INGRAM MICRO'S INTERNET-BASED ELECTRONIC CATALOG AND IN-DEPTH LIBRARY NOW "OPEN FOR BUSINESS"

SANTA ANA, Calif., July 1, 1996
Ingram Micro Inc. today launched the industry's first Internet-based Electronic Catalog and In-depth Manufacturer Information Library, empowering resellers to access real-time product information, pricing and warehouse availability on 38,000 products from more than 1,100 manufacturers.

"Today's unveiling of our Electronic Catalog and In-depth Library represents an important milestone for Ingram Micro and the industry," said Doug Antone, president of Ingram Alliance, and senior vice president of Ingram Micro. "This new service on the Internet clearly illustrates our commitment to our resellers and their business needs. More importantly, we believe that these new reseller offerings can potentially serve as the foundation for an industry wide standard for the organization and dissemination of product information."

From the Electronic Catalog on the web, resellers can look up their specific price and product availability by warehouse -- real-time -- directly from Ingram Micro's mainframe. The Catalog currently includes a one-page product description on more than 23,000 products. Resellers who require additional information are contextually linked to the In-depth Library from within the Catalog.

Ingram Micro's In-depth Library features comprehensive original-format manufacturer sales and marketing materials, technical information and publications, training manuals, vendor information, and channel support. All documents in the Library are converted to the Adobe Portable Document Format., using Adobe Acrobat. software. The information in the Library provides resellers with a common organization across all manufacturers, and is indexed and portable, allowing them to easily print it, store it, or automatically transport it to their customers via e-mail.

www.ingram.com -- A Reseller's Business Tool
"We have invested a great amount of time and conducted extensive research on the types of information needed by resellers," said Fadi Chehade, Ingram Micro's vice president of Customer Information Services. "Resellers told us they want Internet access to Ingram Micro's extensive product information currently maintained by our staff of more than 100 engineers and many of our manufacturers. They told us that information alone is not sufficient: resellers want it linked with real-time access to their own price and availability with access to Ingram Micro's mainframe."

Chehade added that having instant access to the right product information, and the available quantity, helps resellers win business: www.ingram.com is designed from the ground up as a business tool.

Successful Implementation of Adobe, Lotus, Microsoft and Netscape Technology

To develop the Electronic Catalog and the In-depth Library, Ingram Micro worked with several of its largest technology vendors, namely Adobe Systems Incorporated, Lotus, Microsoft and Netscape.

"By providing a unified, on-line resource of critical business information, Ingram Micro can help resellers speed up the pace of business and better service their own customers," said John Kunze, vice president and general manager, Internet Products and Technologies, Adobe Systems Inc. "Adobe Acrobat® software and Ingram Micro's In-Depth Library can play a critical role in enabling resellers to do business more efficiently by getting a wide variety of content from many different sources into a common, rich format that can be easily accessed on the web."

Don Bulens, Lotus' vice president, Worldwide Business Partners, said, "Through the Internet, Ingram Micro is establishing a strong link with its resellers by providing them with the information and services they need. We're particularly pleased that they chose Lotus Notes as the development and deployment platform, as it is ideally suited for this new class of highly interactive Internet applications."

Velle Kolde, manager of emerging distribution, Microsoft Corporation, said, "We are pleased that Ingram Micro has selected Microsoft Window's NT as the software backbone for their Electronic Catalog service. Resellers who will use this service will gain a competitive advantage in terms of information access and delivery, and that necessitates a fast scaleable server technology like Windows NT."

"Ingram Micro's Electronic Catalog and In-depth Library is the type of application that is optimized to take advantage of Netscape's Navigator client software," said Marco Mohajer, national distribution manager at Netscape. "By implementing Netscape server products and our frames technology on their website, Ingram Micro offers their resellers an easy way to search through vast amounts of important information in real-time."

The Electronic Catalog is free of charge to Ingram Micro customers and the In-depth Library is free during the introductory period. Resellers can simply register on the web at http://www.ingram.com/become.html.

Ingram Micro was recently voted the most preferred distributor of microcomputer products in the United States for 1996, in an independent study conducted by Computer Reseller News, the industry's premier trade publication.

Ingram Micro Inc., headquartered in Santa Ana, Calif., is the world's largest wholesale distributor of microcomputer products, with 1995 sales of $8.617 billion. The company's inventory includes 38,000 products from more than 1,000 of the world's leading hardware and software companies. Affiliates in 15 countries sell to 108,000 resellers in 120 countries. Ingram Micro is the leading provider of advanced value-added services including technical areas, field services, configuration, and fulfillment.

Adobe and Acrobat are trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated.

Contact:

Kirsten Frosh
Ingram Micro, Inc.
714-566-1000 ext. 22727

Adobe Systems Inc.
Rick Brown
(415) 962-6060

Lotus Corporation
Eric Sall
(617) 238-5768

Microsoft
Phil Missimore
(408) 986-1140

Netscape
Chris Holten
(415) 937-2521