June 26, 2002

GlobeRanger joins the Auto-ID Center at M.I.T.

Wireless solutions provide real-time visibility and decision making for Auto-ID data

Richardson, Texas - June 26, 2002 - GlobeRanger, a wireless supply chain solutions company, announced today that it has joined other global companies as a sponsor of the Auto-ID Center, an industry consortium devoted to advancing automatic identification technology and creating the next generation of Bar Code or Universal Product Code (UPC). The Auto-ID Center is headquartered at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is led by a diverse team of scientists and researchers.

The introduction and embedding of very low-cost tags on products will provide a new level of inventory control, replenishment and fulfillment through the supply chain from the manufacturer to the retail shelf and even to the home. Wireless supply chain platform and applications, like that developed by GlobeRanger, will provide business rules to manage this data and make it immediately available to decision makers for manufacturing planning, distribution, and direct store delivery, improving the efficiency of their supply chains, reducing costs for inventory overstock or out-of-stock situations, and increasing revenue opportunities for their brands.

"We are delighted to be working with GlobeRanger on the challenge of how to bring real time information to the supply chain," said Kevin Ashton, executive director of the center. "GlobeRanger is looking at a very important piece of the puzzle - software infrastructure to deal with the enormous amount of information which will be generated by implementation of Auto-ID in the supply chain."

Effective management of complex, exploding volumes of data and then turning it into selective, actionable information will be even more of a challenge than it is today. GlobeRanger's iMotion wireless platform and supply chain specific applications focus on today's problems by generating cost savings, productivity gains and efficiency improvements but also provide companies with a scalable solution with an evolution path for managing additional amounts of data in the future.

"The Auto-ID Center's collaborative development of Auto-ID technology, especially for Electronic Product Codes in the consumer packaged goods marketplace, is an exciting vision," said George Brody, co-founder and chief strategy officer of GlobeRanger Corporation. "We are pleased to join the forward-thinking group of manufacturers, retailers, technology partners, and vendor sponsors of the Auto-ID Center in helping to shape the architecture and application of this technology to the practical needs of business."

The leaders of the Uniform Code Council and EAN International established the Auto-ID Center in October 1999, with initial funding support from Procter & Gamble and The Gillette Company. Since then, over 40 other major corporations have signed on as sponsors.

The potential benefits of the Auto-ID Center's work - for manufacturers, distributors, retailers, and consumers - are many. These include:

• Product authenticity - distributors and retailers will be able to confirm, with pinpoint accuracy, whether or not the goods on their shelves are authentic. They will have instant access to information indicating precisely when, where, and by whom a product was made.
• Product availability - every manufacturer will have true "produce-to-demand" capability, and will be able to eliminate excess inventory by drawing on the latest intelligence about purchasing trends.
• Greater efficiencies - combining produce-to-demand capability plus inventory reduction and balance plus a reduction in manual stock keeping, the supply chain could recognize cost efficiencies in the range of hundreds of billions of dollars.
• Enhanced recycling - by coding a package as cardboard, aluminum, or plastic, we can greatly simplify and improve waste management and recycling efforts.

About the Auto-ID Center

The mission of the Auto-ID Center, headquartered at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass., is to merge the physical world with the information world - to bring bits and atoms together to form one seamless network, using the very latest advances in technologies including electromagnetic identification, computer modeling, and networking. The Center is funded by forward-looking global businesses from many different industry sectors, all of whom share a single vision of a smarter, brighter and less wasteful future. Technologies currently being developed by the Center's scientists include the Electronic Product Code, Physical Mark-up Language, and the Object Naming Service.

About GlobeRanger

GlobeRanger provides solutions that enable real-time decision making across the supply chain that generate cost savings, productivity gains and efficiency improvements. Using a combination of wireless technology and application software, GlobeRanger solutions capture accurate and actionable information in real-time, enforces business rules, distribute business intelligence to key operating personnel for immediate and proactive decision making, and facilitate interaction with enterprise systems. Eliminating inefficiencies in supply chain execution, GlobeRanger customers benefit from lowered inventory carrying cost, reduce shipping errors, minimized billing cycles, and improved productivity of essential operating personnel. Founded in 1999, GlobeRanger is a privately-held company headquartered in Richardson, Texas. For more information, visit www.globeranger.com.

GlobeRanger, iMotion, and the Ranger over Globe logo are Trademarks of GlobeRanger Corporation. All other company and product names are the property of their respective owners.