Sterling Commerce Delivers New e-Commerce and Warehouse Management Capabilities

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - January 12, 2009) - At the National Retail Federation Convention and Expo, Sterling Commerce, an AT&T Inc (NYSE: T) company, today announced the general availability of the Sterling Selling and Fulfillment Suite 8.0. The Sterling Selling and Fulfillment Suite is a comprehensive solution for the entire inquiry-to-cash process. With this new version, Sterling Multi-Channel Selling has broadened its e-commerce capabilities for the store and call center to enhance the cross-channel shopping experience, and Sterling Multi-Channel Fulfillment has added new inventory management capabilities to drive operational efficiency and reduce costs.

"To differentiate themselves and grow revenue, retailers must deliver a seamless cross-channel experience while also reducing costs, but they're struggling to do that. They must transform their approach and embrace a process-centric view that spans across the whole fulfillment process, from order capture through delivery to the customer," said Cory Wiegert, vice president, Applications Product Line, at Sterling Commerce. "The new version of the Sterling Selling and Fulfillment Suite is uniquely able to help companies achieve that transformation by extending our leadership in addressing the complex challenges companies face in both their selling and fulfillment processes."

Sterling Multi-Channel Selling allows companies to create a consistent, unified buying experience across all available touchpoints -- Web, Store, Call Center, and Field Sales. In this new version, Sterling Commerce has broadened its e-commerce capabilities for the store and call center channels to enable customers to order from anywhere and companies to fulfill from anywhere. New e-commerce capabilities include:

--  Ordering capabilities to enable customers to pick up a cart created on
    the Web and complete it in the call center or store.
--  Real-time inventory availability can now be accessed through all sales
    channels.
--  Order-level store pickup functionality provides customers with product
    delivery flexibility by enabling each ordered item to be scheduled for pick-
    up at different store locations.
--  Return and exchange capabilities, such as support for blind returns,
    are now available through the call center, helping call center agents
    assist customers more quickly and efficiently through these processes.
    

For multi-channel fulfillment, Sterling Commerce has enhanced Sterling Warehouse Management System (WMS), a solution that brings operational discipline to complex warehouse operations by giving managers robust planning, execution and measurement tools. In this version, Sterling Commerce has added new inventory management capabilities to drive operational efficiency and reduce costs, including support for:

--  Consigned inventory, which provides flexibility in managing inventory
    ownership by allowing a warehouse to trigger the transfer of ownership
    based on operational events (receiving, picking, shipping etc.).
--  Serialization, which enables improved inventory accuracy by automating
    the capture of serial numbers using "from" and "to" ranges. Sterling WMS
    has built-in logic for computing the quantity based on those ranges based
    on more complex computations.
--  Shipment profiling, which helps optimize picking and shipping
    operations by allowing the grouping of orders based on shipment profile
    criteria. This enables companies to more efficiently ship orders and
    improve customer service by using different criteria like carrier
    appointments, customer pickups, and promotions.
    

Sterling Selling and Fulfillment Suite is a unique set of applications for managing the entire process of inquiry to cash that removes the barriers to successful customer and supplier interactions by providing a single inquiry-to-cash process of multi-channel selling and fulfillment operations. The suite allows companies to present a unique buying experience for their prospects, customers and partners in all the ways they sell -- Web, call center, store and field sales. In addition, it provides companies with control over the entire fulfillment lifecycle -- from order management, to warehouse operations, to transportation and delivery, to supply management, to returns and settlement.

About Sterling Commerce

Sterling Commerce, an AT&T Inc (NYSE: T) company, helps customers thrive in a global economy by connecting their business communities, processes, people and technology. More than 30,000 customers worldwide use Sterling Commerce solutions for business process integration, multi-channel selling, and supply chain fulfillment, and payments management to optimize business performance inside and outside their enterprise. Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, Sterling Commerce has offices in 24 countries around the world. More information can be found at www.sterlingcommerce.com