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Symbol Technologies Announces $10 Million Deal To Provide Office Depot with Wireless Computing Solutions

HOLTSVILLE, N.Y., -- April 5, 1999 – Symbol Technologies today announced that it is providing hand-held computers and its industry-leading Spectrum24^® wireless local area network technology to Office Depot, the world's largest seller of office products, to maximize efficiency and customer service at its 746 stores, 37 distribution centers and its national trucking fleet.

This new business will generate approximately $10 million in revenue for Symbol over the length of the contract.

"We're investing in Symbol's cutting-edge technology to maximize efficiency and accuracy, which will lead to lower costs and improved customer service," said Gary Schweikhart, vice president public relations, Office Depot.

Office Depot will use a variety of Symbol pen and key-based computers, depending on the work environment:

• Office Depot workers will perform traditional in-store tasks such as shelf price auditing and inventory with the Symbol PDT 6840 computer, communicating to the store host computer through Symbol's Spectrum24 2Mbps wireless local area network.
• Office Depot workers will use Symbol's PDT 6840 and PDT 3540 computers in distribution centers to streamline operations including receiving goods, putting goods away, picking items and shipping to stores. The computers provide data collection and communications via the Spectrum24 network to the warehouse computer.
• Office Depot is also evaluating the use of the new Symbol SPT 1700, which is based on the popular 3COM Palm III shirt-pocket computer, for its trucking fleet to assist in deliveries to corporate and residential customers.

"Symbol worked closely with Office Depot to customize the right technology solution based on their needs," said Ron Goldman, vice president and general manager mobile computing systems, Symbol Technologies. "We're providing the right tools for the job."

Office Depot is the world's largest seller of office products, now with 746 stores throughout the U.S. and Canada. Through its national business-to-business delivery network, the company also operates 30 delivery centers, more than 60 sales offices and eight national telecenters. Office Depot's award-winning public Web site (www.officedepot.com) is open for business seven days a week, 24 hours a day. The company currently has store and/or delivery operations in 19 countries and reported sales of $9 billion in 1998.

Symbol Technologies, Inc. is a global leader in mobile data management systems and services with innovative customer solutions based on wireless local area networking for voice and data, application-specific mobile computing and bar code data capture. Symbol's wireless LAN solutions are installed at more than 40,000 customer locations, and more than seven million Symbol scanners and application-specific scanner-integrated mobile computer systems are in use worldwide. Symbol and its global network of business partners provide solutions for retailing, transportation and distribution logistics, parcel and postal delivery, healthcare, education, manufacturing and other industries. Customer information is available from Symbol at 1-800-722-6234 and at http://www.symbol.com.

Symbol Technologies Contact
Doug Picker (Media)
+1-516-738-4699
picker@symbol.com

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