VeriSign and Worldwide Retail Exchange Partner
to Provide Point-of-Sale Data Services to the Retail Supply Chain
Collaboration Extends the Reach of Global Platform to Provide “Real-Time”
Information in the Retail Supply Chain
Alexandria, VA USA & Mountain View, CA USA – October 26, 2005
– VeriSign and the Worldwide Retail Exchange (WWRE) today announced
an agreement to offer point-of-sale (POS) data services to WWRE members
creating more timely access, exchange, and management of information
throughout the $8 trillion global retail supply chain.
The agreement between the two organizations adds POS
data services to the WWRE platform providing global store-level visibility
to thousands of retailers and suppliers worldwide. VeriSign also today
announced the acquisition of Retail Solutions Incorporated, (http://www.verisign.com/rsi)
a leading provider of POS data to the retail industry with more than
130 industry leading customers such as Unilever and GlaxoSmithKline.
Today’s retailers and suppliers are placing an increased emphasis on
combining “demand signals” such as POS data, with emerging sources of
real-time information such as product movement information provided
by RFID. The agreement between WWRE and VeriSign helps make available
a global, secure and scalable platform reaching a broad set of industry
leaders in the retail supply chain.
“The challenge with POS data is that while it is critical
to driving efficiencies in our global supply chain, it also represents
one of the most valuable pieces of data in our business– insight into
our stores and our sales,” said John Gleeson, SVP, Corporate Strategy
and Treasurer, Walgreen Company. “This relationship represents
a combination of WWRE’s trusted industry role and VeriSign’s experience
providing critical infrastructure around high volumes of data – enabling
us to confidently share POS data with our manufacturing partners.”
The WWRE is a trusted agent of data exchange for more
than 30 global retailers with combined revenue of more than $900 billion
annually. Over 200 consumer products suppliers use WWRE’s collaborative
solutions and thousands of companies have conducted business transactions
totaling more than $12 billion using the WWRE platform. WWRE was
founded by leading global retail companies, with investors that include
Aeon, Albertsons, Auchan, Casino, CVS/pharmacy, Delhaize/Food Lion,
Kingfisher, Lotte, Royal Ahold, Safeway, Tesco and Walgreen’s.
“The addition of POS data services to our existing
platform significantly improves our manufacturing customers’ ability
to serve their retail trading partners,” said Christopher Sellers, CEO
WWRE. “This is the solution that our members, and the market as
a whole, have been waiting for – enabling clear, measurable benefits
to trading partner relationships, without major capital investment or
significant business process change.”
VeriSign’s Intelligent Supply Chain Services provide
secure, scalable infrastructure services for critical supply chain data
– including POS - for global supply chain participants and their vendors.
These participants have for years been working to garner additional
data points to feed analytic and decision making applications, with
the ultimate goal of increasing sales and lowering costs. VeriSign has
taken a leadership role in providing the secure infrastructure to enable
the sharing of this data on a global basis, via the WWRE, with a strong
focus on store-level visibility in the retail supply chain.
“The WWRE/VeriSign relationship extends the reach
of our supply chain infrastructure services to WWRE’s community of global
retailers and suppliers,” said Jeff Richards, vice president of VeriSign’s
Intelligent Supply Chain Services business. “WWRE and VeriSign
share a common vision for providing granular, global visibility in the
retail supply chain in a secure, scalable manner. We’ve also both
been able to establish trusted relationships with some of the largest
corporations in the world – a major component of this collaboration
and the role we’re playing as we expand the scope of information available
to supply chain participants.”
To learn more about VeriSign Supply Chain Services
and solutions for Retailers and Consumer Products Manufacturers, visit http://www.verisign.com/supplychain.
About VeriSign
VeriSign, Inc. (Nasdaq: VRSN), operates intelligent infrastructure
services that enable and protect billions of interactions every day
across the world’s voice and data networks. Additional news and information
about the company is available at www.verisign.com.
About WWRE
The WWRE is the premier Internet-based business-to-business exchange
for retailers and suppliers. Designed to facilitate and
simplify trading between retailers, suppliers, partners and distributors,
the WWRE currently consists of over 230 members from Asia, Europe, North
America and South America. To date, the WWRE has saved its members over
$2 billion on more than $12 billion transacted through the use of its
solutions. For more information, visit the website at www.wwre.org
or www.worldwideretailexchange.org.
For more information, contact:
VeriSign Media Relations: Patrick Burns, pburns@verisign.com,
703-948-4471
VeriSign Investor Relations: Tom McCallum, tmccallum@verisign.com,
650-426-3744
WWRE Media Relationship: Rebecca Filbey, sci@wwre.org,
202-223-4933
Statements in this announcement other than historical
data and information constitute forward-looking statements within the
meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E
of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These statements involve risks
and uncertainties that could cause VeriSign's actual results to differ
materially from those stated or implied by such forward-looking statements.
The potential risks and uncertainties include, among others, the uncertainty
of future revenue and profitability and potential fluctuations in quarterly
operating results due to such factors as the risk that VeriSign's announced
strategic relationships, including the relationship described herein,
may not result in additional products, services, customers, profits
or revenues; and increased competition and pricing pressures.
More information about potential factors that could affect the company's
business and financial results is included in VeriSign's filings with
the Securities and Exchange Commission, including in the company's Annual
Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2004 and quarterly
reports on Form 10-Q. VeriSign undertakes no obligation to update any
of the forward-looking statements after the date of this press release.
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