European Paper B2B Site Announced

Computer Sciences Corporation entered into an agreement with paperX.com to build Europe's first virtual trading floor for the continent's $48 billion paper industry.

CSC is working with paperX.com to create a secure Net Market that is able to operate across Europe's multicurrency and multilingual environment. paperX.com expects its exchange will serve as a conduit for 10 percent of all the paper traded in Europe by 2003.

paperX.com will begin trading in early summer this year, bringing 300 paper producers across Europe together with the thousands of printers, offices, publishers and packaging companies that use in excess of ninety million tons of paper each year. The service will generate revenue by charging paper producers small commissions. The service is free for buyers.

``The paper industry currently has no central marketplace, and it is only with the evolution of Net Markets that we could make our vision a reality,'' said Lex Douze, founder and chief technology officer of paperX.com. ``We quickly identified CSC as the leading implementer of Net Markets in the U.S. and Europe.''

CSC provides companies with a full range of business-to-business e-business services and solutions, combining its legacy in implementing large-scale, complex technology solutions with a deep understanding of the business challenges and opportunities for fast-moving companies that seek to leverage the Internet to gain competitive advantage.

paperX.com will operate an independent exchange for sellers and buyers in the $50 billion European paper and packaging market. Users of paperX.com can expect a significant reduction in the costs of sales, marketing and purchasing. paperX.com will go live in Summer 2000.