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FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE PET ASSURE AND CORNERSTONE CREATE B2B MARKETPLACE FOR VETS; VETGALAXY.COM PROVIDES E-COMMERCE SOLUTION TO $12 BILLION VETERINARY INDUSTRY NEW YORK, March 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Pet Assure Inc., the nation's premier pet health care organization and Cornerstone Internet Solutions (Nasdaq: CNRS), a provider of comprehensive business-to-business (B2B) services and solutions, today announced the launch of VETgalaxy.com, a B2B e-commerce marketplace targeting the $12 billion veterinary service industry. Under this agreement, Pet Assure, along with Cornerstone's subsidiaries B2Bgalaxy.com and USWeb/CKS Cornerstone, will function as operational, strategic and equity partners in VETgalaxy.com. VETgalaxy.com
is a B2B e-commerce marketplace, linking buyers and sellers in the veterinary
industry through a competitive on-line exchange. At the core of VETgalaxy.com
is the PowerPurchasing system, made up of a suite of PowerProducts,
which are licensed from Cornerstone's subsidiary, B2Bgalaxy.com. This
proprietary technology provides veterinarians with a Web-based, free-market
bidding environment to buy goods and services from distributors and
manufacturers. The exchange offered by VETgalaxy.com enables veterinarians
to post a customized inventory list online and requires suppliers to
continually submit their latest product prices. Purchase orders are
generated based upon best price and availability from veterinarian-
selected vendors. The automated price-comparison process assures best
pricing, driving down the cost of goods to veterinarians by as much
as 20 percent, while at the same time significantly reducing the time
traditionally devoted by veterinarians to the manual comparative price
shopping process. "We
look to partner with premier brands that would be complementary to our
technical expertise in the B2B space and facilitate our entrance into
a broad range of vertical markets," said Ed Schroeder, President
and Chief Executive Officer of Cornerstone and B2Bgalaxy.com. "With
its deep vertical expertise and proven track record, Pet Assure certainly
fits that bill. We believe that this partnership will greatly benefit
the veterinary industry by helping veterinarians to improve their bottom-line,
while enabling distributors and manufacturers to lower their cost of
sales and gain new accounts." According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, the size of the veterinary market is approximately $12 billion annually, with roughly 50,000 veterinarians providing service at 25,000 private practices nationally. It is estimated that each veterinary practice purchases an average of $150,000 worth of supplies annually. VETgalaxy.com will operate as an independent company. Pet Assure will own a majority of VETgalaxy.com and provide the management, industry access and infrastructure for the new entity. B2Bgalaxy.com will provide the technology and support for the B2B marketplace and USWeb/CKS Cornerstone will support the development of additional application services. Each will own a minority interest in the new venture. VETgalaxy.com will be responsible for all sales and marketing efforts. In addition to Jay Bloom, VETgalaxy.com will be managed by an experienced management team, including - Michael
J. Bachich, currently Executive Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer
of Pet Assure, will assume the same responsibilities for VETgalaxy.com.
Prior to joining Pet Assure, Mike had 15 years experience in health
care with subsidiaries of Corning, Inc. and its predecessor entities,
Corning Life Sciences Inc., Quest Diagnostics Inc. and Unilab Corp.
He held a succession of positions including Chief Information Officer,
Senior VP of Finance and Chief Financial Officer. Mike began his career
with Arthur Andersen & Company, where he was a Certified Public
Accountant. He received his Masters in Business - Robert W. Gardner, Jr., currently Chief Information Officer of Pet Assure, will assume similar responsibilities as Chief Technology Officer for VETgalaxy.com. Robert has more than ten years experience in information technology, including senior positions at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Securities Corporation, where he was responsible for the design, development, implementation and maintenance of trading systems. Robert received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Computer Science from Fordham University. - Ron Krakower, currently Senior Vice-President of Network Development at Pet Assure, will assume the responsibilities of Product Director for VETgalaxy.com. Since joining Pet Assure in 1997, Ron has been leading the development of the company's national network, now representing more than 2,000 participating veterinarians in 44 states. Ron received his Masters in Business Administration in Finance from George Washington University and his Bachelor of Arts degree in Marketing from McGill University. ABOUT PET
ASSURE INC. Pet Assure markets and sells memberships in its program on a national basis through numerous channels of distribution. These include: large group and membership organizations such as HMOs, unions, clubs, associations and credit card companies; agreements with larger regional and national corporations where Pet Assure memberships are made available as an employee benefit; and wholesale agreements with retail merchants. ABOUT CORNERSTONE INTERNET SOLUTIONS Cornerstone Internet Solutions operates two subsidiaries, USWeb/CKS Cornerstone and B2Bgalaxy.com, which are in separate Internet businesses. USWeb/CKS Cornerstone is a wholly owned subsidiary of Cornerstone Internet Solutions Inc. and an independent affiliate of USWeb/CKS Corporation. USWeb/CKS Cornerstone is a full-service Internet consulting firm that uses a combination of strategic planning, technology and creative expertise to provide clients with successful solutions. The B2Bgalaxy.com
subsidiary creates industry-specific FOODgalaxy.com enables restaurants and other food service establishments to post a customized inventory list online and requires suppliers to continually submit their latest product bids. This competitive process drives down the cost of goods to buyers by as much as 20 percent and significantly reduces the time traditionally devoted to the comparative price shopping process. Additional functionality is available to distributors, allowing them to reduce their cost of customer acquisition and their cost of conducting business through the power of the Internet. Cornerstone expects to launch a series of marketplaces over the next few years through its B2Bgalaxy.com unit. New marketplaces will be industry-specific, link buyers directly with suppliers and manufacturers and utilize B2Bgalaxy.com's PowerProduct suite of e-procurement application services. USWeb/CKS and the USWeb/CKS logo are trademarks of USWeb/CKS Corporation. Some paragraphs
of this news release, particularly those describing Cornerstone's, FOODgalaxy.com's
and B2Bgalaxy.com's future business prospects, contain forward-looking
statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of
1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of
1934, as amended. Actual results could differ materially from those
projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of a number
of /CONTACT: Ken Gruber of Cornerstone Internet Solutions, 973-503-5625, kgruber@crstone.com; or Media & Investor Relations - Jerry Hirsh of Pet Assure, Inc.- VETgalaxy.com, 973-537-9889, ext. 224, jerry@petassure.com/ (CNRS) |
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