Datawire Appoints Edward Towers Chief Operating Officer; Executive's Experience in the Telecom and Wireless Industries Spans 20 Years.

Business Editors

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 16, 2001

Datawire Communication Networks Inc., a transaction processing provider that facilitates commerce for the wireless and wireline markets, named Edward W. Towers Chief Operating Officer and Secretary to the Datawire Board of Directors, effective immediately. Towers reports to Anees Munshi, the President and Chief Executive Officer of Datawire, and is responsible for the sales, finance, legal and human resources functions of the company.

"Edward Towers is a major addition to the company management," said Anees Munshi. "His relationships with key companies in the telecom industry will help establish Datawire's brand and extend its reach in developing new partnerships and getting new business. At this point in our growth the importance of having an experienced manager of such high caliber cannot be overstated. We are certain that he will play a major role in our growth and progress."

Towers joins Datawire with over 20 years experience in the telecom and wireless industries. He most recently served as Vice President, Corporate Development and Operations of Telephone and Data Systems (TDS) in Chicago, where he also was an officer of a TDS subsidiary, US Cellular Corp. In addition to helping take the company public in 1988, Towers was in charge of expanding the company's potential cellular customer base to 28 million. Towers led the new markets development team to successfully close on 200 joint ventures and acquisitions. Prior to working at TDS in various senior management capacities, he spent five years at GTE, a leading telecommunications provider, in the marketing, sales, planning and group management divisions. Towers holds an MBA from Xavier University and a bachelor's degree in business administration from Ohio State University.

About Datawire

Datawire Communication Networks, Inc. has revolutionized m-commerce by enabling the execution of a broad range of commercial and data transactions with unprecedented speed, security and reliability. This is made possible by the company's proprietary VXN (Virtual Transaction Network) technology, which functions as a hub that provides customer access to a wide range of e-services and eliminates the need for costly and inefficient dedicated circuits. At present, Datawire processes in excess of 1.5 million transactions per month in under two seconds per transaction. The company has established successful partnerships with several leading technology companies including Hewlett Packard, Motorola, Clearnet, and PSI Net.