REPEAT/ CSI's Business Document Exchange Now Compatible With Microsoft's Recently Released BizTalk Server 2000.

Business/Technology Editors

REPEATING...

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 8, 2001

Enables BizTalk Users To Transfer Data Over the

Internet With Enhanced Security

CSI, Communications Services International S.r.l. (www.csiusa.net), a leading international developer of secure data exchange technology over public networks and developer of BDE (Business Document Exchange(tm)), announced today its compatibility with Microsoft Corp.'s recently released XML-based business process orchestration server, BizTalk Server 2000. BDE's integration with BizTalk, which enables companies to exchange business documents among applications, within or across organizational boundaries, further enhances BizTalk's formidable capabilities by extending its list of supported protocols to include FTP.

In making the announcement at the Data Interchange Standards Association's (DISA) E-business and Internet Conference and Exposition, Maurizio Balestrieri, CSI's chief executive officer, noted, "BizTalk is being well-received in the market, because it provides an XML-based solution for transferring information to business partners and associates -- both within and across the corporate firewall, via the Internet. BDE provides BizTalk Server with a means to support FTP and through a series of encryption and tracking technologies, builds on BizTalk's three-tiered modes of accurately and reliably securing data." Commenting for Microsoft, Scott Callan, product manager for BizTalk Server 2000, said, "The marketplace is beginning to recognize the value that BizTalk brings to the table, enabling integration among disparate systems, whether on a corporate intranet, enterprise network or legacy platform. The FTP support that BDE supplies can make BizTalk an even more valuable tool in many integration scenarios."

BDE is a multi-platform, "industrial-strength" method for exchanging Microsoft BizTalk files, whether in XML or in any other format. It serves as a "Super-FTP" transportation infrastructure, complimenting BizTalk's native ability to use encryption and digital signing over other conventional methods such as HTTP and SMTP. Each file is digitally signed, encrypted and tracked throughout the delivery process, with a non-refutable return receipt. Much more than a simple secure communications tool, BDE enables application-to-application, application-to-person, and person-to-person digital asset exchange with full confidence that data will be protected, arrive securely and reliably, in a system that has been designed for maximum scalability and availability.

Part of the .NET Enterprise Server family, BizTalk Server 2000 is the industry's only comprehensive solution that unites enterprise application integration (EAI), business-to-business integration (B2B) and BizTalk Orchestration technology to allow companies to easily build dynamic business processes that span applications and organizational boundaries. It provides business analysts and application developers with a host of rich graphical tools for building Extensible Markup Language (XML) based schema, performing schema transformation, establishing trading partner relationships over the Internet, and tracking and analyzing data and documents that are exchanged. With support for XML-standard Internet technologies, BizTalk Server 2000 promises to extend the features of traditional e-commerce and electronic data interchange (EDI) to entire business markets and communities.

About CSI

CSI develops technologies that guarantee secure and reliable delivery of digital assets over public networks. The company's flagship product, Business Document Exchange(TM) (BDE) is a combination of best-of-breed electronic file transfer standards that work together to turn the internet into the optimum channel to exchange data and files. BDE enables the exchange of business-critical information application-to-application, application-to-person and person-to-person with technology that protects, secures and authenticates data from origin to destination. CSI offers its customers in financial, healthcare, retail, manufacturing and Fortune 2000 companies, the most comprehensive, cost effective data exchange method on the market.

CSI's US operations are headquartered in Manchester, NH; European operations are based in Padova, Italy.