ENCINITAS -- January 31, 2002 -- Material Express Corporation announced today the release of a new electronic pricing and catalog information service for Electrical Distributors. This innovative new product is called EPIC™ for Distributors (EPIC means Electronic Pricing Information and Catalogs). The product consists of an information retrieval software database program that runs on any Windows based personal computer. It also includes over 100 manufacturer catalogs in beautiful full-color PDF format. EPIC for Distributors has cost information, manufacturer cut sheets, cross-reference, and the ability to quickly and easily create custom pricing columns. The software program was designed to make it easy to find electrical materials from a database of over one million electrical material items, all with Universal Product Code numbers. Searching can be done by catalog number, UPC number, description keyword, or the EPIC Pathway system of item categorization. The EPIC database is linked to specific electrical manufacturer catalog pages that can be viewed and printed by a click of the computer mouse. The manufacturer catalogs are linked together using the EPIC Catalog Table of Contents system of electronic bookmarks.

The EPIC database includes the manufacturer-established prices for distributor cost, list price, column 1, column 2, and column 3 (end-column or Trade price). Also included in the database are improved item descriptions, units of measure, cross reference information, and package quantities. Price updates are available via Internet download and CD-ROM delivery.

According to Barry Mester, President of Material Express, "EPIC was designed as a replacement product for printed price books. The days of shipping printed price sheets via the mail are over. Electrical distributors hate the highly undesirable and laborious chore of filing printed prices sheets. Finding pricing information using EPIC is much quicker and easier with a database of over twice as many material items as printed price books. And, having the manufacturer catalogs on-line is a great convenience to staff, improving customer service." Doug Smith, Vice-President of Sales for Material Express adds, "We at Material Express believe that electrical distributors want and deserve an alternative for material pricing information. The whole industry will benefit from the healthy competition EPIC will bring to the marketplace. We are very excited to bring this new product to the electrical industry." The EPIC manufacturer pricing information is restricted to authorized electrical distributors only.

Material Express was founded by the owners of Vision InfoSoft Corporation, the leading developer of software and pricing information for electrical and plumbing contractors since 1993. Vision counts over 6,000 contractor customers from the U.S., Canada, and the United Kingdom using their estimating software, billing software, and the EPIC pricing service for contractors. The Board of Directors for each of these companies includes former executives of Trade Service Corporation, recently acquired by I2 Corporation.

Material Express products also include Order Express, a customized Internet storefront for electrical distributors, and wireless field ordering systems for contractors using a Palm VII personal digital assistant.

For additional information please contact Material Express.com at (877) 973-3744 or go to www.materialexpress.com.