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4Front Technologies, Inc. Announces Strategic Initiatives to Enhance Future Growth: Company Announces Sale of Product Distribution Business.


LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 2, 1999--

Company to Invest $15 Million in E-Business Initiatives

Over Next 18 Months

4Front Technologies, Inc. ("4Front" or the "Company") (Nasdaq/Easdaq Symbol: FFTI FFTI Federazione Field Target Italia (Italian)
FFTI Feel Free to Ignore
) today announced strategic initiatives designed to accelerate the Company's move up the IT services value chain. 4Front expects these initiatives to significantly enhance its market position and future growth prospects. The specific initiatives 4Front announced today include:

- The sale of its computer storage product distribution business,

known as Hammer Distribution, to divisional management for $13.4

million, including the assumption of debt.

- A $15 million investment over the next 18 months that will

significantly expand the Company's e-business capabilities

throughout its markets.

Following the Hammer disposal 4Front becomes a company with an annualized annualized

Of or relating to a variable that has been mathematically converted to a yearly rate. Inflation and interest rates are generally annualized since it is on this basis that these two variables are ordinarily stated and compared.
 revenue run rate of approximately $280 million, of which over 90% is services based.

Anil Doshi, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of 4Front, said, "Our principal aim is the establishment of 4Front as a leading pan-European IT services company. Now that our core IT services businesses have achieved critical mass, we have decided to dispose of To determine the fate of; to exercise the power of control over; to fix the condition, application, employment, etc. of; to direct or assign for a use.

See also: Dispose
 our non-core lower margin product distribution business. As a pure IT services provider, we can now concentrate on moving further up the value chain, with a specific emphasis on e-business and managed services An umbrella term for third-party monitoring and maintaining of computers, networks and software. The actual equipment may be inhouse or at the third-party's facilities, but the "managed" implies an ongoing effort; for example, making sure the equipment is running at a certain quality  for which demand is rapidly growing among our blue-chip customer base throughout Europe."

4Front will immediately begin executing its new e-business plan, taking advantage of the capital inflow from the Hammer disposal. Through this plan, 4Front aims to establish itself as a major pan-European e-business and software solutions and services provider and has set a target of over 20% of total revenues to come from this business by 2003.

To achieve its targets, 4Front's e-business initiative investment plan specifically aims at:

- Deploying e-business services across Europe in conjunction with

current strategic partners, including Vignette Vignette

A symbol or pictorial representation of the corporation on a stock certificate. Usually a complicated and artistic design, it is meant to make the counterfeiting of stock certificates as difficult as possible.
 Corporation, and

other innovative partners. Particular areas of focus will include

high-growth segments, such as Customer Relationship Management

and Knowledge Management.

- Deploying web-based ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) An integrated information system that serves all departments within an enterprise. Evolving out of the manufacturing industry, ERP implies the use of packaged software rather than proprietary software written by or for one customer.  solutions with current strategic partners

and other partners on a pan-European basis.

- Deploying e-business and Internet related training activities

throughout Europe.

- Becoming a leading Application Service Provider in the European

marketplace.

Anil Doshi continued, "The e-business initiatives we are announcing today will greatly expand on those which we've been pursuing over the past few months. With an extensive established customer base of large, medium and small enterprises throughout Europe, and now, following the CVSI acquisition, in US and Japan, we are in a very strong position to offer e-business services. Increasingly, we are receiving requests for e-business assistance, as our customers look beyond Y2K See Y2K problem and Y2K compliant.

Y2K - Year 2000
 and toward the opportunities presented to them by the Internet, which is rapidly growing throughout Europe. 4Front's e-business initiatives, while dilutive to earnings near-term, are expected to contribute significantly to 4Front's future earnings growth and margin expansion once they are fully developed. As such, we feel the near-term dilutive impact of accelerating our Internet-based value-added services A value-added service (VAS) is a telecommunications industry term for non-core services or, in short, all services beyond standard voice calls and fax transmissions.  is significantly outweighed by the long-term potential of our e-business opportunities, particularly given our large market presence and strong customer relationships."

4Front management will discuss these strategic initiatives and be available for questions during its earnings release conference call scheduled for 10:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time today, Thursday December 2, 1999.

About 4Front Technologies, Inc.:

4Front Technologies, Inc., is a leading provider of information technology and outsourcing solutions, which consist of specialized computer services Data processing (timesharing, batch processing), software development and consulting services. See service bureau, SaaS and ASP.  and complementary products, primarily to blue-chip corporations throughout Europe. 4Front's services and solutions include help-desk support, education services, product-related services, network services, systems integration, specialized software services and products and the supply of high-end storage systems. 4Front's customers include British Petroleum, British Telecom The telephone and communications carrier that provides services in Great Britain and Northern Ireland. It used to be a division of the British Post Office, but was privatized in 1984 under Margaret Thatcher's administration. , Telecom Italia Telecom Italia is formerly a partially state-owned Italian telco. It was once known as SIP, and it has the largest user base in Italy.

Telecom Italia also owns shares in Telecom Argentina and Telecom Personal, fixed and cellular networks in Argentina.
, Computer Sciences Corp., IBM (International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, www.ibm.com) The world's largest computer company. IBM's product lines include the S/390 mainframes (zSeries), AS/400 midrange business systems (iSeries), RS/6000 workstations and servers (pSeries), Intel-based servers (xSeries) , Phillips, Nokia, Siemens, Sony, Cegedim, Renault, Energis, Pfizer, Cariplo, Societe Generale and the UK Ministry of Defence. Additional information on 4Front can be found on the Company's website at www.4fti.com.

The above statements include forward-looking statements forward-looking statement

A projected financial statement based on management expectations. A forward-looking statement involves risks with regard to the accuracy of assumptions underlying the projections.
 based on current management expectations. Factors that could cause future results to differ from these expectations include: risks associated with acquisitions, competition and seasonality. Additional factors are described in the Company's reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
COPYRIGHT 1999 Business Wire
No portion of this article can be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.
Copyright 1999, Gale Group. All rights reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.

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Publication:Business Wire
Date:Dec 2, 1999
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