Group 1 recently sent the documents listed below to the primary user contacts on a maintenance plan via mass fax, mail, or with your product shipment. You may find these and other documents at www.g1.com/support. (Please have your user ID and password handy.) For our Fax-on-Demand system (FOD), please call 301-918-0781 and select menu option 4 to retrieve the document number indicated below. For LISTSERV, visit the Technical Support - Electronic Product Notification area of our web site to subscribe at www.g1.com/support.

On our web site customers may NOT have access to all information listed below. It is only accessible if your company owns the particular product and/or platform addressed by the announcement.

INTERNATIONAL PRODUCTS

REF#: SSC2311d1 - This two-page letter was mass faxed to all SortStream Canada customers reminding them about the new postage rates. Special instructions on how to use these new rates are also included in the letter.

LOC: WEB and FOD #6413

DIST: Mass Fax

PLAT: All

LISTSERV: CAN-INT_PRODS

REF#: SSCG2321 - Greenbar listing for the February 2002 CPC Reference File. Details file names and sizes.

LOC: WEB and FOD #6364

DIST: WEB and FOD

PLAT: IBM Mainframe

REF#: NZ6_GB02 - Greenbar listing for the February 2002 EZ-6/CUE masterfile. Details file names and sizes.

LOC: WEB and FOD #6361

DIST: WEB and FOD

PLAT: IBM Mainframe

POSTAL PRODUCTS

REF#: MSP6331d1 - This one-page letter announces the upcoming release of MailStream Plus 6.3.3. This is a regulatory release and will be sent to all customers. Technical Notes for this upcoming release are available on Special Request Downloads. The access code is provided in the letter.

LOC: WEB and FOD #4658

DIST: Mass Fax

PLAT: All

LISTSERV: POSTAL_PRODS

Group 1 Software will be hosting its Annual Users Conference at the Drake Hotel in Chicago, Illinois, July 10 - 12, 2002. Pre-conference intensives will be held July 8 - 9, and include MailStream Plus, CODE-1 Plus, Merge/Purge Plus and DOC 1. There are many exciting sessions scheduled for this year's conference. Keep updated on speakers, breakout sessions, roundtable discussion groups and more by visiting our web site at www.g1.com/uconf. Register before March 31, 2002, to take advantage of the 3 for 2 special.

. . . By now you should be using CODE-1 Plus version 2.4.0, which was released in the Spring of 2001. If you are still using CODE-1 Plus 2.3.0, please be aware that this version will cease to function on February 1, 2002. It is highly recommended that you upgrade to version 2.4.0 if you haven't already done so, to avoid an unnecessary interruption of service.

. . . In case you haven't heard, Group 1 University has made its debut on the Internet! Several weeks ago the first pilot classes of CODE-1 Plus were taught to students from the comfort of their own desktops. CODE-1 Plus is normally a 1 ½ day open seminar taught at one of Group 1's facilities. With eLearning, students used a combination of a tele-conference and the Internet to interact with their instructor and each other. As a beta of this newest offering, students completed a survey and the feedback has been great! If you would like to see a demo to determine if the potential savings would be of value to your organization, stop in and visit one of the Local User Group meetings, or contact Group 1 University at education@g1.com for further information.

. . . Group 1 received awards for The Service Source and User's Guide for MOVEforward and MOVEforward Connect in this year's Technical Communication Competition conducted by the DC chapter of the Society for Technical Communication (STC). Entered in separate categories, both publications won Awards of Excellence. These awards continue Group 1's history of being recognized for quality communication, this time for a product (MOVEforward) and for technical services (Service Source). Congratulations go to Kristin Gillenwater, Maura Betler, and everyone who worked on our award-winning publications!

Group 1 Software recently announced a strategic technology alliance with Systems Research & Development, a developer of strategic systems used for near real-time data warehousing and collusion detection. With the agreement, SRD will integrate and resell Group 1 Software's leading CODE-1 Plus address correction and verification software with its Near Real-Time Data Warehousing solution. By ensuring the accuracy of customer and prospect data before it is entered into a data warehouse, Group 1's data quality software will provide SRD's users reliable information to guide business and marketing decisions.

Group 1's CODE-1 Plus cleanses, validates and standardizes every element of an address according to United States Postal Service (USPS) standards. Address information is one of the most common data elements collected and used by companies, but also one of the most problematic due to variables such as apartment/suite numbers, post office boxes and directionals. SRD can quickly process large quantities of data through its powerful data quality enhancement and match/merge technology after cleansing address information. This information is subsequently loaded in near real-time into a data warehouse. SRD's data warehousing product is superior to typical batch update-oriented data warehousing solutions because it processes incoming data continuously from numerous, often different, operational system data sources, and then delivers results to data marts within seconds.

"Group 1's industry-leading software is a powerful addition to our data warehousing solution, and we are pleased to establish this relationship," said Jeff Jonas, president and founder, SRD.

"We're delighted to partner with SRD to provide a reliable address data quality solution to users of their innovative technology," said Bob Bowen, CEO of Group 1 Software. "Without a foundation of accurate customer data, enterprise applications such as data warehouses offer much less than their potential return on investment."

Have you attended a Local User Group meeting in your area recently? These meetings are a great way to share information with others. Local User Groups are a great source of knowledge and experience, as well as a great place to discuss what is happening in the industry and how it may affect your organization. Check the list below and attend a meeting at your next opportunity.

Local User Group chapters are open to ALL Group 1 customers. Membership and registration are handled on a local level.
Group 1 clients are invited and encouraged to join the group of their choice.

CAPITOL AREA

Location:	Merkle Direct Marketing, 8400 Corporate Dr., Lanham, MD
Date:	Tuesday, February 12, 2002
Time:	9:00 a.m.
Topic:	An eLearning demonstration will be given by Brian Hughes, Technical Training Specialist, Group 1 Software.
Contact:	Larry Bettinger- Lbettinger@merklenet.com

DENVER AREA

Location:	Cahners, 8878 South Barrons Blvd., Highlands Ranch, CO
Date:	Thursday, February 7, 2002
Time:	1:00 p.m.
Topic:	An eLearning demonstration will be given by Brian Hughes, Technical Training Specialist, Group 1 Software.
Contact:	Dennis Roy - droy@cahners.com

OHIO AREA

Location:	Banc One Center, 1111 Polaris Parkway, Columbus, Ohio
Date:	Thursday, March 14, 2002
Time:	11:30 - 1:30 p.m.
Topic:	There will be a review of current and pending Group 1 product releases. The Postal Rate Case will also be discussed.
Contact:	Mitchell Williams- MWilliams@ResponseData.com

PHILADELPHIA AREA

Location:	UGI Utilities, Inc., 225 Morgantown Road, Reading, Pennsylvania
Date:	Wednesday, May 1, 2002
Time:	9:00 a.m.
Topic:	This meeting will be an in-depth training class for MailStream Plus led by Rob Sayne, Group 1 Software.
Contact:	Dennis Bratcher - dbratcher@dimarkinc.com and Susan Miller - smmiller@ugi.com

Sign up today for one of several excellent education classes Group 1 is offering throughout the month of February. Classes other than those listed below may be available upon request. Please call 1-800-859-4133 for class dates and locations. These classes give you the opportunity for you to get answers to your questions and share your experiences with Group 1 products with others. For more information about these classes or to register online, visit our web site at www.g1.com/education.

MERLIN is the system used by the USPS Business Mail Acceptance to automate the acceptance and verification of postal mailings. It ensures the USPS that mail received from customers is eligible for postal discounts. Previous acceptance and verification procedures were handled manually. Users properly presorting the mail and correctly setting software parameters should continue to function without problems. According to USPS postal brochures, MERLIN will verify for Presort/Mail Make-up, Weight/Piece Counts, Barcode Readability, Tray Label Accuracy, Meter Identification and Date, Address/Barcode Accuracy, Carrier Routes, Walk Sequence and Line of Travel Accuracy along with endorsement/rate markings, mailpiece dimensions and combined mailings. For more information, go to www.usps.gov and search for MERLIN.

NewsCast is now being archived. Click previous issues to go the NewsCast homepage to review any prior issues.

Below are some links that may be of interest to our customers:

Group 1's Web Page - http://www.g1.com. The Group 1 Software web site provides customers with valuable information concerning different areas of the company. From this web site, you can access education information, recent press releases, support and much more useful information.

USPS Web Site Business Section - http://www.usps.com/smallbiz

The USPS Web Site - www.usps.gov. This web site allows customers to check out the latest information regarding postage rates and fees, news and events in the postal community, locations of local post offices and various other links. There is also a place where postal service customers can track the status of a package or access other online mailing forms.

Canada Post - http://www.canadapost.ca/splash.asp. This is the direct link to the Canada Post web site.

USPS Postal One - http://www.pilot.uspspostalone.com. This is the direct link to the USPS PostalOne web site.

USPS Rapid Information Bulletin Board System - http://ribbs.usps.gov. This is the National Customer Support Center for the United States Postal Service. It provides you Mail Service updates, current weather conditions and other interesting facts pertaining to the Postal Service.

Postal Rate Commission - http://www.prc.gov. The Postal Rate Commission web site provides information about the organization, its function and procedures, along with postal rates and fees. It also provides a location where you can voice your opinion to the Consumer Advocate.

Nonprofit Mailers - http://www.nonprofitmailers.org. The Alliance is the primary representative of nonprofit mailers before the Postal Rate Commission, at the United States Postal Service's (USPS) Headquarters, and on Capitol Hill.

Postcom - http://www.postcom.org. Postcom is the Association for Postal Commerce. Its web site provides you with up-to-date information regarding what is going on in the "postal world." It includes links to other helpful sites, as well as a place to contact your U.S. Senators or Representative.

We welcome comments and suggestions regarding NewsCast to cc@g1.com. Please be sure to include "NEWSCAST" in your subject line. Look for your next issue to arrive in your email box on or about February 5, 2001.

NewsCast - Volume 4, Issue 20
Date: January 23, 2002
Editor: Becki Dustin (cc@g1.com) Asst. Editor: Denny Derr
Phone: 1-800-367-6950