RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 1, 2000

BuildNet, Inc., a leading e-business, technology and project management systems provider for the home building industry, announced today that it has acquired the assets and certain operations of Atlanta-based UniLink Group LLC, which has established an information delivery exchange that automates manufacturer, distributor and contractor/dealer (&uot;three-tier&uot;) business-to-business transactions in the &uot;hard goods&uot; industry. UniLink focuses on four mechanical service vertical markets: heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) via the brand name hvaconline.com(R); plumbing via plumbingonline.com(R); electrical via electricalonline.com(R) and appliances via appliancepartner.com(R). Founded in 1996, UniLink automates the sending and receiving of purchase orders, warranty claims, advance shipping notices and invoices through a &uot;universal link&uot; application that allows seamless 24/7 connectivity and messaging to all the companies involved in buying and selling within an industry vertical. Using UniLink, manufacturer and distributor systems can exchange transactions seamlessly using any type of document or file format, or through EDI. The system can significantly enhance efficiency because most manufacturers have over 1,000 distributors, and building traditional links to each individual one is costly. With UniLink, manufacturers need to build only one link, to UniLink, in order to have access to all the distributors linked to UniLink's integrated e-business network. Manufacturers, including recent additions to the UniLink system like Johnson Controls, and divisions of Masco and Emerson Electric, have joined existing UniLink customers York, Lennox, Honeywell and others who daily process transactions through UniLink's system. Learn more about UniLink by visiting www.unilinkgroup.com.
Also included in the acquisition was UniLink's Cypress, Calif-based subsidiary, KeyPrestige, Inc., a leading electronic warranty claims management, administration and systems-development company. KeyPrestige operates customized warranty claims processes for leading appliance and consumer electronics brands; the data runs through proprietary software links or through Web-based applications. The KeyPrestige system seamlessly links the parts distributor, manufacturer, factory and authorized repair centers in a paperless warranty claims transaction system that can cut the traditional 90-day cycle down to under 24 hours. Clients include Bosch, CAMCO, Fedders, Frigidaire, GE, Jacuzzi, Thermador, Whirlpool and others.

Together, UniLink and KeyPrestige process over five million transactions a year for over 50 manufacturers in 25,000 locations in the U.S., Canada and Latin America.

&uot;When you combine the e-business system BuildNet will begin rolling out in 2000 with the technology and services UniLink and KeyPrestige already have in place, you should be able to achieve a synergy that `completes the circle' of e-business connectivity in certain verticals for the residential home building industry,&uot; said Mike Atwood, BuildNet president and COO. &uot;BuildNet has already gathered an impressive community of builders, distributors and manufacturers, but when they are linked with the contractor-wholesaler-manufacturer community gathered by UniLink and KeyPrestige, you should have one of the most robust, customer-focused e-business systems in the nation.&uot;

&uot;Our manufacturer and wholesaler partners have frequently asked for help in extending their e-business reach to builders,&uot; said David Dunn-Rankin, UniLink chairman. &uot;With this new e-business relationship, we have the power to reach retailers and repair centers linked by UniLink to the builders building approximately one-third of all new U.S. residential homes, and the manufacturers and distributors now BuildNet-enabling their systems to supply their material needs.&uot;

About BuildNet, Inc.

BuildNet, a privately held company based in Research Triangle Park, N.C., is one of the $240 billion home building industry's largest e-business, technology and project management system providers. In January 2000, BuildNet announced that it had raised $104.7 million in private placement venture capital, to add to a May 1999 round that raised $35.7 million. These investments make BuildNet one of the best capitalized companies in the residential construction industry's business-to-business and project management system arena.

BuildNet's Internet-based e-business platform is being developed to provide home builders and their subcontractors access to an integrated on-line network designed to change the residential construction market by availing every aspect of a building project to real-time, on-line, integrated e-business links, from the builder's back offices to the back offices of a wide range of product suppliers. (This is commonly called &uot;business-to-business e-commerce.&uot;) Through its six project management systems, BuildNet products currently manage the construction of around one in three homes built in the U.S.