Affiliation Between IDEAlliance and NMBFC Announced

ALEXANDRIA, VA, (May 6, 2002) -- At its 47th Annual Magazine and Book Publishers Distribution Seminar, held May 5-8, at the Registry Resort in Naples, Florida, the Board of Directors of the National Magazine, Book and Film Carriers (NMBFC) announced its affiliation with IDEAlliance. The agreement, to be effective September 1, 2002, means that NMBFC members will become members of IDEAlliance.

David W. Manning, President of NMBFC and TCW/Tennessee Express said, "The two associations strongly favored the decision because of:

• The common publisher members between the two organizations,
• The opportunity to interact with a larger group of publishers and printers, and
• The growing demands on associations to seek synergistic relationships to maximize administrative efficiencies."

IDEAlliance Board Chairman Freelon Hunter of Boeing, said "We welcome NMBFC into our association. Both organizations will greatly benefit from this affiliation. The key to maximizing the value of the standards developed and promoted by IDEAlliance is to have them adopted across entire industries. The industry then benefits by eliminating cost and waste."

David J. Steinhardt, President and CEO of IDEAlliance, added, "Our combined efforts will support IDEAlliance's goal to improve a major issue for publishers - the single copy distribution."

About NMBFC

The National Magazine, Book & Film Carriers (NMBFC) is a network of 25 companies who handle the delivery of printed products for publishers and printers. The organization was founded nearly 70 years ago. Their commitment is building their businesses in the expedited delivery of printed products to the marketplace.

About IDEAlliance

IDEAlliance (International Digital Enterprise Alliance) is a not-for-profit membership organization. Its mission is to advance user-driven, cross-industry solutions for all publishing and content-related processes by developing standards, fostering business alliances, and identifying best practices. IDEAlliance has been a leader in information technologies since 1966 (founded as Graphic Communications Association) having fostered the development and adoption of standards such as ADIS, GRACoL, ICE, JIFFI, Mail.dat, papiNet, PRISM, PROSE XML, SPACE XML, SGML, and XML. Learn more about IDEAlliance at www.idealliance.org.

Contact

Georgia Volakis
IDEAlliance
703.837.1075
gvolakis@idealliance.org

Dave Manning
NMBFC
615.255.1122