Growing Customer Use, New Services and Industry Certification Contribute to GXS’ Leadership Position
 
Gaithersburg, Md. — December 2, 2004 – Expanding on the company’s vision to ease the complexities of real-time B2B e-Commerce, Global eXchange Services (GXS) today announced increasing market acceptance of its comprehensive AS2 portfolio of hosted services and software. With AS2 transaction volumes more than doubling over the past year, GXS also reaffirmed its commitment to its AS2 portfolio of products and services by unveiling new backup communications capabilities available in its AS2 Contingency Service. Finally, the company disclosed that it has successfully completed the most recent round of AS2 interoperability testing with the Drummond Group, an independent consultancy that drives adoption of standards.

The AS2 standard allows businesses to use a common, single communications solution that eliminates the complications and costs involved when various businesses in a network use different transfer protocols. Currently, few business partners use the same communication protocol or document standard to exchange information. Part of the recently launched Trading GridSM, GXS’ full portfolio of AS2 services and software allows companies to leverage existing software investments and standardize communications with all partners in their global trading communities. The AS2 portfolio provides real-time communications capabilities and improved productivity for customers.

“The extraordinary growth of the AS2 Service is a testament to the power of the Trading Grid,” said Nick Marchetti, vice president, Trading Grid and Integration Solutions at GXS. “Even though customers can use software for direct communications, a growing number of users are turning to GXS’ service provider model due to its cost and delivery advantages. Customers are able to focus on their core competencies instead of dealing with technical management of their B2B infrastructure.”

GXS AS2 Portfolio Adoption
Currently more than 2,000 companies including OBI, Plante International, Piggly Wiggly Carolina Company, Hibbett Sporting Goods and Candor Hosiery Mills engage in an average of 17,000 transactions each day with GXS’AS2 Service. Candor Hosiery Mills, maker and distributor of legwear, uses AS2 to connect to the Trading Grid. “Using AS2 connectivity to GXS Trading Grid has been a key ingredient in decreasing our times for shipping. It has increased reliability and improved our response time after receiving orders in getting the goods on trucks for delivery. And in the event our communications fail, we can always re-queue transmissions from GXS,” said Dorenda Kidd, vice president, Information Services, Candor Hosiery.

Madeline Aube, comptroller at Plante International, selected GXS’ AS2 Outsourcing Service to comply with customers' requests for AS2 communications without having to invest in the additional hardware, software or in-house expertise that would otherwise be required. “Outsourcing AS2 to GXS allows us to concentrate on our core business and avoid the high costs associated with in-house implementation. After an extremely smooth implementation of GXS’ AS2 Outsourcing Service on the Trading Grid, we have been able to begin production mode with our customers.” Hibbett Sporting Goods' EDI Coordinator Gayla Turner added, “AS2 access to GXS Trading Grid allows us to communicate real-time and address any problems as they occur. Streamlined communications provided by the speed of AS2 has resulted in increased efficiencies in our Distribution Center along with easier trading partner testing and implementation.”

New AS2 Services
As additional demonstration of the company’s momentum with the AS2 portfolio, GXS has launched its AS2 Contingency Service. The AS2 Contingency Service provides backup communication capabilities for those companies that communicate with GXS Trading Grid via AS2. This optional service enables companies to reroute and access business-critical documents via alternate connections if the AS2 connection is temporarily unavailable due to AS2 server problems at the customer site.

The AS2 Service is now available in Europe and Asia Pacific in addition to the Americas.

Interoperability Certification
GXS also recently completed the latest round of AS2 interoperability testing and has already begun AS3 testing with Drummond Group, a vendor-neutral consultancy that works with software vendors, vertical industries and the standards community to drive adoption for standards via interoperability and compliance testing. 
 
About Global eXchange Services
Global eXchange Services (GXS) is a leading worldwide provider of B2B e-commerce solutions that simplify and enhance business process integration and collaboration. Organizations worldwide, including over half of the Fortune 500, leverage the Global eXchange Services Trading GridSM to achieve the perfect balance of supply and demand. Active in the global standards arena, GXS solutions enable customers both large and small, to connect with global partners, synchronize product information, optimize inventory levels and demand forecasts, and accelerate the execution of supply chains.

Headquartered in Gaithersburg, Md., GXS provides sales and support to businesses and their partners worldwide. For more information visit our Web site at www.gxs.com.

Caution Concerning Forward-Looking Statements
This document includes certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on management's current expectations and are subject to uncertainty and changes in circumstances. Actual results may differ materially from these expectations due to changes in global political, economic, business, competitive, market and regulatory factors. These factors include technological developments, customer demand, trading partner participation and network availability. 

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