Southborough, MA, September 2, 2003 -ViryaNet (NasdaqSC: VRYA), a leading provider of integrated mobile and Web-based software applications for workforce management and the automation of field service delivery, today announced that News America Marketing, a News Corporation company, has chosen ViryaNet Service Hub application suite to automate activities performed by its retail field workforce.
The most comprehensive in-store marketing resource for consumer packaged goods companies, News America Marketing employs thousands of full and part-time field workers who provide in-store advertising, promotion, and sales merchandising services. These programs are showcased in more than 32,000 retailers across the food, drug and mass merchant class of trade. Headquartered in New York City, News America Marketing is the nation's leading single-source marketing services company, whose
home delivered and in-store media is united under the SmartSource® brand.
Under the agreement, News America Marketing will deploy ViryaNet's Mobile Workforce Management application to manage and automate the installation and maintenance of its SmartSource product line and targeted merchandising programs. News America Marketing expects to derive significant operational efficiencies and improve its reporting process with clients as a result of implementing the ViryaNet Service Hub platform and applications.
ViryaNet Service Hub will dispatch thousands of News America Marketing's field personnel with the right product and store information; track and manage equipment and parts; collect labor information; and monitor and measure key performance indicators and on-line reporting in real-time field activity. News America Marketing's field workers will use ViryaNet Service Hub in a complete mobile environment as they visit store sites to install and service in-store advertising products
and initiate in-store marketing campaigns.
ViryaNet Service Hub will facilitate many service business steps with automated workflow and will integrate with several existing News America Marketing systems, applications and databases.
"ViryaNet technology supports our commitment to improve quality of service and efficiency," said Chip Carpenter, Senior Vice President of Field Operations, News America Marketing. "These applications will be an integral component of our strategy to streamline operations by automating processes, eliminate paper, and quickly provide customers with additional quantitative and qualitative data about their products."
"News America Marketing is a visionary giant with the focus and discipline to use technology to anticipate customer needs, fulfill demands, build market share, and increase profits," stated Win Burke, president and CEO, ViryaNet. "ViryaNet shares News America Marketing's passion for service excellence; we look forward to being partners in News America Marketing's long-term growth and success."
About News America
News America Marketing is the leading single-source provider of advertising and promotional services for the in-store environment. Its diverse portfolio of in-store programs includes:
SmartSource Bonus BoxSM
SmartSource Radio®
SmartSource Shelftake OneSM
SmartSource CartsSM
SmartSource Shelftalk BannerSM
SmartSource ShelfvisionSM
SmartSource Coupon Machine®
SmartSource ShelftalkSM
SmartSource ShowcaseSM
SmartSource FloortalkSM
SmartSource Freezer ShelftalkSM
SmartSource Showcase ExtraSM
SmartSource Price PopSM
SmartSource At-Shelf SamplingSM
News America Marketing is a division of The News Corporation Limited. The company's product portfolio, marketed under the Smart Source brand name, consists of the first branded free-standing insert, known as SmartSource Magazine®, various in-store advertising and promotional products, merchandising services and turnkey telephone promotions. These products and services allow marketers to deliver a brand message to over 200 million consumers each month via a network of 745
newspapers and 33,000 supermarket, drug and mass merchandisers locations across the country, including Albertson's, Kroger, Winn Dixie, CVS, Eckerd, and Rite Aid. The SmartSource iGroupSM, a subsidiary of News America Marketing, manages News America Marketing's targeted marketing businesses. News America Marketing has operations in the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, Australia and South America.
The News Corporation Limited (NYSE: NWS, NWS.A; ASX: NCP, NCPDP; LSE: NEWCP) is one of the world's largest media companies, with total assets as of June 30, 2002 of approximately US$40 billion and total annual revenues of approximately US$15 billion. News Corporation's diversified global operations in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, Latin America and the Pacific Basin include the production and distribution of motion pictures and television programming;
television, satellite and cable broadcasting; the publication of newspapers, magazines, books; the production and distribution of promotional and advertising products and services; the development of digital broadcasting; the development of conditional access and subscriber management systems; and the creation and distribution of popular on-line programming.
About ViryaNet
ViryaNet is a provider of software applications that improve the quality and efficiency of an organization's service operations. ViryaNet's flagship product - the award-winning ViryaNet Service Hub - combines the power of the Internet, the freedom of wireless technologies, and the resources of ViryaNet's deep service expertise to help companies improve workforce scheduling, dispatching, and activity reporting; customer contract and entitlement automation; and asset, logistics
and repairs management.
Customers in the telecommunications, utility, high-technology manufacturing, grocery and retail, HVAC, and other industries use ViryaNet Service Hub to transition complex service business processes into a manageable, scalable Internet operation, with the goal of increasing service revenues, decreasing service costs, and maximizing customer satisfaction.
Safe Harbor
Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: The statements contained in this press release that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including statements regarding ViryaNet's expectations, beliefs, intentions, or strategies regarding the capabilities of its products, its relationships with its customers, and its customer purchases. All
forward-looking statements included in this document are based upon information available to ViryaNet Ltd. as of the date hereof, and ViryaNet Ltd. assumes no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. These and other risks relating to ViryaNet's business include market acceptance of and demand for the Company's products, risks
associated with a slow-down in the economy, risks associated with the financial condition of the company's customers, risks associated with competition and competitive pricing pressures, risks associated with increases in costs and operating expenses, risks in technology development and commercialization, the risk of operating losses, risks in product development, risks associated with international sales, and other risks that are set forth in ViryaNet's Form F-1, as amended,
declared effective by the SEC on September 19, 2000, and the other reports filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as the date hereof. ViryaNet disclaims any obligation to publicly update or revise any such forward-looking statements to reflect any change in our expectations or in events, conditions, or circumstances on which any such statements may be based, or that may
affect the likelihood that actual results will differ from those set forth in the forward-looking statements.