National Computer Systems Pte Ltd (NCS) today announced its partnership with SelfServe USA to venture into the Asia Pacific Internet commerce markets. The new venture, NCS-SelfServe Asia Pacific, will offer the full range of SelfServe Internet commerce services in the Asia Pacific countries including Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Taiwan, Australia and New Zealand.

"NCS-SelfServe Asia Pacific will offer customers in Asia Pacific a unique value in Internet commerce outsourcing. We will localise SelfServe's secure end-to-end Internet commerce solution to meet business requirements. Our partnership with SelfServe USA will provide our clients with a global Internet commerce clearing facility with Singapore as the gateway to the Asia Pacific region," said Lee Kwok Cheong, Managing Director of National Computer Systems.

NCS-SelfServe Asia Pacific will operate a data centre in Singapore. It will provide Internet commerce solutions that can process multiple-currency-transactions and have the capabilities to handle country-specific sales tax. Customers would include merchants within the Asia-Pacific region; and North American and European merchants wishing to expand their businesses in the Asia-Pacific region. NCS-SelfServe Asia Pacific will be operational in the second quarter of 1997. Aggressive expansion is in the pipeline with additional data centres scheduled to open in Europe and northern Asia in the latter half of 1997.

"We are very pleased to partner with NCS to deliver solutions that will bring businesses and customers together over the Internet in the Asia-Pacific region," said Toby Tobaccowala, SelfServe USA's Chief Executive Officer. "The combination of NCS's regional presence and SelfServe's secure end-to-end Internet commerce solution will provide companies with incremental revenue opportunities while improving their business performance."

About the SelfServe Solution

A scaleable service, the SelfServe solution includes the following options that have benefited customers including Corel, the Software Publishers Association and AT&T:

• Secure credit card transaction processing
• Internet delivery of software and digital content
• Wrapping and unlocking of software and digital content
• Copyright and software piracy protection
• Packaged-products order fulfillment
• Online customer registration and surveys
• Customised database marketing and reporting services

About National Computer Systems

National Computer Systems Pte Ltd (NCS), a wholly owned subsidiary of the National Computer Board (NCB) was restructured and began operations from 1 April 1996 as an IT services company. NCS took over the development and maintenance functions of the Civil Service Computerisation Programme (CSCP). The largest computerisation project in Singapore that the NCB has relinquished. This Programme has a big impact in improving the quality of public administration and public services in Singapore. Singapore's public administration has been rated as among the most efficient and highly automated public administrations in the world by the Harvard Business Review in its May/Jun 1992 issue.
As the main provider of IT services to the CSCP for the past 16 years, NCS has built up expertise and skills unmatched by any other IT company in Singapore. It is well positioned to deliver projects of any size and scale. The more than 1200 trained and experienced IT professionals are amongst the largest pool of IT expertise in the region. The solid wide ranging IT and management expertise range from simple LAN implementation to nation-wide infrastructure. The World Wide Web address is http://www.ncs.com.sg.

NCS and the NCS logo are service trademarks of National Computer Systems Pte Ltd.

About SelfServe USA

Founded in 1995, SelfServe USA is a wholly owned subsidiary of Commerce Direct International, Inc. and a leading Internet commerce outsource partner of businesses who sell products or services globally over the Internet. The SelfServe solution is the most secure, turnkey Internet commerce system designed to benefit Web merchants and shoppers alike. For more information about the SelfServe solution, contact SelfServe USA at 1605 N.W. Sammamish Road, Suite 215, Issaquah, WA 98027. Telephone: 206-313-3143. Fax: 206-313-9137 or visit the SelfServe home page at: http://www.selfserve.net.

SelfServe is a trademark of Commerce Direct International, Inc. All product and company names are trademarks or registered trademarks of the respective companies.