These e-commerce and e-services companies will have unprecedented access to the more than two million small businesses who use QuickBooks to manage their business and who upgrade to the next version of QuickBooks, anticipated to be released in 2000. This QuickBooks Gateway provides these companies with a powerful channel for marketing to and serving the small business market - a traditionally dispersed and hard-to-target audience.

"Intuit is creating the most direct channel to the key decision makers of millions of computerized small businesses," said Scott Cook, Intuit executive committee chairman and founder. "We have opened a one-of-a-kind gateway that provides business-to-business e-service companies with a way to integrate their services into the workflow of business at the point-of-need."

The QuickBooks Internet Gateway solves two problems facing business-to-business (B2B) e-service and e-commerce firms. Firstly, it's a channel, enabling B2B firms to acquire customers from QuickBooks base of more than two million small businesses. Secondly, it is a platform enabling B2B firms to integrate technically their services into QuickBooks, the system used by more businesses to run their business.

QuickBooks customers' use of technology is likely to result in significant customer acquisition and rapid adoption of the B2B e-services. On average, QuickBooks customers spend more than 10 hours a week using QuickBooks software to manage their businesses. QuickBooks customers are comfortable taking advantage of technology in their business operations and more than 90 percent of them use the Internet for business purposes beyond e-mail. By leveraging this unique, desktop-Internet platform and the core accounting and business data, Intuit is creating an opportunity for the participating companies to automate and deliver their respective small business products and services through QuickBooks integration.

"The QuickBooks Internet Gateway breaks new ground for Internet businesses entering the small business arena," said Lloyd O'Connor, CEO of Intelisys. "Through this unprecedented channel, we will be reaching the most dynamic small business community in the world. Companies that can gain a foothold within the QuickBooks market space will be big winners."

"Given Intuit's leading position in the sought-after small business market and our ability to quickly and easily fulfill online business loans, we believe Intuit will be the winning small business loan portal on the Internet," said Michael Sabel, chief e-commerce officer and executive vice president, First Sierra.

The QuickBooks Internet Gateway enables both technical and business integration of electronic services into QuickBooks. This enables the participating B2B firms to deliver services that are much more convenient and automated, helping to save QuickBooks users time, hassle, and money .

QuickBooks e-services will revolutionize the way small businesses use the Internet, giving them one-click access to key services at the point-of-need. On-screen messages will inform users of the connected services while they are performing related business tasks. For example, while a business is processing payments in QuickBooks, the software will show a message on screen describing the QuickBooks Merchant Account Service which allows customers to process credit card payments from within QuickBooks. Once the business has set up the Merchant Account Service, the process becomes streamlined. The business can accept and approve credit card payments, and the service enters the transaction into the accounting system, and processes the payment with the bank, all in one step.

These services are planned to debut in early 2000 with the next version of QuickBooks - QuickBooks 2000. As more services become available, QuickBooks 2000 will be utilizing Marimba's® Castanet® application distribution and management software to enable background download of new features and updates to QuickBooks 2000. Service charges will apply for most services.

QuickBooks Internet Gateway e-Service Alliances
ELetter, Inc.
ELetter is a market-leading, Internet-based postal mailing solution for direct mail and corporate communication. ELetter manages all aspects of a business mailing - from production to distribution - from the desktop, in a fraction of the time and effort it takes for companies to do it manually. QuickBooks users will simply upload addresses and mail content, and ELetter's fully automated system will quickly and efficiently produce and mail their letters, postcards and booklets worldwide.

E-Stamp Corp.
E-Stamp Corporation, the first company to sell postage commercially over the Internet, provides an easy and convenient way for small businesses to buy, download and print postage directly from their desktop. One of E-Stamp's key strengths is its strong integration with popular applications such as QuickBooks. The E-Stamp solution enables users to quickly and easily print stamps directly onto envelops, labels or documents using standard laser or inkjet printers, 24 hours a day, seven days a week -- without being connected to the Internet.

First Sierra Financial, Inc.
First Sierra is an Internet leader in business-to-business e-finance lending, having funded more than $2 billion in loans through its electronic fulfillment platform. Development of this leading end-to-end business loan automation process has allowed First Sierra to reduce approval times to as little as two minutes and disperse funds in as little as 24 hours. Through this alliance, Intuit will offer First Sierra's LeasingOnline product and Working Capital Financing product, providing millions of qualifying small business customers with online access to lease financing for specific equipment purchases and working capital loans for general business purposes.

Intelisys Electronic Commerce, L.L.C.
Intelisys is a leading provider of Internet-based business-to-business e-commerce solutions for companies of all sizes. Through Intelisys QuickBooks users will have unprecedented buying power and will be able to enjoy online purchasing benefits including discount pricing, online comparison shopping, and administrative control of the purchasing process.

StorageTek
Safeguard Interactive Backup services, powered by StorageTek, provide enhanced data security with QuickBooks data file backup via the Internet. Customers can backup their QuickBooks data file or entire computer files to a remote, secure data storage center using the Safeguard Interactive Backup software. All data transmissions are compressed and encrypted.

Signio, Inc.
Signio provides a robust e-commerce payment service for online merchants, merchant aggregators, auctions sites and e-business buyer and seller communities. Signio's platform offers integrated payment services for real time credit card authorization, debit card, purchase cards, and Internet checking for a flat monthly fee. Automated Clearinghouse (ACH) transactions are also available through the Signio platform. Connected to a broad range of payment processors, the Signio service has been pre-integrated with most e-commerce applications solutions, making it easy to deploy. Unlike other HTTP based payment solutions, Signio's TCP/IP based service provides fast response time and guarantees the completion of payments. This alliance enables QuickBooks users to accept credit card payments through participating merchant banks.

UpShot.com
UpShot.com is the first online service to provide small businesses with the essential sales tools to help small businesses manage customers, prospects and sales teams more effectively and efficiently. The company has turned the concept of ASP (Application Service Provider) into a unique "App-on-Tap" by making the service simple, instantly available, and free for the first 10 users. The hosted, secure service enables small companies to manage their sales process, all in one browser-based solution: contact management, time and customer management, built-in communications, forecasting, and Web monitoring for breaking news.

Wells Fargo Merchant Services
An alliance between Wells Fargo Bank and First Data Merchant Services Corporation, Wells Fargo Merchant Services provides access to the technology that enables QuickBooks small business users to complete a paperless, one-click online application for a merchant account so that a small business can begin to accept credit card transactions almost immediately.

Wells Fargo & Company
The nation's leading Internet bank, Wells Fargo & Company is an innovator in small business e-commerce enablement. Beginning in February 1995, Wells Fargo was one of the first banks in the U.S. to make secured online credit card payment available to merchants, and currently processes payments for over 100,000 merchants across the U.S.

First Data Corp.
First Data Merchant Services Corp. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of First Data Corp. (NYSE: FDC). As the leader in electronic commerce and payment services, Atlanta-based First Data serves more than two million merchant locations, 1,400 card issuers and millions of consumers, making it easier, faster and more secure for people and businesses to buy goods and services.

These contracts provide for Intuit to receive $68.5 million in committed payments over the next three years. The contracts for these alliances and services include placement fees and/or revenue sharing. Intuit intends to sign additional alliances in the future. Interested companies can email Intuit at qbgateway@intuit.com for additional information.