ShopKo Stores Selects Wyse Winterm Windows Terminals for Entire Retail Chain

Discount Retail Chain Rolls Out More Than 1000 Wyse Thin Appliances to Streamline Operations of 164 Stores

San Jose, CA – 04/02/2001 - - Wyse Technology, the worldwide leader in thin-appliance computing, today announced the deployment of Wyse Winterm™ Windows® thin appliances by ShopKo Stores, Inc. (NYSE: SKO). ShopKo has linked its 164 specialty discount stores located in various states to its corporate headquarters in Green Bay, Wis., with Wyse Winterm thin appliances. The retail chain will use more than 1000 Wyse thin appliances to simplify store management, streamline communication between its retail outlets and its headquarters, and access server-based legacy and Windows applications. ShopKo estimates it will save more than $1,000 per Winterm appliance per year over what equivalent PCs would have cost to purchase and maintain.

ShopKo wanted to deliver modern Windows applications to individual stores and centrally manage them from the corporate headquarters. However, managing thousands of PCs at hundreds of retail stores located throughout the United States presents a costly challenge for retail CIOs who are looking to modernize their computing infrastructure. Wyse Winterm thin appliances provide ShopKo with the ability to upgrade software applications from its centrally-managed servers and instantaneously deliver access to those updated applications to its stores without ever visiting a single desktop. By choosing Wyse Winterm thin appliances instead of PCs, ShopKo maximized its IT budget by deploying a standard desktop device capable of accessing both legacy and modern applications, both in-store and remotely-based, without incurring the management and upgrade costs of PCs.

"We wanted to modernize our in-store IT systems and required a thin appliance that would meet our immediate and long term objectives," said Paul Burrows, CIO of ShopKo Stores, Inc. "Wyse's Windows thin appliances provided us with a modern desktop that was very cost-effective and as well as headroom to grow and expand our enterprise. We were able to deploy these thin appliances to all our stores in almost two months, right before the major selling season, at low expense, and with little disruption to operations"

Modernizing an Enterprise is Hassle Free

The ability to maintain and administer current and future back office applications from the corporate office was an important factor in ShopKo's selection of Wyse Windows thin appliances. Unlike the PC, the Wyse thin appliance offered the best of both worlds for ShopKo's IT initiative because it not only allowed for retail applications to be stored on the server but also required minimal in-store supervision from the IT department located at headquarters.

"Employee feedback has been very positive," says Lana Delsart, Project Manager at ShopKo. "They enjoy having all the functions available from one device that is easy and simple to use."

Wyse thin appliances allows ShopKo to run legacy mainframe applications such as financials and payroll simultaneously with in-store based applications that run the general office as well as the optical, pharmacy, price management, and loss prevention departments. They replaced old PCs and general-purpose character terminals, eliminating the need to carry different kinds of desktops for different in-store IT functions. Now, Wyse thin appliances can serve any in-store function as needed.

Wyse's Proven Success in the In-Store Computing Environment

"Thin appliances are the ideal PC-alternative for retail CIOs who need to bring their IT systems into the modern computing era rapidly, efficiently, and at a reduced cost," said Jeff Knight, manager of channels marketing at Wyse Technology. "Wyse Winterm thin appliances are providing retailers with a flexible standard platform that supports their existing investments fully while at the same time meeting current and future demands for integration of Windows, Internet or Java-based applications into their store systems. And since Wyse thin appliances are "install once, visit never" devices, they appeal to the retailer's desire to drive down operating costs without sacrificing efficiency, quality and customer service."

More than two dozen major retailing organizations worldwide, from department stores to grocers to specialty stores, have successfully deployed Wyse Winterm thin appliances to run their in-store back-office business, and retail operations. Through the deployment of Wyse Winterm thin appliances, these retail CIOs have realized the benefits of better IT management with significantly lower operating costs.

Wyse Teams with Connecting Point to Serve ShopKo

To better serve ShopKo Stores, Inc., Wyse Technology partnered with Green Bay, Wis. based Connecting Point, a Wyse Authorized partner. Connecting Point helped assist the integration of ShopKo's thin appliance initiative and provides Wyse certified maintenance to all of ShopKo's stores.

About ShopKo Stores

ShopKo Stores, Inc., a Fortune 500 company headquartered in Green Bay, Wis., operates 396 retail stores in 22 states, primarily in the Midwest, Western Mountain and Pacific Northwest regions. Retail operations include 164 specialty discount stores operating under the ShopKo name in mid-sized and larger cities, and 232 Pamida discount stores in smaller, rural communities. For more information about ShopKo or Pamida visit our web site at www.shopko.com.

About Wyse Technology

Wyse is the #1 vendor the world's largest businesses and institutions trust for scalable thin-client computing solutions. Wyse provides the hardware, software, and services that shift computing complexity to the network, reducing cost, liberating IT departments from unnecessary support and maintenance functions, empowering users to be more productive in their jobs, and protecting and improving access to critical information and business applications. Headquartered in San Jose, California with offices worldwide, Wyse has been #1 in thin-client market share for the last eight years, enjoys a close partnership with Citrix Systems, and has been named Microsoft "Embedded Partner of the Year" for three years. Wyse customers include FedEx, Best Buy (Canada), Quaker Foods, and Gold's Gym.

For more information, visit the Wyse website at http://www.wyse.com or call 1-800-GET-WYSE