Applied Digital Solutions' Cleveland-based Unit, STR, Inc. Launches TradeRoute, New Suite of Applications Linking Retail Stores to Corportate Offices.

Business Editors/High Tech Writers

PALM BEACH, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 17, 2000

Applied Digital Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSX) today announced that its retail systems and software development unit, STR, Inc., launched a new suite of communications and messaging applications, called TradeRoute, designed to enable specialty retailers to connect their stores with their corporate offices via Internet-style communications over a wide area network (WAN).

Delivering improved customer service in a flash

The full power of TradeRoute is unleashed when it is integrated with TradeWind(R), STR's award winning in-store application that helps to improve customer service, enhance inventory tracking capabilities and streamline the management of an operation's customer information database.

When integrated with TradeWind, TradeRoute instantly routes inquiries (such as inventory look-up, store credit validation, gift certificate validation, trickle polling, and customer look-up) to a central database and then delivers quick responses back to the store. TradeRoute also rapidly transports e-mail messages and credit authorization transactions.

TradeRoute gives store associates real-time access to data that is stored on corporate-based systems, allowing them to answer customer questions on-the-spot. Additionally, it eliminates time-wasted making phone calls and simplifies store operations by providing more information directly to the store.

Commenting on the announcement, Applied Digital Solutions' Chairman and CEO Richard J. Sullivan said: "TradeRoute is a great example of the synergies that we're developing between ADS and STR. By combining STR's applications development skills and its knowledge of the specialty retail market with Applied Digital's communications expertise, we were able to create an open, standards-based product that's unequalled in the market."

Robert W. Munson, President of STR, noted that industry trends indicate a growing desire for stores and corporate offices to be able to communicate in real time. "At the same time, technology and price advances in wide area networking are making it possible to bring a specialty retailer's stores on line over a WAN. TradeRoute is at the convergence of these two trends," he said.

Technically, TradeRoute is based on Microsoft standard tools, not proprietary architecture. It is built on a Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 database and uses Microsoft Windows NT features like Microsoft Transaction Server and Microsoft Message Queue Server. TradeRoute is optimized for a wide area network, either a vendor-based private network or an Internet-based virtual private network.

About STR, Inc.

STR, Inc., an Applied Digital Solutions company based in Cleveland, Ohio, develops and markets in-store systems and corporate data warehousing tools to the retail industry. STR has more than 15,000 contracted installations in a client base of internationally recognized specialty retail companies. To learn more about STR, please visit http://www.STRinc.com .

About Applied Digital Solutions, Inc.

Applied Digital Solutions, Inc. is an e-business to business solutions provider offering Internet, telecom, LAN and software services to a wide variety of businesses throughout North America. For more information, visit the Company's web site at http://www.adsx.com .

Statements about the Company's future expectations, including future revenues and earnings, and all other statements in this press release other than historical facts are `forward-looking statements' within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and as that term is defined in the Private Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The Company intends that such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and are subject to change at any time, and the Company's actual results could differ materially from expected results. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect subsequently occurring events or circumstances.