1-800-FLOWERS Cultivates Growth of Online Channel with Sonic Software.

AVENTURA, Fla. -- Retail Executive Summit--

SonicMQ(R) Messaging Platform Delivers Real-time Data Replication for Load Balancing and Data Mirroring of Leading Retailer's Web Hosting Operations

1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Inc. (NASDAQ: FLWS), a leading multi-channel retailer of thoughtful gifts for all occasions, has deployed the SonicMQ(R) enterprise messaging platform from Sonic Software (http://www.sonicsoftware.com), the inventor and leading provider of the enterprise service bus (ESB). SonicMQ provides the messaging backbone for the 1-800-Flowers global server load balancing (GSLB) infrastructure, which automates customer traffic across the company's three, geographically dispersed hosting centers for improved scalability, performance, and business continuity.

SonicMQ helps 1-800-Flowers manage peak Web site traffic, especially during critical holiday periods, when the company depends on multiple hosting sites across the country to rapidly service customer orders. To ensure that customers enjoy a seamless shopping experience, SonicMQ replicates key information, such as the customer's address book and shopping cart, across the 1-800-Flowers distributed Web site hosting operations. SonicMQ ensures that no customer information is lost, even if a customer starts shopping in the morning on the New York-based site and completes the order in the afternoon on the Dallas-based site.

"The ability to manage the peaks and valleys of Web site traffic is critical to ensuring the high quality experience for customers. Sonic helps us provide a consistent quality of service," said Enzo Micali, CTO for 1-800-Flowers. "Using Sonic, we've been able to develop an advanced load-balancing infrastructure that isn't overly complex to develop, deploy and manage. Sonic has been very responsive, and the product performs as advertised."

For additional project details and benefits, see the 1-800-Flowers success story on the Sonic Web site at http://www.sonicsoftware.com/customers/docs/1800flowers.pdf.

About Sonic Software Corporation

Sonic Software is the inventor and leading provider of the enterprise service bus (ESB). Sonic enterprise integration and messaging products deliver flexibility, scalability, and continuous availability through patent-pending innovations. Sonic Software enables over 700 customers to integrate their organizations from the department to the extended enterprise with a standards-based, service-oriented architecture (SOA).

Sonic Software is an independent operating company of Progress Software Corporation (Nasdaq: PRGS), a US$300+ million global software industry leader. Headquartered in Bedford, Mass., Sonic Software can be reached on the Web at http://www.sonicsoftware.com, or by phone at [phone] or 1-866-GET-SONIC.

SonicMQ and Sonic Software (and design) are registered trademarks of Sonic Software Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. Any other trademarks or service marks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.