Bluestone Software Books Deal With Borders Group; Bluestone's Sapphire/Web Application Server Infrastructure to Power Borders' Fast Track E-Commerce Systems.

Business Editors/Hi-Tech Writers

PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 15, 2000

Bluestone(R) Software, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLSW), a leading provider of Enterprise Interaction Management software, today announced that Borders Group, Inc. (NYSE:BGP), a global book, music and video retailer with over 300 superstores on four continents, has selected Bluestone's Sapphire/Web(R) Application Server as the infrastructure to power Borders Group's fast-track e-commerce systems.

Selected from a group of over 25 candidates, Bluestone Sapphire/Web will replace an aging legacy system that currently links Borders' primary e-commerce Website, Borders.com, and the company's in-store "special order" systems -- Borders Express and NetSPO. The Bluestone system will tie together Borders' numerous, different ordering systems around the world, and is designed to provide the company with the expansion headroom needed to meet its future growth targets for Web-based, e-commerce, direct sales to customers, as well as for the company's burgeoning special order business, which is fast becoming an important source of additional revenue.

To implement the Sapphire/Web infrastructure, Bluestone partnered with Decision Consultants, Inc.(DCI), a leading systems integrator headquartered close to Borders Group's Michigan head office.

"Bluestone's experience, technical prowess, and unwavering commitment to demonstrating the extensive capabilities of its software led us to conclude that they offered us the best all-round solution for augmenting the capabilities of our e-commerce systems," stated Mark Winterhalter, vice president Information Technology of Borders Group, Inc. "We feel confident that Bluestone's exceptional product and team-oriented approach will enable Borders Group to continue to aggressively pursue our retail convergence strategy, and to continue to lead the market in terms of customer service and assortment."

Commenting on the agreement signed with Borders Group, John H. Capobianco, senior vice president and chief marketing officer for Bluestone Software, said, "As we have demonstrated in this extremely competitive situation, Bluestone offers the most versatile solution for both e-tailers and retailers who, increasingly, need to integrate systems in different geographies, running on different operating systems, into a distributed, scalable, robust, Web-based system that offers extensibility for future expansion needs. We also proved the winning virtues of a partnership approach by aligning our efforts with the experts at Decision Consultants--we intend to continue to leverage the expertise and talent of local systems integrators in future sales situations."

Added Jack Krasula, chairman & CEO of Decision Consultants, Inc., "We are very pleased to be chosen by Borders and Bluestone on this project. Our combination of e-Business expertise, systems integration experience, and the Bluestone Sapphire/Web software enables us to deliver a complete business solution for Borders. We are proud to be associated with industry leaders, like Borders and Bluestone."

Borders Group Commissions An Extensive IT Modernization

Faced with replacing the company's existing "middleware" solution, which links the company's Web servers and in-store terminals with its central database, Borders Group issued a detailed Request for Proposal (RFP) to more than 25 vendors, including Bluestone Software. "Our primary objectives were to improve our systems' capabilities in the critical areas of scalability, failover, fault tolerance and overall infrastructure," observed Don Warren, project manager at Borders Group. "We asked the vendors to demonstrate how their systems would increase the number of concurrent users, improve users' access to ordering information, and address our needs for business-to-business transactions with our distribution and warehousing affiliates."

From among the eleven detailed responses received by Borders, three vendors were selected to present a prototype system to Borders' management. Bluestone was one of these finalists. From a technical perspective, a crucial part of the challenge set for these finalists was to architect a solution that could efficiently and elegantly tie customer-facing Web Application Servers, as well as in-store custom applications in the company's Borders superstores, and Borders and Waldenbooks mall stores, to the company's database servers. The Web Application Server needed to integrate the Visual C++-based system, used by Borders' customer service representatives to enter customers' phone-in orders, as well as run on IBM's AIX operating system. A further key feature stipulated by Borders was the ability to closely monitor system performance, along with the time taken to complete various transactions, so that the company would be able to quickly take appropriate action should a sub-system experience extraordinary loads, or a client report increasing system response times.

In Borders' final analysis, Bluestone's prototype system scored extremely well and was selected for the open, robust, 100% Pure Java architecture of Sapphire/Web, as well as its high performance under heavy user and application loads, hot swapping of system components, proven scalability, customer-facing fault tolerance, and track record of stability and dependability with Bluestone's existing customer base. As a Java-based, Web Application Server framework, Sapphire/Web runs on all Java Virtual Machines and natively supports all Border platforms and systems, without the need for porting. Of particular importance to Borders, Sapphire/Application Manager (SAM) offers the company key real-time monitoring, control and deployment options by providing system administrators with notification services for outages, performance bottlenecks and trending.

About Borders Group, Inc.

Borders Group, Inc., is a leading global retailer of books, music, video and other information and entertainment items with stores in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore. Headquartered in Ann Arbor, Mich., Borders Group, Inc., is the parent company of Borders, Inc., which operates over 290 Borders Books and Music stores in the United States and the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, offering what is widely regarded as the broadest selection of books and multi-media titles available to consumers anywhere. It is also the parent of Borders.com, an electronic commerce site that has access to nearly 700,000 titles and over 10 million books, music and video items in stock and ready for immediate shipping from a state-of-the-art fulfillment and distribution center. With cafe operations in nearly all of its stores, Borders, Inc., is one of the nation's largest specialty coffee retailers. Through Borders (UK) Limited, Borders Group, Inc., also operates 27 Books etc. and six Borders stores in the U.K. In addition, Borders Group, Inc., owns Walden Book Company, Inc., which has approximately 900 Waldenbooks stores in malls, shopping centers and airports across the country. Borders Group, Inc., trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "BGP." To learn more about the company, visit http://www.bordersgroupinc.com . For information on Borders stores, visit http://www.bordersstores.com . For the ultimate online book, music and video shopping experience, explore http://www.borders.com.

About Decision Consultants, Inc.

Decision Consultants Inc. (DCI) is a leading Information Technology service provider, primarily to Fortune 1000 companies. The company is headquartered in Southfield, Michigan with ten regional offices, seven Performance Centers throughout the U. S., and more than 1,800 employees. DCI's core services include:

-- Delivery Management - includes PMI-certified professionals operating under
stringent SEI guidelines to implement successful IT projects;

-- Application Management - designs, builds, delivers and supports IT systems;

-- Enabling Technology Solutions - specialty technology practices that yield
competitive business advantages and include e-Business, Data Management, IT
Architecture, and Help Desk; among others;

-- Integrated Testing - produces higher quality applications in less time, at
reduced cost, with improved reliability.

DCI delivers results based on client preference, ranging from individuals with specific subject matter expertise to teams with full project delivery responsibility.

About Bluestone Software

Bluestone(R) Software, Inc. is a leading provider of Enterprise Interaction Management software. Companies deploying e-business applications, like Avnet, Food.com, MCI WorldCom, Reliance National, Strategic Weather Services, and Time Inc., rely on Bluestone Total-e-Business(TM), Bluestone Sapphire/Web(R), and Bluestone XML Suite(TM) to provide comprehensive e-business platforms, Internet-class infrastructures, and robust integration services that e-business success demands. Bluestone is headquartered at 300 Stevens Drive, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19113-1597. For more information, please call 888-Bluestone or 610-915-5000, email [e-mail], or visit http://www.bluestone.com.

Bluestone and Sapphire/Web are registered trademarks, and Bluestone XML Suite and Total-e-Business are trademarks of Bluestone Software, Inc. All other names, brands or products may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

Certain statements in this press release constitute forward looking statements as such term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, including those contained in Bluestone's publicly filed reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which may cause Bluestone's actual results, performance, or achievements or those of its customers or its industry to be materially different from the future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward looking statements. Specifically, the Company's beliefs with respect to the business opportunities presented by e-business and the Company's ability to profitably market and deploy its products may prove to be inaccurate. In light of the significant uncertainties inherent in these forward looking statements, the information in this press release should not be considered a representation by the Company or any other person that Bluestone's objectives and plans will be achieved.