Descartes Acquisition Targets Secure Electronic Logistics Services for Global Trade

Adds ViaSafe to give Global Logistics Network customers access to electronic cross-border and customs filing service

Adds ViaSafe to give Global Logistics Network customers access to electronic cross-border and customs filing service

Waterloo, Ontario — April 13, 2006 — Solution provider Descartes Systems Group has acquired Ottawa-based ViaSafe Inc., a privately held provider of secure electronic logistics services for global trade, Descartes has announced.

Based in Waterloo, Ontario, Descartes is a provider of on-demand delivery management solutions for transportation, logistics, manufacturing, retail distribution and service provider enterprises.

The acquisition broadens the regulatory and compliance services that are delivered through Descartes' Global Logistics Network to include ViaSafe's ViaTrade service, which helps carriers and logistics services providers, across different modes of transportation, negotiate increasingly complex document exchange requirements brought about by new international security initiatives and tightened borders.

Through ViaTrade's electronic filings, ViaSafe aims to help customers move goods across borders more quickly and less expensively, thereby turning these new requirements into a competitive advantage, according to Descartes.

"We've worked with ViaSafe over the past two years and have seen the value their cross-border and regulatory compliance services bring to members of the Descartes Global Logistics Network," said Arthur Mesher, CEO of Descartes.

"The next logical extension to comprehensively deliver value to our customers was to become part of a larger network that helps our customers successfully meet international transportation and logistics challenges," said Wael Aggan, formerly CEO of ViaSafe and now a senior vice president at Descartes.

Financial details of the acquisition were not immediately available. Descartes anticipates providing further details on the acquisition when it reports its financial results for the quarter ending April 30, currently anticipated to be in late-May.


Additional Articles of Interest

— Businesses today continue to look for ways to reduce their logistics costs, but in order to identify further costs savings, companies need to tap into new information. The answer? Benchmarking. Read more in "Freight Cost Benchmarking: The Final Procurement Level," in the February/March 2006 issue of Supply & Demand Chain Executive.

— To build a competency in supply network design, this consumer products company first had to build confidence. Read more in "Designing the Best Supply Chain Gillette Can Get," in the February/March 2006 issue of Supply & Demand Chain Executive.


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