Friendlyway and NEC agree on marketing cooperation/ Joint marketing of communication products for the public sector

Munich, Germany 18. ledna (ots/APROTEXT) - With immediateeffect, friendlyway and NEC Deutschland GmbH will cooperate tomarket public multimedia customer communication. With thecomprehensive cooperation agreement, the two leading providers inthe sectors for information terminals and plasma displays willpool sales, marketing und know-how. The aim is to market jointlyinformation, communication and sales solutions from friendlyway'sinteractive terminals and NEC's large plasma screens. Thiscooperation will further the development of new applications andtarget groups. The merger of the two partners' expertise andtheir joint profile will be a great advantage for customers, whowill benefit from a complete system solution from one source. At the most recent 'Systems' fair, the partners successfullyunveiled the newly developed Multimedia XXL product. MultimediaXXL comprises an interactive terminal from friendlyway and alarge plasma screen from NEC. Plasma displays have a width fromone to over 1.5 metres and, owing to their shallow constructiondepth, can be set up anywhere. Information with moving picturesfrom the information, entertainment and advertising sectors isshown on the plasma screen, encouraging customers to interactwith the information terminal. At the terminal, individual itemsof information can be called up or ordered directly on theinternet. This latest technology combination is designed, aboveall, to meet the requirements of presentations, marketingconsultancy and the animation of products and services providedby banks, store departments, multi-storey car parks, airports,cinemas and fairs. With Multimedia XXL, banks can advertise their financial,insurance and real-estate services on the plasma display in theaccessible public sector. On the adjacent infoterminal,interested individuals can call up information, request detaileddocuments and make appointments to obtain advice. In future, products will be launched on large screens at salesexhibitions and fairs. Owing to the high degree of brightness andexcellent video reproduction, product advantages can behighlighted multimedially and service ranges introduced to a widepublic. Those interested can also obtain further information on atouch-sensitive terminal and order products directly. About friendlyway Friendlyway has concentrated on the interface of twomegatrends, 'online/offline' and 'mobile/stationary'. In the'online/offline' megatrend, banks and trade customers are nowbringing e-commerce into the traditional branches. In the'mobile/stationary' megatrend, these e-commerce offers can becalled up and controlled from mobile end-units. Customers can,for instance, download product information electronically ontotheir mobile computer and take it home. Against this background,friendlyway is developing technological solutions and marketingthem via the friendlyway partner network throughout Europe, Asiaand in America via its own subsidiary, friendlyway Inc. in SanFrancisco. Given this positioning, friendlyway was voted one of Germany'sleading innovative companies by the 'Netinvestor' magazine inspring 2001. Within two years, friendlyway has improved itsmarket position by leaping from 13th to 2nd place (see August2001 edition of i-Business, published by Hightext publishinghouse). For further press information: Andreas Stütz friendlyway AG Münchner Str. 12-16 85774 Unterföhring Tel.: (++49) (0)89 95 97 91 55 Fax: (++49) (0)89 95 97 91 40 E-mail: andreas.stuetz@friendlyway.com About NEC (http://www.necd.de) With its main office in Tokyo, the NEC Corporation is one ofthe world's leading manufacturers of information andtelecommunication equipment. Moreover, the company has gainedmore than 100 years' experience. In the previous business year,turnover was approximately USD 42 billion. NEC produces a widerange of over 15,000 products and has more than 98 subsidiariesand research institutes worldwide. The foundation in 1985 of NEC Deutschland GmbH, a fully ownedsubsidiary of the NEC Corporation that operates worldwide,ushered in an ongoing success story. The current productportfolio comprises the latest presentation technology such asvideo, LCD and DLP( projectors and plasma monitors as well asperipheral equipment, including CD-ROM, DVD drives and floppydisks. Telecommunication products and super computers round offthe range. NEC occupies top positions, including marketleadership, in all sectors and is ideally positioned to achievefurther growth. The company's headquarters in Ismaning, nearMunich employs 115 staff. The sales area of NEC Deutschland GmbHcovers central Europe with Germany, Austria and Switzerland aswell as the Benelux countries and Eastern Europe. NEC's plasma displays ensure bright and strongly contrastedreproduction of multimedia content at the point of sale, inwaiting areas and other places that attract large numbers ofpeople. NEC supplies the large screens in 42-, 50- and 61-inchmodels. The most impressive product is the 61-inch multimediadisplay, which is mass-produced exclusively by NEC. With apicture width of over 1.55 metres, this model is the world'slargest to date.For further press information:Ralf WolfNEC Deutschland GmbHReichenbachstr.1, 85737 IsmaningTel.: 0 89/96 274-260Fax: 0 89/96 274-542E-mail: Ralf.Wolf@de.neceur.comContact:Andreas Stützfriendlyway AGMünchner Str. 12-1685774 UnterföhringTel.: (++49) (0)89 95 97 91 55Fax: (++49) (0)89 95 97 91 40E-mail: andreas.stuetz@friendlyway.com Subscribers please note that material bearing the slug"PROTEXT" is not part of CTK's news service and is not to bepublished under the "CTK" slug. 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