Connect3 Delivers Innovative Targeted Promotions Workbench in VELOCITY Promotion Manager Version 1.2.

Business Editors & High-Tech/Retail Writers

NRF 92nd Annual Convention

Booth #144

CERRITOS, Calif. & NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 13, 2003

New release represents a true breakthrough in the ability of

retailers to plan and execute targeted promotions that drive

category sales and margins

Connect3 Systems, Inc., (NRF Booth #144) the leading provider of enterprise retail Advertising, Merchandising and Promotion (AMP) planning and execution solutions announced today, at the National Retail Federation's 92nd Annual Convention and EXPO, the release of VELOCITY Promotion Manager (VPM), Version 1.2.

VPM is the central module in the Connect3 VELOCITY Performance Series integrated collaborative workbench for planning and producing targeted promotions that drive category sales and margins.

Kelly Blachford, Sr. Product Manager for VPM, has worked with AMP technology for over 15 years as a retail printer, AMP software developer, consultant, Advertising/Marketing Manager for a large retail chain and now, as a Sr. Product Manager for Connect3. Explaining the new release she stated, "For over 10 years, Connect3 has been the market leader in enterprise content management for versioned retail advertising. VELOCITY builds on that foundation and adds an equally innovative promotional pricing solution that brings into play the intersection of three simple retail objects: time, products and stores. The combination of these elements results in pricing, process and content." She continued, "While that may sound easy, every retail organization we've worked with struggles with systems that don't work efficiently with the 'stores within the store' that exist in targeted promotions. Those barriers are eliminated with VELOCITY Promotion Manager 1.2 -- which provides category, region and time specific promotional elements."

VELOCITY Performance Series solutions deliver the enterprise tools to plan, negotiate, manage, execute, reconcile and analyze promotional programs in a highly configurable framework built on industry standards-based technology and open database platforms. Version 1.2 of the VELOCITY Promotion Manager offers improved features and many completely new and innovative workbench tools that enable merchandising, marketing and advertising departments to collaborate cross-category to deliver promotions that follow company business rules.

According to Dale Byrne, CEO of Connect3, "I've been involved in the development of several breakthrough retail software products in the last 20 years. I believe the VPM 1.2 release is the first system of its kind and has the potential to become the industry-standard AMP collaborative workbench." He continued, "It has been an exciting and gratifying process to watch our customers work in tandem with the energized Connect3 team to break through many historical AMP barriers with this release. We are also working closely with our partners to further extend the processes and refine the technology that will provide retailers and their suppliers the tools to increase the effectiveness and profitability of their targeted promotions."

Other new VPM capabilities include an integrated promotional calendar that works with category and store hierarchies and promotional pricing driven by dates and store and product groups. Also included is visual space allocation and a promotion dashboard that provides users the ability to analyze performance and access the creative content of past events.

VELOCITY Promotion Manager 1.2 will ship in January to current VELOCITY customers and will be in general release in February.

About Connect3 Systems

Connect3 Systems, Inc. is a leading provider of software solutions and services that assist retailers in the planning and execution of their Advertising, Merchandising and Promotion (AMP) processes. The Connect3 VELOCITY Performance Series presents a unified environment in which all participants in the retail enterprise can plan, negotiate, create, manage, execute, reconcile and analyze promotions. Connect3's software and Professional Services allow merchants across all industry segments to compress the promotions cycle, reuse existing content, and target their item message to increase accuracy, efficiency and profitability.

Customers include Best Buy, The Home Depot, Sports Authority, Ahold USA and other leading merchants. Resellers and Technology Partners include Retek, IBM, American Color, Nurun, AnswerThink, Quark, Xinet and others. For information, visit www.connect3.com or phone [phone].

Connect3 and Connect3-related marks are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Connect3 Systems, Inc. and all applicable affiliated companies, Reg. U.S. Pat. & Tm. Off., and in many other countries. All other marks are the properties of their respective owners.