest management to ensure its fibre supply, and in the
manufacture and sale of newsprint, specialty papers, market pulp
and wood products. Quebecor employs approximately 60,000 people
in 15 countries.
The forecast revenues for Flow Systems are forward looking
statements based upon current expectations and projections about
future events prepared by Flow Systems. The forward looking
statements are subject to the usual risks and uncertainties and
Informission does not undertake to update or revise the same.
/T/
FLOW SYSTEMS CORPORATION
FACT SHEET
Media Contact: Alister Gibson
Tel. 630.455.2660 x202
Fax. 630.455.6480
E-mail agibson@flowsystems.com
Company Positioning: Flow Systems is a provider of product
information systems and e-commerce
solutions for business-to-business (B2B)
catalog publishers. The company's
solutions help sellers to manage and
distribute the content that enables
purchasing decisions on the Internet and
through traditional channels.
Customer Profile: Industrial manufacturers and distributors
with large or technically complex product
lines. Customers typically have product
lines in excess of 10,000 items and range
up to 1 million items.
Flow Systems' customers are often leaders
in their respective industries, and have
revenues well in excess of US$100
million.
Representative Customers: 3M - Manufacturer of industrial tape &
adhesive products
Aesculap - Manufacturer of surgical
instruments
Medline Industries - Distributor of
hospital supplies
Boise Cascade Office Products - Contract
distributor of office products, furniture
& technology products supplies
Panduit Corporation - Manufacturer of
electrical & telecommunications products
Cameron & Barkley - Distributor of
industrial supplies
Snap-on Tools - Manufacturer of hand and
power tools
Sigma-Aldrich - Manufacturer of chemical
& life science products
Life Technologies - Manufacturer of life
science products
Moore Handley - Distributor of hardware &
building supplies
Solutions: An integrated suite of tools, built
around a relational database (typically
Oracle), that support the entire product
information lifecycle from creation and
proofing through publishing and
distribution. Components of this
comprehensive solution include:
Flow Publisher - An enterprise database
application that provides a single source
of product information for print or
electronic catalog publishing, and other
product data-enabled applications.
Flow Selector - A commerce-enabled Web
catalog application designed specifically
for B2B sellers, the catalog is
automatically updated from a Flow
Publisher system.
Flow Selector/CD - Functionally
equivalent to Flow Selector, this CD
catalog publishing toolset allows B2B
sellers to distribute a completely self-
contained, database-driven Web catalog on
CD-ROM. Selector/CD handles customer-
specific pricing and supports a Web-style
shopping cart and checkout process to
create printable or faxable orders.
Flow PageBuilder - This QuarkXTension or
PageMaker plug-in accepts XML content
files produced by Flow Publisher,
automating many of the tasks involved in
laying out catalog pages. Flow Systems'
customers typically report cycle time
improvements in excess of 50 %.
Flow DataBridge - A unique solution that
helps catalog publishers recover content
from legacy catalog pages in Quark or
PageMaker format. A user "teaches" the
application by classifying a data element
as, for example, a product name.
DataBridge then stores and applies the
classification rule to all similar data
elements using such attributes as font,
point size, format, position on the page
and frequency of occurrence. The result
is a database of data elements and
relationships that can be loaded into a
Flow Publisher database.
Competitive
Differentiation: eProcurement Solution Providers -
Solutions are emerging that help
eMarketplaces and Web-based procurement
solutions to aggregate and store product
information from a large number of
suppliers. These solutions are necessary
because most suppliers lack a product
information system such as Flow
Publisher. Data often contains errors,
is inconsistent, and lacks the richness
required for a good online buying
experience. Through its focus of helping
sellers to manage and distribute product
information, Flow Systems' solutions
complement eProcurement systems and
eMarkets, allowing sellers to automate
the distribution of rich content to
buyers and channel partners.
eCommerce Solution Providers - Many
companies provide Web catalog solutions.
Most ignore the critical problem of
catalog content management, assuming that
the Web catalog can be driven by legacy
data sources. The reality is that the
most important content (for example,
product descriptions, catalog
organization, pictures, and marketing-
oriented specifications) exists only in
desktop publishing files. Flow Systems
solves this problem by providing a robust
content management component that not
only helps a marketer to prepare content
for the Web, it also allows the same
content to be published in other formats
too.
Catalog Publishing Solutions - Solutions
that support print-based catalog
publishing have been available for a
number of years and have been extended to
provide support for electronic catalog
features. By contrast, Flow Systems'
solutions focus on providing an
enterprise solution for the management
and distribution of marketing-oriented
product information, without emphasis on
any particular output format. By
focusing on data requirements, this
output independent approach offers
greater flexibility in the use of product
information and allows the system to
easily adapt to future output needs. |
