[mv] FYI: MiniVend / Akopia Press Release

[Mike Heins <mikeh@minivend.com>]

******    message to minivend-users from Mike Heins <mikeh@minivend.com>     ******

For Immediate Release

For additional Information contact:

William Berenson, Numbers@Work
Tel:  305-588-1536
Email:  bberenson@numbersatwork.com


Akopia Acquires MiniVend

Two Open Source Leaders Combine to Create Comprehensive E-Commerce
Platform for Small to Medium Sized Enterprises


Reston, VA, June 14, 2000 - Akopia Inc., announced today its
acquisition of MiniVend, a leading open source e-commerce application.
MiniVend will be combined with Akopia's Tallyman commerce system to
create a powerful e-commerce platform.  This new product will
represent a new standard in open source e-business applications.

Akopia's as-yet-unnamed new product will combine the best of Tallyman
and MiniVend.  Tallyman's intuitive user interface will complement
MiniVend's rich functionality, extensive developer community, and
large installed customer base.  Since its first release in 1995 more
than 1,000,000 copies of MiniVend have been distributed and there are
thousands of active implementations.

The union of Akopia's offering and MiniVend will create the most
robust open source e-commerce product on the market today, including
customer management, merchandising, site management, transaction
management, and system administration tools and context-sensitive
help.

"Akopia and MiniVend have always considered the open source model the
ideal way to provide great business software to the market," said
Brett Pinegar, President and CEO of Akopia, "Both products have
talented and active developer networks standing behind them, and we
are hopeful that these groups will become a single dynamic community
working on the combined product."

Akopia's combined product offering is a central component of Akopia's
unique business model, which offers world-class open source e-business
software with a full spectrum of professional services including
strategic consulting, systems deployment and customization, support
and training, graphic design, and ASP offerings.  This combined
product and service solution is ideal for small to mid-size companies
entering the e-commerce arena or upgrading their Internet presence.

Pinegar added, "Many companies simply do not have the infrastructure
to enter this market quickly and effectively.  Our product and
professional services offerings solve this problem by enabling rapid
deployment of customized solutions for firms without an online
capability."

"Further, because of the open source model, a strong developer
community ensures that the product will be continually improved over
time.  Couple this with world-class professional services and we
believe we can provide extremely valuable e-commerce solutions."

As part of the acquisition, Mike Heins, the creator of MiniVend will
join Akopia's management team.   Mr. Heins, who is widely recognized
as a leader in the open source movement, created MiniVend and has
overseen its rapid growth over the past five years.   He will continue
to play a very active role in its evolution.

"I am delighted about the combination of MiniVend with Akopia," said
Mr. Heins, "This represents a wonderful opportunity to bring together
two exceptionally talented open source communities to build
extraordinary software."


###

About Akopia Inc.:

Akopia provides the industry's most widely used open source e-commerce
platform for the B2B and B2C markets.  An extensive installed base and
a dynamic community of thousands of developers ensures its rapid
enhancement.  Akopia offers its clients the full range of professional
services necessary to engage in e-commerce.  The company is
headquartered in Reston, Virginia with offices in Ohio and Utah.

----- End forwarded message -----

-- 
Akopia, Inc., 131 Willow Lane, Floor 2, Oxford, OH  45056
phone +1.513.523.7621 fax 7501 <heins@akopia.com>

Just because something is obviously happening doesn't mean something
obvious is happening. --Larry Wall
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