Pitney Bowes Group 1 Software


Press Release

Date:
Monday, March 01, 2004
Contact:
David Peikin
Phone:
(301) 918-0818
Email:
G1@schwartz-pr.com

Group 1 Significantly Enhances Universal Coder, Developed On Group 1's New Services Oriented Architecture


Universal Coder Now Incorporates Delivery Point Validation™ (DPV) and Address-Related Metadata

Lanham, MD — Group 1 Software (Nasdaq: GSOF) today announced significant enhancements to its Universal Coder, which incorporates Group 1's industry-leading address validation, correction and standardization technologies for over 220 countries and dependencies worldwide. The Universal Coder provides unparalleled flexibility by letting organizations implement global address data quality in their own enterprises. Alternatively, users can access this functionality via hosted services using a single application programming interface (API).

The Universal Coder now returns real-time metadata with each address validation request. Using this metadata, users have insight into the changes made to the address and can determine which information to accept based on business rules. Consequently, areas of the enterprise that utilize real-time address data, such as Web sites or customer contact centers, can realize a significant reduction in invalid addresses by analyzing this value-added intelligence. This metadata also incorporates DPV™ (Delivery Point Validation), a technology offered by the USPS® (United States Postal Service®). DPV™ enables customers to verify whether the entered address actually exists.

The Universal Coder is the only address data quality product on the market that can process global address data in a single pass: mixed data from any number of countries can be submitted and processed simultaneously. The address-level metadata is returned in a standard format for all countries. The Universal Coder supports Java, COM, C, and C++ interfaces and can be easily integrated into a .NET environment.

The Universal Coder is built on Group 1's LESLIE service-oriented architecture, which enables organizations to integrate Group 1's data quality services seamlessly across the enterprise. By utilizing this unified product architecture, Group 1's data quality solutions can be more easily integrated, configured and maintained, as well as used in a Web Services architecture. Through this highly extensible, consistent single point of integration, companies will be able to integrate more quickly these key data quality functions into third-party applications, legacy applications and data repositories.

“The Universal Coder is a one-of-its-kind solution that provides tremendous real-time insight into address data,” said Bob Bowen, CEO of Group 1 Software. “We will continue to invest significantly in leading edge technologies such as the Universal Coder and our LESLIE services-oriented architecture.”

About Group 1 Software Group 1 Software (Nasdaq: GSOF ) is a leading provider of solutions that help over 3,000 organizations worldwide maximize the value of their customer and other data. Group 1 provides industry-leading technologies that allow businesses to cleanse and enrich their corporate data, generate personalized customer communications and integrate and deliver data across the enterprise. These technologies are essential components of enterprise applications including customer relationship management (CRM), enterprise resource planning (ERP) and business intelligence systems. Founded in 1982 and headquartered in Lanham, Maryland, Group 1 offers solutions utilized by leaders in the financial services, banking, GIS/mapping, retail, telecommunications, utilities, insurance and other industries. The company's customer base includes such recognized names as Entergy, GEICO, L.L. Bean, MapQuest, QVC, Siemens, Wal-Mart and Wells Fargo. For more information about Group 1, visit the company's Web site at http://www.g1.com.

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This press release contains forward-looking statements relating to Group 1's future plans, events or performance. Such statements can be identified by such words and phrases as “will be” and “anticipates.” Such statements may involve risks and uncertainties, including risks associated with uncertainties pertaining to customer orders, demand for products and services, development of markets for Group 1's products and services and other risks identified in Group 1's SEC filings. Actual results, events and performance may differ materially. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which address the conditions as they are found on the date of this press release. Group 1 undertakes no obligation to release publicly the result of any revisions to these forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect events or circumstances that arise after the date of this press release or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. Group 1 Software is a registered trademark and the Universal Coder is a trademark of Group 1 Software, Inc. All other brand names, trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

*Group 1 is a non-exclusive Licensee of the United States Postal Service. The price at which Group 1 is offering DPV is not established, controlled, or approved by the USPS or the United States government.