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Sportscene Restaurants Signs Two-Year Contract with ASP app-e.com

Restaurant chain procures reliable, Internet-based access to accounting management applications without upfront capital investment.

Montreal (Quebec), December 18, 2000 - Sportscene Restaurants has signed a two-year contract with app-e.com, a leading Quebec-based service provider offering Internet-based, high-end accounting, payroll and human resources management application services. Sportscene Restaurants is owner and franchisor of a chain of 40 restaurants operating across Quebec under "La Cage aux Sports" banner. The services provided by app-e.com will enable Sportscene to improve the efficiency of its business operations by consolidating the financial reporting of its restaurants, as well as by integrating its procurement and point-of-sale activities with its accounting processes.

"Our steady growth and increasingly complex business operations were no longer being supported by our existing infrastructure," said Gilles Lacombe, Financial Services Manager. "On the other hand, we weren't ready to make the significant up-front investments in technology, equipment and IT resources that would have been necessary to upgrade and manage a new IT infrastructure. app-e.com offered the ideal solution. We have access to an advanced ERP system that we can leverage as an ASP service over the Internet. Plus, the Maestro software that app-e.com offers as part of its solution delivers the reliability, security and high-performance we require to efficiently manage our business operations without having to incur any upfront capital investments."

"The app-e.com solution combines Maestro's proven performance and dependability with the latest in network equipment, firewall, server, and encryption technologies to guarantee the reliability and security of our services," said Alain Boudreault, president of app-e.com. "These services enable small to medium size businesses like Sportscene to gain a competitive advantage by cost-effectively leveraging the latest technologies to manage their operations, while remaining focused on business objectives rather than on building and managing their IT infrastructures."

Sportscene selected app-e.com's services over traditional solutions based on the following key advantages:

• Internet-based access to high-end accounting management applications without upfront investments in servers, software, hardware or specialized equipment.
• The deployment of a reliable partner and franchisee communications network without the need to hire specialized technical resources to manage it.
• Automatic upgrades to the latest in network equipment, firewall, software and servers to ensure the continued performance, reliability rate (above 99%) and security of the service.
• Data that is easily accessible over the Internet - high data transfer speed.
• Ease-of-use and adaptability to Sportscene's specific business requirements.
• Exclusive and secure access to Sportscene's own data and functions.
• A fixed and predictable monthly cost that includes access to applications as well as the related IT infrastructure including data center management, operation of the servers, software maintenance, support and upgrades, data extraction and analysis.

app-e.com's fee structure is based on the number of transactions, number of users and level of expected usage. This enables the services to be easily adapted to each company's needs and can represent a savings of 30% to 50% when compared to traditional license models.

About app-e.com
Created in 1999, app-e.com is a company that offers accounting, payroll and human resources management applications via a reliable Internet link, without upfront investment. This company is a member of Informatech Group, a group of large-scale Montreal-based technological companies founded in 1977. They developed a range of products and services that resulted in the creation of distinct legal entities. Informatech Group's clientele is vast and works in various domains (i.e. distribution, service, health, public and private sectors). app-e.com benefits from this client base as well as from the group's expertise in project management, company management and marketing. For more information on app-e.com, visit our Web site at www.app-e.com/eng or www.escoopsoft.com for the forestry sector.

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