NECX And Gateway Announce Strategic Alliance; Gateway Makes Significant Investment in Leading E-Commerce Company To Bring Consumers the Best Computer Shopping Experience

Business Wire, Feb 24, 1999

PEABODY, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 24, 1999--NECX(R), the most comprehensive source for computer products on the Internet, today announced that Gateway (NYSE:GTW), a leading direct PC marketer and Internet Service Provider (ISP), has purchased a minority stake in the NECX Office and Personal Technology Center, the retail e-commerce subsidiary of NECX, amounting to 19.9 percent of the subsidiary's value. In the future Gateway can exercise the option of making a subsequent investment.

"By entering into this strategic alliance, NECX is marrying its industrial strength catalog production, e-commerce expertise and product fulfillment capabilities with Gateway, the second largest direct seller of personal computers, to offer customers the best in convenience, quality and value," said Henry Bertolon, president and CEO of the NECX Office and Personal Technology Center, a subsidiary of NECX.

"Helping our customers get more out of the box and providing them with all their computing needs is an important focus for us in our quest to secure lifelong relationships with our customers," said Ted Waitt, chairman and CEO of Gateway. "We set our sites high in our search for the best e-commerce company to round out our total computing solution, and are thrilled to have formed a strategic alliance with NECX. As a top-rated, award-winning technology company that shares the same values in giving customers what they want, we're please to be teaming up with them to radically expand our product offerings."

About the NECX Office & Personal Technology Center

Innovative features that can be found on the NECX Office & Personal Technology Center include: 30,000 full-color product images, the industry's most comprehensive product descriptions and specifications, a side-by-side feature that facilitates the comparison of multiple items, unedited reviews, a powerful specification search utility, comparative pricing and secure on-line ordering and real-time order tracking capabilities.

In 1998, BizRate, an independent service that monitors on-line merchants for performance and customer service rated NECX as the #1 on-line computer hardware store for customer satisfaction, PC Magazine selected NECX as its sole editor's choice for computer hardware, and U.S. News & World Report selected NECX as the best place to buy computer hardware on the Internet.

About NECX

NECX has been at the forefront of technology innovation for over 19 years and today manages the most comprehensive electronic commerce site for computer products on the World Wide Web. Corporate-wide revenues for 1998 exceeded $430 million. A privately-held company founded in 1980, NECX employs 260 people and conducts business from its worldwide corporate headquarters in Peabody, Massachusetts. The company has access to more than $3 billion in electronic components, computer products and software in more than 21 supplier warehouses at any one time. Additional information about NECX is available at the company's World Wide Web site at http://www.necx.com.

NECX is a registered trademark of New England Circuit Sales, Inc. 1999. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.