Mark your calendars to join me this Wednesday evening, February 17, at 6pm in the bar/lounge area of the Royal Palm Resort. My special guest this week is Mr. Gene Saadi, President of BITS, Inc. BITS, Inc. is a Tempe company that specializes in local area network (LAN) system design and maintenance, customized programming and software development. One of its divisions, LAN Computer Services, was named as one of the "Top 25 Computer Network Integrators" in the 1998 Arizona Business Journal. LAN Computer Services' customer list includes Monterey Homes, Summit Builders, Centex Homes and Rancho Solano Private Schools. The custom programming staff has completed projects for Rancho Solano Schools, Centex Homes and has just started projects for Hewlett Packard and I.F.T.A. The software development division has created two exciting Internet products. First, WorldWide Merchant was developed to allow merchants to have an e-commerce solution without a full-blown data processing operation. For a low setup cost and a reasonable monthly fee, a merchant's products can be displayed and sold via the Internet through software and hardware maintained and supported by BITS. Second, InterShipper is a software product that allows customers to choose the best shipping option from the major shippers based on cost and time-to-delivery. InterShipper also provides the ability for the consumer to track their packages from the moment of shipment to his front door. InterShipper is a component of WorldWide Merchant, can be customized for use with other e-commerce programs and functions as a shipping center solution for shipping departments within companies. InterShipper has been named by Yahoo as one of the Internet's "Top 50 Most Useful Web Sites". Other sites sharing this honor include CBS, CNN, ESPN, Fed Ex, DHL, Kelly Blue Book, Mastercard, TV Guide, the US Postal Service, UPS and VISA. If your company is involved with, or is considering being involved in the amazing growth of e-commerce than you won't want to miss meeting Gene Saadi. It is with great pleasure that Mr. Gene Saadi of BITS, Inc. will be my Royal Guest this week. Please join us to socialize and meet new friends. For more information and a map to the Soiree see: www.baroncapital.com BBB/KSM