Dal-Tile Selects IBM To Speed Internet Data; Ceramic Tile Manufacturer To Use Web To Expedite Business Document Exchange

Business Wire, Nov 2, 2001

Business & High Tech Editors

DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--November 2, 2001

IBM today announced that Dal-Tile International, the largest ceramic tile manufacturer in the United States has selected IBM's Internet data and document exchange service (IDDX) as the e-sourcing foundation for securely exchanging business data over the Internet with distributors and trading partners.

Dal-Tile will use IBM's IDDX service to increase trading relationships over the Web with large home center retailers that distribute Dal-Tile's products to individual retail customers. Utilizing state-of-the-art encryption security technology, IDDX automatically routes data formats and manages connections over the Internet, enabling Dal-Tile to send business documents through electronic trading communities and e-marketplaces, and over public and private networks to thousands of suppliers and distributors throughout the world. "Dal-Tile wanted to use the Internet for data transport and communicate with more partners without raising infrastructure costs. IBM's IDDX service enabled us to expand our data transport alternatives and seamlessly integrate critical information between the Internet and our legacy networks," said Dave Fling, Dal-Tile's manager of electronic data interchange (EDI) services. "Purchasing and running a comparable in-house solution would have cost us significantly more than the incremental charges of the IDDX service. We've greatly improved e-commerce opportunities, opened crucial Internet communications with partners and maintained costs by e-sourcing from IBM."

"IBM is focused on helping customers optimize their existing infrastructure and trading relationships with the reliable Internet-based data exchange service, said Jim Corgel, general manager, IBM e-business Hosting Services. "By e-sourcing from IBM, smart businesses like Dal-Tile will now be able to create quick connections to trading partners over the Internet, while maintaining the value of investments in existing data transport networks."

IDDX will augment an existing Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) network at Dal-Tile corporate headquarters in Dallas. EDI is a software-based exchange mechanism that typically requires investment in the construction of interfaces with each new supplier. Utilizing open standard-based protocols, IBM's IDDX service extends EDI trading relationships onto the high-speed Web, efficiently managing the exchange of data in an security rich IBM-hosted environment. IDDX is IBM's newest e-sourcing service. Hosted, operated, and supported by IBM, the service combines software from Cyclone Commerce, along with IBM Global Services expertise in delivering reliable, and scalable services. With IDDX, many up front and ongoing costs associated with systems management, personnel, education, and infrastructure on the customer side are eliminated because the core applications and infrastructure are owned and operated by IBM and delivered as a utility-like service over the Internet.

e-sourcing extends the capabilities of information technology by delivering applications, infrastructure and business processes on-demand over the network. IBM offers a wide variety of e-sourcing solutions for customers including managed hosting, e-procurement, network management, document exchange and managed storage.

Dal-Tile is the largest manufacturer, distributor and marketer of ceramic tile in the United States, and one of the largest in the world. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, the Company has approximately 8,000 employees at its facilities in North America. The Company sells its products, marketed under the brand names Daltile(R) and American Olean(R) through a network of Company-operated sales centers, independent distributors and leading retail home centers nationwide. Dal-Tile common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol DTL. Additional information on the company and its products is available on the Worldwide Web at http://www.daltile.com.

IBM Global Services is the world's largest information technology services provider, with nearly 150,000 professionals serving customers in 160 countries and annual revenue of more than $33 billion. IBM Global Services integrates IBM's broad range of capabilities -- services, hardware, software and research -- to help companies of all sizes realize the full value of information technology. For more information on IDDX, visit: http://www.ibm.com/services/interchange.

NOTE TO EDITORS: Internet Data and Document Exchange (IDDX) is an IBM managed service for exchanging data and documents with trading partners and is offered through a subscription-based pricing model. Customers sign up for a base plan that includes a monthly usage boundary. Usage over the boundary is billed on an incremental basis. The customer registers with IBM which then establishes relationships with trading partners. Establishing a relationship includes registration, authentication, trading partner profile setup, and exchange of certificates. The customer only manages their connection to IBM and a single transport protocol, IBM manages delivering the documents to your trading partners through any of the supported protocols or connections. IBM's customer care teams work with customers to enable and test with the service as well as to configure exchange relationships. Plans are available to meet the requirements of the small, occasional customer to the large enterprise moving significant volumes of data. In comparison to traditional EDI Value Added Networks, IDDX can be a much more affordable solution. Also, IDDX enables companies to take advantage of existing Internet connections and can eliminate some of the additional telecommunications costs associated with traditional EDI. IDDX also support the new EDIINT AS2 Internet interoperability standard.