SEATTLE---Jan. 13, 2003--AccessVia, the leading provider of retail sign printing and multichannel retail display solutions, today announced that Staples Inc. has deployed Web dSignShop in over 800 of their 1,100 U.S. stores. The remainder of the stores will adopt the Web-based sign printing solution by the end of January 2003. AccessVia's Web dSignShop helps Staples stores to print promotional signs and shelf-edge labels from a single server using the corporate intranet. The Staples home office maintains control of sign layouts and item content, ensuring design consistency and sign accuracy across all of its stores. Associates in the store use just a Web browser and existing printers to print the signs, which are sorted according to the store's planogram and effective dates to help reduce the time it takes for an associate to post the signs around the store. Staples is printing one million signs per week, and they've peaked at twice that rate with no difficulties reported in accessing the intranet or slowdowns in the interface response times. Web dSignShop uses a patent-pending compression/decompression technology that yields remarkably fast performance results that equal or exceed the results of traditional locally installed software. "Staples depends on the Web as an easy and cost-effective way to rapidly deploy critical applications to the stores," said Debra Haughton, senior project manager at Staples. "The ease of implementing Access Via's Web dSignShop was phenomenal and the stores are thrilled about the functionality that we've given them to make their jobs easier." Staples employees use handheld devices in the aisles to request shelf labels and single-item or multiple-item promotional signs. This technique, combined with an easy-to-use browser-based interface and valuable associate-facing data on the signs, reduces labor-intensive backroom printing processes and minimizes training cycles for employees. "If Staples wants to implement a new look for a sign, or a new marketing or merchandising program, we're able to easily permeate that change down through to item-level signing in the stores," says Rob DiPietro, director of Process and Technology for Visual Merchandising at Staples. "We are able to support the business much more effectively because we can deploy new initiatives in days rather than weeks." "We're delighted about the success we've had with Staples. They are great to work with," says Dean A. Sleeper, AccessVia CEO. "We were able to help them address a world-class signing challenge: The sign information is intricate, their presentation requirements are exacting, and the volume is extreme. Executing this all from a central location changes everything. Web dSignShop is publishing one of the highest retail sign volumes in the world over the Web -- delivering results that every retailer must examine." The AccessVia Print solution includes both Web dSignShop and dSIGN to provide clients with accurate and attractive signs, shelf-edge labels, fact tags, coupons, and more. Web dSignShop is designed for enterprise and affiliated retailers who want to use the Internet, an intranet, or an extranet to publish signs using a Web browser without installing or maintaining in-store software. dSIGN is built for classic client/server implementations and offers advanced product data delivery and unmatched integration with legacy systems. Other solutions include AccessVia M-commerce, AccessVia Kiosk, AccessVia E-commerce, and AccessVia E-mail. AccessVia's customers include Staples, Safeway, Walgreens, SUPERVALU, Target, Bed Bath & Beyond, PETCO, Canadian Tire, The Sports Authority, and Wawa.