STAMFORD, Conn. and RIDGEFIELD, Conn., Nov. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Pitney Bowes Capital Services, a division of Pitney Bowes Inc. (NYSE: PBI) and Praxinet, an Internet consulting firm specializing in eBusiness financial and supply chain solutions, today announced a strategic partnership to enhance the Web foundation for PitneyEscrow.

PitneyEscrow, the first online product offered in the PitneyB2BCapital product suite, provides e-marketplaces with escrow management, funds management, secure communications and logistics services. In addition, PitneyEscrow offers both the B2B buyer and seller increased control by securely holding funds until all terms of the purchase are complete.

Under the terms of the agreement, Praxinet will provide consulting services to complement the online initiatives of Pitney Bowes Capital Services, advising on matters pertaining to design specifications and implementation procedures for the PitneyB2Bcapital product suite.

"Pitney Bowes has a long and successful history of managing billions of dollars of postal funds online in many different countries," stated Michael Ryan, vice president, Pitney Bowes Capital Services. "Since PitneyEscrow is a unique extension of the Pitney Bowes brand, we had to have a partner who could demonstrate a successful track record creating Internet-based payment systems."

Praxinet focuses exclusively on design, development and implementation of financial and supply chain e-solutions. "In our view, all e-commerce solutions have three fundamental components: purchasing, payment and delivery," says Bob Bedard, president and CEO of Praxinet. "By building our expertise around the payment and delivery components of e-commerce, we provide essential functionality that enables a variety of e-business initiatives. As a result, we've created a broad range of internal and external e-solutions for a variety of clients."

Pitney Bowes Capital Services, the Company has been successful in establishing strategic partnerships and signing agreements with industry leaders, most recently with Bowstreet, a leading provider of XML infrastructure for plug-and-play e-commerce and elcom, inc., the e-procurement and e-marketplace solutions subsidiary of Elcom International, Inc. (Nasdaq: ELCO). PitneyEscrow will be embedded into elcom, inc. by year-end. The XML integration for this and future partner sites is provided by the Bowstreet Business Web Factory, which enables multiple customized business processes for Pitney Bowes.

About Pitney Bowes Capital Services

In addition to being a market leader of large-ticket equipment financing for the Fortune 1000, Pitney Bowes Capital Services, through its PitneyB2BCapital suite of products and services, is rapidly becoming a leading facilitator of online financial services. PitneyB2BCapital offers real-time, secure transactions using innovative proprietary technology, providing buyers and sellers with the security of a trusted third party. Additional information on the PitneyB2BCapital suite can be found at http://www.pitneyb2bcapital.pb.com or PitneyEscrow at http://www.pitneyescrow.pb.com. Pitney Bowes Capital Services is a division of Pitney Bowes Inc., a $4.4 billion global provider of messaging management. Additional information on Pitney Bowes can be found at http://www.pitneybowes.com.

About Praxinet

Praxinet Inc. (http://www.praxinet.com) builds financial and supply chain e-Solutions for our clients' internal and external customers. By leveraging our extensive strength in Internet-based financial systems and supply chain management, Praxinet has developed a comprehensive e-Business professional services capability that provides management consulting, technology advising and application development and support. The results are more innovative solutions with shorter development schedules and a higher return-on-investment. Some of Praxinet marquee clients include Pitney Bowes, UPS, Citigroup, General Electric and Sterling Commerce.

    Pitney Bowes Contacts:
    Kelly O'Brien                      Thomas Lutazi
    Pitney Bowes Capital Services      PR 21 for Pitney Bowes Capital Services
    Tel: (203) 922-4291                Tel: (212) 299-8995
    Fax: (203) 922-4083                Fax: (212) 462-1026
    kobrien@pbfs.com                   thomas_lutazi@pr21.com

Praxinet Contact:

Praxinet

Bob Bedard

Tel: (203) 894-9000

bbedard@praxinet.com SOURCE Pitney Bowes Capital Services and Praxinet Inc.

CONTACT: Kelly O'Brien of Pitney Bowes Capital Services, 203-922-4291, Fax - 203-922-4083, kobrien@pbfs.com; or Thomas Lutazi of PR 21 for Pitney Bowes Capital Services, 212-299-8995, Fax - 212-462-1026, thomas_lutazi@pr21.com; or Bob Bedard of Praxinet Inc., 203-894-9000, bbedard@praxinet.com/