Oakland Unified School District Uses Elcom to Power its Educational eMarketplace
April 07 2005 - 3:00AM
PR Newswire (US)
Oakland Unified School District Uses Elcom to Power its Educational
eMarketplace Oakland Unified School District eMarketplace System
goes live at no cost to Oakland California Schools NORWOOD, Mass.,
April 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- elcom, inc., the wholly- owned
B2B eCommerce solutions subsidiary of Elcom International, Inc.
(OTC:ELCOOTC:andOTC:AIM:OTC:ELCOTC:andOTC:ELCS) (BULLETIN BOARD:
ELCO and AIM: ELC and ELCS) , today announced that the Oakland
Unified School District ("OUSD") has selected and is utilizing
PECOS, Elcom's remotely-hosted eProcurement and eMarketplace
system, to power its buyer-side educational products eMarketplace,
for its 108 schools in the Oakland Unified School District. The
OUSD eMarketplace System went live on March 31 and includes
suppliers such as Dell, School Specialties and Campus Security,
with additional suppliers being in discussions to participate.
Elcom is providing OUSD with a hosted eMarketplace solution at no
charge to OUSD that includes its PECOS Internet Procurement Manager
configured as an eMarketplace, which will automate the procurement
process and the purchase of goods and services throughout all of
Oakland's schools. An agent fee, based on revenues through the
system, is paid to Elcom by participating suppliers. Oswaldo A.
Galarza, OUSD's Information Technology Officer, said, "The
selection of Elcom to provide our school district with an
eMarketplace demonstrates that Elcom's technology and solutions are
proven and robust and reflect the direction that Oakland is
pursuing in leveraging technology to improve efficiencies in
administrative operations. The Elcom PECOS eMarketplace system will
enable schools and departments to take advantage of the flexibility
of the Web for procurement needs while maintaining the District
Business Rules and posting appropriate information into its
internal financial systems, at no cost to Oakland." Robert J.
Crowell, Elcom International, Inc.'s Chairman and CEO, said, "We
are pleased to have Oakland Unified School District as our first
educational eMarketplace client using the multi-tenant
implementation of PECOS as their eMarketplace solution. Public
schools across the country are challenged with providing quality
education in the face of severe budget cuts and we are gratified to
be able to provide a system, at no cost to OUSD, that will improve
purchasing across all the schools in the system resulting in lower
product and process costs. Anticipated administrative improvements
associated with implementation of an eMarketplace powered by our
PECOS System will assist OUSD in its mission to do more with less."
About Elcom International, Inc. Elcom International, Inc.
(OTC:ELCOOTC:andOTC:AIM:OTC:ELCOTC:and ELCS) (BULLETIN BOARD: ELCO
and AIM: ELC and ELCS) , operates elcom, inc., an international B2B
Commerce Service Provider offering affordable solutions for buyers,
sellers and commerce communities to conduct business online. PECOS,
elcom's remotely-hosted flagship solution, enables enterprises of
all sizes to achieve the many benefits of B2B eCommerce without the
burden of infrastructure investment and ongoing content and system
management. http://www.elcominternational.com/ Company Product
Offerings For detailed information on our PECOS(TM) eMarketplace
and eProcurement and optional Dynamic Trading solutions, please
visit our website at
http://www.elcominternational.com/products.htm. About Oakland
Unified School District Oakland Unified School District is the
sixth largest in the state of California, with about 52,000
students, 3,200 teachers, and an annual budget of several hundred
million dollars. OUSD is the second largest employer in Oakland.
OUSD is called a "unified" district because it educates students
from kindergarten straight through to 12th grade. In order to serve
all the students, it offers a variety of schools, ranging from
kindergarten through fifth grade elementary schools, to middle
school and both large and small high schools. Liquidity and Capital
Resources As previously announced, the Company required additional
financing in the first quarter of 2005 in order to continue to
operate. The Company has received bridge loans from the Chairman
and CEO and Vice Chairman and Director and is in the process of
arranging a common stock offering under its AIM (U.K.) listing. The
bridge loans are intended to provide the Company with the necessary
funds to operate while the Company continues fundraising
discussions. Through March 31, 2005, the Company has received a
total of $200,000 of such bridge loans. The Company has been
informed by a U.K. stockbroker that it has received preliminary
indications of interest from investors in an AIM issuance of Elcom
shares. However, the terms thereof are under discussion and there
can be no assurance that this issuance will be consummated, or on
what terms. Any such issuance is expected to result in substantial
dilution to existing shareholders. Further, it is anticipated that
there will be various pre- conditions to the consummation of such
financing, including a requirement that the funds or commitments
would be held in abeyance and not be invested in the Company's
shares, unless and until the U.K. Government's Zanzibar contract is
signed between Elcom and PA Consulting. In addition, even if such a
financing arrangement is achieved, it is the Company's belief that
the Zanzibar contract will not be signed until at least after the
May 5 General Election in the U.K., as previously announced. In the
interim, the Company requires additional cash in the near term to
fund its current operations until any funds raised through an
issuance of shares on the AIM would be available to the Company as
described above. The Company is currently in discussions with
several parties regarding the raising of additional capital in the
near term; however, there can be no assurance that the Company will
receive any such funding or, if raised, on what terms or what the
timing thereof may be. The above-described financing program is
preliminary and subject to many potential contingencies, including
those described above. Further, unless the Company can secure
additional financing in April 2005, the Company will be forced to
curtail operations and/or seek protection under the bankruptcy
laws. There can be no assurance that the Company will be able to
successfully consummate either such short-term financing, or the
potential longer-term financing described above or that any amount
the Company is able to raise (if any) will be adequate to support
the Company's working capital requirements until it achieves
profitable operations. Statement Under the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act Except for the historical information
contained herein, the matters discussed in this press release may
include forward-looking statements or information. All statements,
other than statements of historical fact, including, without
limitation, those with respect to the Company's objectives, plans
and strategies set forth herein and those preceded by or that
include the words "believes," "expects," "given," "targets,"
"intends," "anticipates," "plans," "projects", "forecasts" or
similar expressions, are forward-looking statements. Although the
Company believes that such forward-looking statements are
reasonable, it can give no assurance that the Company's
expectations are, or will be, correct. These forward-looking
statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties which could
cause the Company's future results to differ materially from those
anticipated, including: (i) the Company's history of ongoing
operating losses; (ii) the overall marketplace and clients'
acceptance and usage of eCommerce software systems, including
corporate demand therefor, the impact of competitive technologies,
products and pricing, particularly given the substantially larger
size and scale of certain competitors and potential competitors,
control of expenses, revenue generation by the acquisition of new
customers, the acceptance of the eProcurement Scotland program by
public entities, and corporate demand for eProcurement and
eMarketplace solutions; (iii) the consequent results of operations
given the aforementioned factors; and (iv) the requirement for the
Company to raise additional working capital to fund operations
during April 2005 and the availability and terms of any such
funding to the Company. Without any such funding, the Company will
have no option but to seek protection under bankruptcy laws. Other
risks are detailed from time to time in the Company's 2003 Annual
Report on Form 10-K, as amended, its Quarterly Reports on Form 10-
QSB for the quarterly periods ended March 31, June 30, and
September 30, 2004, as well as the Company's annual report on Form
10-KSB, which it intends to file in early April, 2005, and in its
other SEC reports and statements. The Company assumes no obligation
to update any of the information contained or referenced in this
press release. DATASOURCE: elcom, inc. CONTACT: Investor Relations
of Elcom International, Inc., Web site:
http://www.elcominternational.com/ http://www.elcom.com/
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