National Semiconductor Implements Three New Worldwide Extranet Services to Streamline Business-to-Business Transactions

New Offerings Demonstrate National's Leadership in the Use of the Internet in the High-Technology Market

May 11, 1998-- National Semiconductor Corporation® today unveiled three worldwide extranet services designed to save users time by providing a superior level of service and streamlining business-to-business transactions.

The first extranet service provides buyers and purchasing managers with pricing, availability, and packaging information. It also gives them the ability to cross-reference product information, sign up for outbound notification on product changes, create a personalized portfolio of information on specific National products, and enter orders online. National estimates that this process has the potential to save the company and its customers about $100 million in procurement productivity and time over the next year.

The second extranet service provides National's worldwide direct and indirect sales forces with the ability to access National's proprietary mainframe ordering system to obtain official pricing, lead-time quotes and commitments. Salespeople can also enter orders directly from the Web and query delivery status and shipment history in real time. The new Web-based entry process will help the sales organization solidify the $1 billion worth of forecasted leads submitted to National's award-winning TEAM extranet for channel sales-force automation, announced in September 1997.

The third extranet service provides National's sales force with the ability to design, on-the-fly, targeted Web pages for their customers. Salespeople can design Web pages based on the individual needs of their customers in approximately thirty minutes, providing them with superior one-to-one customer service. The company plans to implement 200 such sites by June 1998.

``We are continually striving for ways to help our customers, channels and employees save their most precious resource, time. Our new Web-centric tools streamline business processes and extend worldwide services to every customer. The key is that they do so at no added cost,'' said Phil Gibson, director of interactive marketing. ``These three new extranet tools dovetail very well with our announcements in the last year. They tighten our relationship to our channels and extend our superior customer service directly to the end customer. This attention is not offered anywhere else in the industry.''

Features and Benefits of the Three New Worldwide Net Services

Purchasing Extranet

National is giving purchasing managers, buyers and components engineers the option to use either its existing telephone ordering system or a Web page catering to their information needs. The Web option offers added value and personalized information and is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This extranet enables the company to reach 20 times more purchasers worldwide than a call center would. More than that, it provides customers in remote regions of the world access to the same level of service as those close to a National sales office.

Other features of this new extranet include live connections into the online ordering systems of DigiKey, Farnell, Newark, and Pioneer, worldwide distributors of National's products.

Customized Web Pages: A Revolutionary Step in Web Customer Service

National now encourages salespeople to create custom Web pages for their customers. These pages allow customers to review public and proprietary communications such as corporate contracts, price, and lead times. Customers can also access valuable information such as newly released and preliminary product specifications, browse white papers and application notes related to their business, and share product development status for custom projects. Lastly, they can sign up for product notifications by generic family or specific type of device and receive special factory applications assistance. To date, the company has created 25 customer Web pages and expects to have 200 sites in place by June.

This service is made possible by the StoryServer3 development tool, from Vignette Corporation. National's internally developed SiteCreator tool allows the sales forces to create, edit, and maintain Web pages through a simple browser interface. This can be done remotely from anywhere in the world. The user-friendliness of this tool requires no knowledge of HTML scripting, file structures, or link management.

Distributors' Extranet: Putting Distributors in Control of Ordering

National's secure, private extranet application, announced in late 1997, allows the sales channel to access information and register sales opportunities online. With the new extranet, that sales channel can now also directly access National's mainframe-based ordering system through a user-friendly Web interface. National has eliminated the need to ``interact'' with the traditionally complicated mainframe screens and created a system that no longer requires training. This interface enables National's direct and indirect sales channels to have secure access to the ordering system 24x7 wherever the Internet is available.

``Pioneer-Standard is excited to partner with National in its progressive effort to bring real-time information to our customers,'' said Tom Pitera, President of the Industrial Electronic Division of Pioneer-Standard Electronics Inc [OTC BB:SDEL - news]. ``This direct link to National provides our sales force with immediate access to National's electronic-transaction system around the clock from any location and meshes with our CustomerCentric(tm) focus. Our direct link to National allows our sales force to provide our customers with National's complete range of product availability, pricing and worldwide net services. The extranet, in conjunction with linking National's public site to Pioneer's online catalog, dramatically streamlines the business process.''

This new extranet enables 8,000 direct and indirect salespeople to obtain official prices, lead-time quotes and commitments; enter orders directly from the Web; and query delivery status and ship history in real time. All commitments are direct from the same live electronic-commerce engine that all National employees utilize.

This revolutionary step in simplifying ordering systems for National's direct and indirect sales forces was achieved using a combination of user-friendly, Java-enhanced interfaces, and it is based on Enterprise Link's SmarTran software. This Web-to-mainframe translation tool changes complex mainframe screens into an easy-to-use fast-access system.

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About National Semiconductor

National Semiconductor Corporation produces system-on-a-chip silicon solutions for the information highway, based on its leadership in analog and mixed signal technologies. National is headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif., and focuses on the communications, personal systems and consumer markets. National has annual sales of approximately $2.5 billion and 12,700 employees worldwide. Additional company and product information is available on the World Wide Web at www.national.com