E-Commerce: BellSouth and Breakthrough Software Team to Offer E-commerce Solution For Small- and Medium-Sized Businesses - Company Business and Marketing

EDGE, On & About AT&T, March 8, 1999

BellSouth, the largest telecommunications provider in the Southeast, and Breakthrough Software , Inc., a pioneer in electronic commerce software, today announced an agreement in which BellSouth will host e-commerce Web sites built using Breakthrough Software's online store development product, ShopZone for their small- and medium-sized business customers.

The agreement allows customers to create their own e-commerce Web sites with ShopZone and then have the Web site hosted by BellSouth. BellSouth small- and medium-sized business customers will benefit from this easy-to-use and customizable e-commerce solution, enabling them to publish their BellSouth-hosted online stores with the click of a single button.

"For something as critical as e-commerce, we practice extreme diligence in researching which technologies and products to offer our customers," said Donna Lachance, vice president of marketing, BellSouth.net Internet Services. "In 1999, BellSouth is focused on expanding our small- and medium-sized business offerings with only the best e-commerce products on the market today, and Breakthrough's market leadership position made them a natural choice to help our small business customers better utilize the Internet."

"Breakthrough prides itself on making e-commerce solutions that are comprehensive, yet easy-to-use," said Randall Schmitz, president and COO of Breakthrough Software. "We are pleased that a company of BellSouth's caliber recognizes the superior core technology in ShopZone and views becoming a Breakthrough Premium Provider as an integral piece in helping them reach their overall business objectives."

ShopZone is based on the ShopZone Core Technology which is implemented in its entire product line. In just a few hours, users can create a professional online presence that is secure and reliable, as well as robust and scalable.

Key ShopZone features include the use of wizards for the product catalog, shopping cart, order forms, shipping rates, tax schedules, discussion groups, electronic forms, and search engine; integration with popular editors such as Microsoft's FrontPage, NetObjects Fusion, and the Quickbooks accounting package; built-in relational database ODBC connectivity; offline site preview; built-in site management, built-in scripting language enabling customization; 50 pre-designed graphics templates; support for UNIX and Windows; and support for CyberCash, ClearCommerce, and IC Verify payment authorization solutions.

BellSouth is a $23 billion communications services company. It provides

telecommunications, wireless communications, cable and digital TV, directory advertising and publishing, and Internet and data services to nearly 34 million customers in 19 countries worldwide. FMI: www.bellsouth.com.

Founded in 1996, Breakthrough Software, Inc.'s mission is to create the easiest-to-use, most powerful e-commerce software allowing web developers, ISPs, telcos, portals as well as other hosts to deliver professional commerce-enabled Web sites to small- and medium-sized businesses. Breakthrough is located in San Jose, CA. FMI: 408-321-9300, 408-321-9305, fax, or http://www.btsw.com