BCE Emergis and Sabre Enter Agreement to Provide Sophisticated Network Upgrade for Travel Agent Customers

Business Wire, Dec 14, 2000

Business Editors

MONTREAL--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 14, 2000

BCE Emergis Inc. (TSE:IFM.)

BCE Emergis Inc. (TSE:IFM.) and the Canadian division of Sabre Inc. today announced a three-year multi-million dollar agreement for a sophisticated Internet-based network for select Sabre Canadian travel agency customers using the BCE Emergis Electronic Business Network (BEBN).

The agreement provides for a proof-of-concept test in several customer segments, which, once successful will be implemented across Canada. The network will provide Sabre's travel agency customers with instantaneous access to Sabre's Global Distribution System via a secured Internet connection, and value-added tools such as e-mail.

"We are very excited about this partnership with Sabre," says Christian Trudeau, President and Chief Operating Officer, BCE Emergis. "Our Electronic Business Network is designed to leverage Internet technology while offering a highly secure environment for customers to conduct business in their own marketplace. Sabre is a perfect example of the kind of business whose customer base requires a secure but powerful solution such as ours."

"This strategic partnership with Emergis allows Sabre to migrate from its current network to an Internet-based platform with powerful connectivity and performance, says Tracy Cooper, Vice President and General Manager for Sabre in Canada. "Managed by Emergis for Sabre, the platform will always be leading edge, and will be able to accommodate an unlimited number of new customers. In keeping with Sabre's strategy to move to an electronic marketplace, the BCE Emergis Electronic Business Network gives us a way to provide travel agencies with an affordable suite of Web-based electronic business tools to meet their e-commerce needs well into the future."

The BEBN is a fully managed, virtually private Internet-based wide area networking solution designed to support business-to-business electronic commerce in a highly secure environment. The BEBN reduces the complexity and cost of creating and managing a secure, proprietary corporate extranet. Through the BEBN, BCE Emergis will provide Sabre and its customers with communications hardware, connectivity expertise, security hardware, software integration, and the on-going management required for a seamless, scaleable and worry-free networking solution.

The Sabre office in Canada is a division of Sabre Inc. Sabre is the leading provider of technology and marketing services for the travel industry. Headquartered in Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas, the company has nearly 10,000 employees worldwide who span 45 countries. Sabre reported 1999 revenues of $2.4 billion, up 5.6 percent from 1998. Net earnings were $264 million, excluding special items, up 15.2 percent from the prior year. Sabre maintains an ownership interest of approximately 70% in Travelocity.com (Nasdaq: TVLY), the world's leading online B2C travel site. More information on Sabre is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.sabre.com. Sabre and the Sabre logo are registered trademarks of an affiliate of Sabre Inc.

BCE Emergis delivers network-centric e-commerce services that significantly improve customer processes through secure B2B exchanges. Combining e-commerce, e-payment and security services, BCE Emergis offers clients in the healthcare, financial services, telecommunications and transportation industries a full suite of core and vertical-specific services that are the essential building blocks and infrastructure required for e-commerce. BCE Emergis is one of the top e-commerce providers in North America and its shares are included in the TSE 100 Composite Index. For more information, please refer to www.emergis.com.

This news release contains certain forward-looking statements that reflect the current views and/or expectations of BCE Emergis with respect to its performance, business and future events. Such statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Actual results and events may vary significantly.