Activant's Vista Information Services Forms Alliance with NAED

LIVERMORE, Calif. and ST. LOUIS, April 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Activant Solutions Inc. and the National Association of Electrical Distributors (NAED) today announced a new marketing partnership whereby NAED will recommend Activant's Vista® Information Services to its members. This new alliance is aimed at promoting channel efficiencies and improving the flow of information throughout the electrical supply chain.

NAED is dedicated to serving and protecting the electrical distribution channel. As part of that mission, NAED offers its members a wide array of educational tools, research materials, and networking opportunities. Activant's Vista Information Services is the trusted source of accurate, unbiased sales tracking information for a variety of industries, including independent hardware, lumber, home centers, mass merchandisers, specialty retailers, and more recently full-line electrical distributors. The goal of this new marketing partnership is to expand the network of participating electrical distributors, thereby enhancing the breadth and scope of Vista reports for the electrical industry, providing more valuable market information for participating manufacturers and distributors.

The Activant Vista service produces fact-based category sales reports derived from out-the-door sales data from a representative sample of electrical distributors throughout the United States. The result is a highly reliable and statistically accurate estimate of product and category sales performance for the electrical distribution channel. Vista Information Services provides reports containing sales trends and market shares.

"NAED is pleased to offer Activant's Vista Information Services as a new resource to our members," said Thomas Naber, NAED president and CEO. "These reports will improve forecasting accuracy and will help our members make informed business decisions. I strongly encourage our distributor members to participate in the Vista data collection program. With their participation, we can better manage category sales performance in the electrical channel and improve profitability throughout the supply chain."

"Activant has a long history of supporting the electrical distribution industry," said Kevin Roach, executive vice president and general manager of Activant's wholesale distribution group. "With nearly 600 electrical distributors -- many NAED members -- using an Activant solution to run their business, the addition of the Activant Vista service further extends the value Activant brings to the industry as a whole."

"It is natural for NAED and Activant's Vista Information Services to come together because both organizations are focused on collecting and disseminating the information that is at the heart of the electrical distribution industry," said Steve Bieszczat, senior vice president of Marketing for Activant. "By coming together, we hope to improve the quality of the information our customers use to make critical business decisions."

Basic distributor reports would be provided to participating distributors free of charge. More advanced Vista services are available for purchase by distributors and manufacturers. For more information, visit www.vistainfoservices.com, or contact Vista Information Services at 847-768-3122 or via e-mail at [email protected].

About Activant Solutions

Activant Solutions Inc. is a leading technology provider of business management solutions serving distributors and SMB retailers. Activant provides customers with industry-specific software, professional services, content, supply chain connectivity, and analytics.

Over 30,000 customer locations use Activant products to manage their day-to-day operations. Activant's systems are designed to help customers increase sales, boost productivity, operate more cost-efficiently, improve inventory turns and enhance trading partner relationships. Headquartered in Livermore, California, Activant has operations in Texas, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Utah, Canada, Ireland and the United Kingdom. For more information, please visit www.activant.com.

About NAED

NAED is the trade association for the $70+ billion electrical distribution industry. Through networking, education, research, and benchmarking, NAED helps electrical distributors increase profitability and improve the channel. NAED's membership operates in approximately 4,400 locations internationally.

This announcement relating to Activant may contain statements that are forward looking within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended, such as statements concerning trends, future technology or products, or Activant's execution. These statements are based on current expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties which could materially affect the company's results, including, without limitation, market demand for products and technology, the company's ability to meet that market demand, the integration of Activant's technology and products with technology and products supplied by others, the integration of Activant's products into the businesses of its customers, customer acceptance of Activant's products, and the retention and deployment of skilled Activant service providers. Except to the extent required by applicable securities laws, we undertake no obligation to update or publicly revise any of the forward-looking statements. Please refer to our most recently filed Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended December 31, 2009 and our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended September 30, 2009, each of which have been filed with the Securities Exchange Commission and can be found through the Activant investor relations website at www.activant.com/company/investors for a full discussion of the risks and other factors.

Note: Activant, Vista and the Activant stylized logo are registered trademarks of Activant Solutions Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

SOURCE Activant Solutions Inc.