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PLUS CORPORATION OF AMERICA ACQUIRES Lightware , Inc.

Press Release  |  Jan 2, 2001

Strategic acquisition by PLUS positions the company for accelerated North American market growth; Lightware brand, sales, and marketing channels to remain independent.

ALLENDALE, NEW JERSEY/BEAVERTON, OREGON, January 2, 2001 - PLUS Corporation of America and Lightware, Inc. today announced that PLUS has acquired Lightware, along with all of its assets and trademarks. According to a joint announcement made today by PLUS Corporation of America President Tom Oishi and Lightware President and Chief Operating Officer Al Patz, the acquisition was completed on December 31, 2000 with the approval of all Lightware shareholders. Both PLUS and Lightware are privately held corporations.

Under the terms of the acquisition, Lightware's Al Patz , along with all other current Lightware management, will remain in their current positions with the company. Furthermore, both companies will continue to maintain independent brands, as well as sales and marketing channels.

"Since 1994, Lightware has built a very solid brand and a profitable business model by serving the needs of mobile communications professionals in corporate, training, education, government, and consumer market channels," PLUS' Oishi said today. "They have become one of today's fastest growing multimedia projector companies because of their unique ability to design quality products that deliver strong feature sets at reasonable prices. We expect Lightware to continue to lead this very important and growing market segment, backed now by the additional financial resources of a $1.5-billion PLUS Corporation Group."

According to Oishi, the acquisition of Lightware perfectly complements the PLUS product development and marketing strategy, which focuses on providing a superior performance value to mobile communications professionals who seek the very best in feature sets and performance quality. With Lightware concentrating on expanding its direct sales activities to the price conscious segment of the projector marketplace and PLUS focused squarely on the continued support of the ProAV performance segment of the DLP market, it is expected that the two companies will achieve significant new levels of sales and market share growth. What's more, while Lightware will certainly benefit from PLUS manufacturing expertise, the company will continue to retain its own manufacturing relationships, as needed to meet specific market and customer requirements.

"We are very pleased to become a very important part of a much larger company that can help us to achieve our aggressive long-term growth projections," today said Lightware's Al Patz. "PLUS understands the Lightware philosophy and corporate culture. They understand and appreciate our total commitment to providing our customers with price-sensitive value. And they don't want to change the formula for our success! We believe the bringing together of these two great companies - Lightware and PLUS - will quickly result in significant new customer benefits that will shape the mobile projector marketplace for many years to come."

About Lightware:
Lightware's LCD projectors are used for computer and video presentations in business, training and educational applications. The veteran management and product development teams have more than 50 years of projection industry experience and hold numerous patents. For more information, contact Lightware, Inc., 9610 SW Sunshine Court, Suite 300, Beaverton, Ore., 97005. Telephone: (800) 211-9001. E-mail: marketing@Lightware.com. The full line of Lightware projectors are available directly from Lightware at www.Lightware.com or by calling 1-800-211-9001, as well as at select audio-visual resellers.

About PLUS Corporation of America:
Headquartered in Allendale, New Jersey, PLUS Corporation of America is an industry leading manufacturer and marketer of extremely sophisticated, ultra-lightweight, and ultra-portable digital projectors, full featured electronic copyboards, and real-time interactive white boards. PLUS communications and information products are designed to provide mobile communications professionals as well as medical professionals, attorneys, teachers, trainers, and government agencies with an unprecedented degree of high performance value. The company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of PLUS Corporation of Japan, a 50-year old, $1.5-billion manufacturer and marketer of presentation, office, and communications products.

Contact:
Bob Griffin
Griffin Public Relations & Marketing
(212) 481-3456
Bgriffin@griffinpr.com

Brian Waite, Marketing
PLUS Corporation
201-818-2700x4712
201-818-2708(fax)
www.plus-america.com