CATALINK DIRECT "SETS UP SHOP" ON THE INTERNET -- PROVIDING ITS PROPRIETARY LEADING-EDGE ELECTRONIC PURCHASING SYSTEM TO CUSTOMERS.

NORWOOD, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 3, 1995--Catalink Direct, the world's first electronic marketer of PC products, today announced the availability of a version of the Company's Personal Electronic Catalog and Ordering System (PECOS) via a new Homepage on the World Wide Web (WWW), at http://www.catalink.com.

Catalink's Homepage allows Internet users to review the system's easy-to-use, interactive multimedia interface and productivity tools; download PECOS' "lite" front-end application; and then electronically page through a version of the Company's catalog -- offering 1,800 popular PC products at competitive prices. Visitors to Catalink's Homepage can also request a full version of the PECOS catalog, containing over 16,000 PC products, via Internet e-mail.

According to Robert J. Crowell, the Company's Chairman and CEO, "Catalink's overall strategy is to utilize our proprietary PECOS technology to provide customers with the most convenient method to purchase PC products. As the number of on-line consumers grows, we will leverage the Internet's strength as a popular communications tool to promote the use of PECOS among commercial and consumer users looking for present-day means to automate the purchasing process. With our world-class back-end transaction processing system -- which took eight man-years and over $4 million to develop -- it is a natural step for Catalink to `hang a shingle' in the emerging electronic commerce marketplace."

Catalink's PECOS technology is designed to provide customers with a unique and convenient means to gather product information and place orders electronically. For corporate customers, PECOS automates the labor- and paper-intensive procedures typically associated with the purchasing process. Consumer and professional PECOS users benefit from real-time access to accurate and up-to-date product and pricing information, including full-color product pictures. The Company's easy-to-use, Windows-based multimedia catalog and electronic ordering system has traditionally been offered to customers, at no charge, in both CD-ROM and diskette formats -- but with today's announcement, Catalink will gain access to the growing multitudes of potential consumers "cruising the `Net."

Explaining the value-added features of the new Catalink Homepage, Crowell said, "We have designed Catalink's homepage as an information cross-roads for Internet users interested in PC products. In addition to providing the opportunity to review the PECOS system and download the application free of charge, we have established hypertext links to the Web sites of several major PC hardware manufacturers and software developers. Our `What's New' section will feature the same, industry-wide product and pricing announcements and product reviews that we publish internally, and now send to PECOS users via its built-in e-mail system. We are committed to adding timely, pertinent information for our customers on an on-going basis."

"The short-term benefit to being on the Web is that we will now be able to communicate with our customers and prospects in whatever media they desire," Crowell said. "Later this year, Catalink intends to confirm PECOS' position as a standard means of performing electronic commerce in a number of internetworked, interactive environments -- including telco (via modem), the Internet, and the emerging, trade-oriented global information networks." As a first step, Crowell pointed to the Company's planned extension of the PECOS system to support direct communications on the Internet infrastructure, rather than via modem.

On the issue of the Internet's ability to support secure transactions, Crowell concluded optimistically, "Before generating revenue directly from a Web site, vendors must meet customers' demand for efficient and secure transaction methods. The methods that currently exist do not conform to an industry standard, and typically require significant investments in proprietary server technology. However, the marketplace is impatient: and since we `own' the front-end of the PECOS system (which resides on our customers' PCs) and our back-end server systems, we can use our proprietary encryption technique to safeguard credit card and other customer data. With Catalink, our customers won't have to worry about data security at all."

Catalink Direct, Inc. is the world's first electronic marketing company for PC products. Catalink customers use their desktop PCs and the PECOS system to automate the paper and labor intensive transactions typically involved in gathering PC product data, pricing, and availability information, and placing orders. Catalink offers a national, $500 million inventory of over 16,000 products, accessed and ordered by customers in minutes -- with full information on system and shipping costs, configuration viability and other critical data.

Based in Norwood, MA, Catalink Direct operates ten national field support offices nationwide. Catalink's proprietary PECOS system was developed by Elcom Systems, Inc., a wholly-owned software development subsidiary which licenses the software to various other industries.

In support of Catalink Direct's opening of a new homepage on the World Wide Web, Senior Vice President David Wolf explained the process for interested "Web surfers:"

o Users who access Catalink Direct's World Wide Web Homepage at http://www.catalink.com may preview a version of the Company's Personal Electronic Catalog and Ordering System (PECOS), which offers an exciting, easy-to-use, Windows-based multimedia interface;

o To better utilize the productivity-enhancing features of PECOS, users may download the 1.2MB "lite" version of the application to their hard drive. Depending on access method and network traffic, the download can take between 3 and 15 minutes;

o Once installed, the "lite" PECOS system allows users to access an electronic catalog containing over 50 "pages" of text, graphics and photographs, as well as a database of up-to-date information on over 1,800 products;

o After downloading over the Internet, communication to Catalink is currently via modem. Catalink intends to have a fully secure version of PECOS supporting Internet communications by the third quarter of 1995;

o With simple mouse-clicks, users can build a "Virtual Purchase Order" on PECOS; check configuration viability with Catalink's customer support staff; distribute Purchase Order Authorization forms via internal e-mail systems; and allocate expenditures to internal cost centers;

o When they are ready to order, users are assured of full credit security through PECOS' use of passwords -- and more importantly, by the system's ability to encrypt (on the front end) and de-encrypt (on the back end) information packets. Encryption and de-encryption is supportable because PECOS provides both the front-end user interface and the back-end servers;

o Prior to confirming their purchase, users who choose to order products from Catalink's large inventory of aggressively-priced PC systems and peripherals receive real-time price updates and availability information, and can select from a variety of shipping options, to most effectively manage their time and costs;

o The more robust, "full" version of PECOS may be ordered -- at no charge -- again, via a simple mouse-click. The CD-ROM and magnetic media allow Catalink to offer PECOS users a more extensive catalog, of over 16,000 PC products.

CONTACT: Catalink Direct, Norwood, Mass.

Howard A. Samuels, 617/762-0202 x4024

Internet: [e-mail]

or

Sterling Hager, Lincoln, Mass.

Todd S. Defren, 617/259-1400 x228

Internet: [e-mail]