Abacus Direct, Acxiom Corporation Announce Landmark Strategic Alliance.BROOMFIELD, Colo. and CONWAY, Ark.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 12, 1999-- Abacus Direct Corporation (Nasdaq: ABDR ABDR Aircraft Battle Damage Repair ABDR Army Battle Damage Repair ABDR Airfield Battle Damage Repair ABDR Air Battle Damage Report ABDR Aircraft Battle Damage Report ) and Acxiom(R) Corporation (Nasdaq: ACXM) today announced a multi-year strategic product development and distribution agreement aimed at capitalizing on the information and technology strengths of both companies to create new and more powerful data products for customers in selected vertical industries. Under the terms of the agreement, Abacus will maximize the power of its Alliance database, the nation's largest database of consumer catalog buying Noun 1. catalog buying - buying goods to be shipped through the mail mail-order buying buying, purchasing - the act of buying; "buying and selling fill their days"; "shrewd purchasing requires considerable knowledge" behavior, in conjunction with Acxiom's InfoBase(TM) database, the nation's premier source for demographic information, to create new, jointly marketed data products. Tony White, Abacus Chairman and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. , stated: "We are continually working to supply larger, better targeted and more deliverable universes to Abacus participants and to broaden the information in our market research reports. This alliance with Acxiom will greatly enhance our ability to deliver in all of those areas." "This relationship offers our customers tremendous benefits," said Charles D. Morgan, Acxiom Chairman and Company Leader. "Linking Abacus' information about catalog consumers with our demographic data will provide unmatched knowledge to assist our mutual customers in their strategic marketing efforts." The alliance will also provide for Abacus' prompt adoption of the AcxiKey(SM) data management technology and application of key data variables to the AcxiKey database. The AcxiKey technology, which is Acxiom's proprietary data linking and integration technology, will allow Abacus to increase the effectiveness of its internal list integration processes. This will allow Acxiom to take yet another step in expanding the coverage of the fast-growing AcxiKey database while also improving Abacus' operating efficiency. Additionally, Abacus will explore ways to apply Acxiom's data processing data processing or information processing, operations (e.g., handling, merging, sorting, and computing) performed upon data in accordance with strictly defined procedures, such as recording and summarizing the financial transactions of a and data integration expertise internally within the Abacus organization, and both companies will jointly research ways to expand data delivery capabilities of the Acxiom Data Network(SM). For a variety of business reasons, Acxiom has begun implementing a strategy to discontinue investment in its SmartBase(R) product, which is similar in function to the Abacus Alliance Database. Accordingly, SmartBase will be phased out over the next several years. As part of this alliance, Acxiom and Abacus will work together to transition existing Smartbase customers to the Abacus Alliance in a smooth and seamless fashion honoring the commitments that Smartbase has made to its existing clients. About Abacus Direct Corp. Abacus manages the premier membership database, the Abacus Alliance, which is the nations' largest proprietary database of consumer catalog buying behavior used for target marketing purposes. The Abacus Alliance database currently contains records from 1,100 merchandise catalogs, with more than 2 billion consumer catalog transactions representing virtually all U.S. consumer catalog buying households. Abacus applies its proprietary modeling techniques to the power of shared data to improve profitability, to improve targeting efficiency, and reduce unwanted mailings. Founded in 1990, Abacus Direct Corp. is headquartered in Broomfield, Colo. and has offices in Teddington, England, New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. , Atlanta, San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden , Chicago, and Hawthorne, N.Y. For more information, visit Abacus Direct's Web site at http://www.abacus-direct.com or contact Cindi Gallucci, Abacus Direct Corp., 22 Saw Mill Rd, Hawthorne NY 10532, 914/345-0441. About Acxiom Corporation Acxiom provides a wide spectrum of data products, data integration services, mailing list services, modeling and analysis, and information technology outsourcing Information Technology Outsoucing or ITO is a company's outsourcing of computer or Internet related work, such as programming, to other companies. It is used in refence to Business Process Outsourcing or BPO, which is the outsourcing of the work that does not require so much services, as well as data warehousing and decision support services support services Psychology Non-health care-related ancillary services–eg, transportation, financial aid, support groups, homemaker services, respite services, and other services to major U.S. and international firms. Acxiom is a member of the Direct Marketing Association (DMA (1) (Digital Media Adapter) See digital media hub. (2) (Document Management Alliance) A specification that provides a common interface for accessing and searching document databases. ), the Individual Reference Services Group (IRSG IRSG - Internet Research Steering Group ), and the Online Privacy Alliance (OPA OPA: see Office of Price Administration. ). Acxiom supports the Fair Information Practices standards of these organizations. Founded in 1969, Acxiom is headquartered in Conway, Arkansas, with operations throughout the United States and in the United Kingdom, France and Spain. Acxiom's World Wide Web address is (URL URL in full Uniform Resource Locator Address of a resource on the Internet. The resource can be any type of file stored on a server, such as a Web page, a text file, a graphics file, or an application program. ) http://www.acxiom.com or e-mail to info@acxiom.com. Acxiom is a registered trademark of Acxiom RTC See real time clock. , Inc. SmartBase and Direct Media are registered trademarks of Acxiom Corporation. InfoBase, AcxiKey, and Acxiom Data Network are trademarks or service marks of Acxiom Corporation. For more information contact Dale Ingram, Acxiom Corporation, 301 Industrial Blvd., Conway AR 72032, 501/342-4346. The discussion in this release regarding the strategic alignment between Abacus Direct Corporation and Acxiom Corporation contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including risks detailed from time to time in each companies' SEC reports. Actual results may differ materially. |
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