papiNet Releases Additional Messages Designed to Enhance B2B Communications in the Paper Industry

papiNet, the global electronic standards initiative for paper and forest products industry, announces the release of four XML based messaging standards expanding to nine the suite of messages.

BRUSSELS and WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 7, 2002) - The members and sponsoring organizations of papiNet - the global electronic standards initiative of the paper and forest products industry - announce the release of four additional business documents: Credit/Debit Note, Goods Receipt, RFQ, and RFQ Response. These four messages complement the five messages released in June 2001 (Purchase Order, Order Confirmation, Call-Off, Delivery, and Invoice), providing the ability for the paper industry and its customers to electronically communicate all business transactions involved in the procurement and order fulfillment business processes.

The nine-message suite, entitled Version 1.1, continues a global initiative begun in November 2000 by European and North American paper industries to establish a common approach regarding electronic document formats for international business. The papiNet standard benefits companies doing business in a global environment as never before because trading partners are not limited by technical differences across international boundaries. The papiNet standard facilitates electronic commerce between the paper industry and its customers by providing messages that cover the transactional portion of the business as well as supply chain management. New standards will continue to be developed to support business processes in transportation, manufacturing, quality reporting, and product attributes.

Version 1.1 of the papiNet standard also includes a Business Acknowledgement message to provide feedback between trading partners about the acceptance or rejection of the message by the target system. The papiNet standard provides support for the business processes required to effectively implement the business transactions needed to manage the above business documents. This eliminates the cumbersome process of first creating and then exchanging formal paper-based documents by fax, as well as any additional manual entry of responses into each party's computer system for the majority of companies not using EDI.

Kenneth Bolinder, papiNet Project Leader, said, "The papiNet messages will prove to be highly effective in helping to reduce the cost of expanding electronic communications to new trading partners. "

Barry Meinerth, Senior Vice President of Production and Fulfillment, Time Inc., said, "We support and encourage our trading partners to focus on conducting business with Time Inc. using the papiNet standard. The competitiveness of the publishing industry is dependent upon taking costs out of the supply chain and improving the flow of business information. PapiNet does exactly that."

In addition to the XML schema for the messages, complete documentation is available for the supported business processes, the elements, and attributes. An implementation guide and data mapping tool are also available. Implementation support is also available through a User Group and the help desk for European firms. Visit www.papinet.org for detailed information.

About papiNet

The purpose of papiNet is to develop, maintain, and support the implementation of global electronic business transaction standards for parties engaged in the buying, selling and distribution of forest and paper products. The aim is to improve the reach and richness of communication throughout the supply chain, increase efficiencies in transactions, and to support interoperability among trading partners. The papiNet standards are open and freely available. Critical mass is achieved by involving key players globally and across the supply chain.

Nearly 50 customers, producers, and technology firms from Europe and North America are involved in the initiative with industry association partners - American Forest and Paper Association (Sara Freund at 202.463.2450 or sara_freund@afandpa.org) and IDEAlliance - formerly GCA (David Steinhardt at 703.837.1066 or dsteinhardt@idealliance.org). http://www.papinet.org

For More Information

Contact Arthur Colman at 617-803-2546 or colman@drybridge.com