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Tuesday May 19, 7:02 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
Tech Squared Inc. Launches New Net Direct Catalog
MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 19, 1998--Tech Squared Inc. (Bulletin Board: TSQD) today launched a new catalog of computer hardware and software products used for building and maintaining intranet and Internet sites. The new catalog, entitled Net Direct(TM), is billed as ''the sitebuilders' superstore''.
''Unlike other catalogs that are designed to promote a product or a technology such as Windows computers or networking hardware, Net Direct is designed to serve a user segment,'' said Rick Apple, Tech Squared's senior vice president of marketing. ''That user orientation allows us to be a complete provider for our audience and, even more importantly, allows us to better understand and meet our customers' needs with a variety of solutions, even as individual technologies advance or fade,'' continued Apple.
Net Direct includes all three basic categories of product needed to create an Internet presence - server and networking hardware, development tools and applications, and graphics software - and includes products from manufacturers such as IBM, Cisco, 3Com, Bay Networks, Lotus Development, Microsoft, Netscape, SoftQuad, Symantec, Adobe, RealNetworks and many more. In total, Net Direct has several thousand individual items available for sale, with the catalog showing over 1,000 of them in print.
''As a leading developer of intranet software, we are very pleased to be included in the launch issue of Net Direct,'' said Rick Faulk, vice president of marketing for IntraNetics. ''Tech Squared's full solutions approach to servicing sitebuilders, along with their catalog marketing strategy, makes them an exciting reseller for us and one whose business is truly unique. We know of no other catalog positioned to fully service webmasters and site developers, and we see this as an excellent opportunity to both raise our visibility and to broaden our distribution.''
''Net Direct is the right idea at the right time,'' stated Al Powell, vice president of sales at INTERSHOP Communication, one of the world's leading providers of electronic commerce software. ''To succeed in a fast-paced environment, developers need cutting edge technology and strong suppliers such as Tech Squared offering INTERSHOP eCommerce products and thousands of other state-of-the art tools.''
''We are very excited about this launch,'' concluded Tech Squared's Apple. ''With our wide selection of product, our salespeople's expertise, our rapid delivery and post-sales support, and our leading-edge pricing, we think we are well positioned to be an important supplier to the rapidly growing Internet development community.''
Net Direct is Tech Squared's second brand targeted at a vertical marketplace of information systems (IS) users. Its first brand, DTP Direct, mails over 2 million catalogs annually to professional desktop publishers and graphic artists. Net Direct employs a dedicated sales staff focused on the intranet and Internet site building marketplace, but will share administration, operations and facilities with the DTP Direct catalog business.
Tech Squared Inc. is a national direct marketer and distributor of mid- to high-end microcomputer hardware, software and peripherals. Customers interested in more information should call Net Direct at 800-311-7389 or DTP Direct at 800-395-7778. Interested resellers should contact Tech Squared distribution at 800-762-3531. Vendors wishing to inquire about the inclusion of their products in Net Direct should call Tech Squared Inc. corporate offices at 612-832-5622.
Forward-looking statements in this release are subject to certain risks as described in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the company's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 1997. |
