Finally, the IBM news!!!
USTT now has TWO major companies on its team! You'd think the stock would at least be worth a buck!
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Mail Boxes Etc. and USA Technologies Announce Addition of IBM's Service and Support
Network to their Joint Venture Product, MBE Business Express
IBM to Help Install, Service and Support MBE Business Express Business Kiosks in Travel Locales and In-Center Computer
Workstations in Mail Boxes Etc. Retail Centers
SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 16, 1998-- Mail Boxes Etc. (MBE) and USA Technologies Inc.(OTCBB:USTT - news) announced today they will
now have IBM's service and support to help install, maintain and market MBE Business Express(TM), a joint venture product of MBE and USA Technologies.
MBE Business Express provides automated office equipment and computer centers for business travelers and ''road warriors.''
Users of MBE Business Express will now have the benefit of IBM's extensive network of service and support professionals. IBM will provide a variety of critical
services including installation, inventory, procurement, configuration of computer systems, equipment service and maintenance and operation of a customer support
call center. Also, IBM will assist with worldwide sales and marketing efforts for MBE Business Express, which is being placed throughout the hospitality industry.
MBE Business Express features 24-hour, credit card-activated, self-service business systems for traveling workers, small-business owners, and consumers who
need personal computers, printers, copiers and fax machines. Computer workstations, featuring Microsoft software, will provide Internet and e-mail services, laptop
ports and printers.
IBM also will support and service MBE's in-center computer time-rental workstations, currently being introduced nationwide. MBE plans to have 1,000 centers
participating in the computer workstation program by year's end. The in-center computer stations have the same features as the MBE Business Express computer
workstations.
''MBE Business Express is designed to help making working on the road easier for millions of business travelers and road warriors,'' said James Amos, president
and chief executive officer of Mail Boxes Etc. ''IBM was a natural choice for MBE Business Express, since they already have the system in place to support the
technology, and they have a strong commitment to meeting the needs of the small-office/home-office (SOHO) worker and road warrior market.''
''The addition of IBM is an enormous asset to MBE Business Express,'' said George R. Jensen Jr., president and chief executive officer of USA Technologies.
''IBM's involvement will help us establish MBE Business Express as the work site of choice for business travelers. This agreement is the groundwork for future
growth and expansion.''
''IBM is committed to helping small business gain access to the Internet and e-business tools necessary to compete in the worldwide marketplace,'' said Tom Smith,
General Manager, IBM Small and Medium Business. ''MBE Business Express provides an opportunity for IBM to reach small business and help them take the first
steps in getting their business on-line and worldwide.''
MBE Business Express office and computer equipment is activated by a simple swipe of a major credit card. The MBE Business Express units feature a direct
dial-through telephone to a nearby Mail Boxes Etc. location for additional services and support, such as color-copying projects, binding and packing, and shipping.
MBE Business Express unstaffed business centers are placed in convenient travel locales to provide busy business travelers with the equipment they need to get
their job done while ''on the road.''
MBE Business Express units are currently installed in select locations of four of the top-five hotel chains in the United States, and endorsement agreements are in
place with the corporate headquarters of Choice Hotels International, Promus and the Best Western hotel chains. Also, industry-leading Marriott Hotels, Resorts
and Suites will use MBE Business Express in properties with business center needs.
Other target markets for MBE Business Express include mass merchandise outlets as well as convenience stores, convention centers, airports, colleges, universities,
military bases, supermarkets and banks.
Mail Boxes Etc., a wholly owned subsidiary of U.S. Office Products Co., is the world's largest franchisor of retail business communication and postal service
centers. There are more that 3,500 MBE centers operating worldwide, with master licensing agreements in place for the development of the MBE business in 58
countries around the world.
In the United States, MBE centers are owned and operated by licensed franchisees of Mail Boxes Etc., USA Inc. Outside the United States, MBE centers are
owned and operated by MBE master licensees or their franchisees. MBE maintains a Web site at mbe.com.
USA Technologies, is a leading owner and licensor of networked credit card-activated control systems for the personal computer, photocopier, facsimile and laptop
printing capabilities. The company's proprietary technologies make available unattended, point-of-sale control systems for credit card payments.
U.S. Office Products Co. (USOP) (NASDAQ:OFIS - news) is one of the fastest growing suppliers of a broad range of office products and business services to
corporate, commercial, industrial and educational customers. USOP operates in the United States, as well as in New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the United
Kingdom, selling a full range of more than 34,000 office and educational products and services to its customers, and currently has over 20,000 employees. In
November 1997, USOP acquired Mail Boxes Etc.
Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. With the exception of the historical information contained in this release, the matters described herein
contain forward-looking statements that involve risk and uncertainties that may individually or mutually impact the matters herein described, including but not limited
to product acceptance, economic, competitive, governmental, results of litigation, technological and/or other factors, which are outside the control of the company. |
