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Buttonwood Technology Adds UPIC As Industry Identifier And Security Standard
New York, New York-based business services provider Buttonwood Technology Group (UPIC: ECATALOG) announces it has adopted the Universal Promotional Identification Code (UPIC), for both SearchStar.com, the companyâ??s distributor research tool, and its eCatalog, an internet marketing, e-commerce and order management tool for suppliers.

With Buttonwoodâ??s incorporation of UPIC, distributors will be able to log in to SearchStar.com using their UPICs and UPIC passwords to look up contact information for more than 4,000 UPIC-listed suppliers.

â??UPIC has become an industry standard for identifying verified, qualified industry companies,â?� says David Verchere, chief executive officer of Buttonwood Technology Group. â??Since it is free to all qualified industry members and powered by Promotional Products Association International (PPAI), UPIC is the obvious industry identifier for Buttonwood to implement across its entire technology offering.â?�
Buttonwoodâ??s adoption of UPIC as the universal identifier on the eCatalog will provide distributors easier access to password-protected sections of suppliersâ?? websites. Distributors will no longer have to contact suppliers for passwords but can use their UPICs and UPIC passwords to log on to supplier websites.

â??There are a number of different identifiers available in the promotional products industry, each proprietary to the individual service provider and its subscriber customers,â?� says Paul Bellantone, PPAI vice president of marketing and business development. â??But UPIC is non-proprietary, free and available to all qualified and verified companies, whether or not they are members of PPAI. All promotional products professionals are invited to get and use their unique UPIC identifier. Equally important, PPAI invites service providers to incorporate UPIC into their own products and services. Buttonwoodâ??s decision to use UPIC as the industry identifier and security standard across its entire technology offering further establishes UPIC as the industryâ??s universal identifier.â?�

The UPIC database contains profiles of more than 22,000 distributors and 4,100 suppliers. It is estimated that 80 percent of the industryâ??s suppliers currently list their UPICs on their product catalogs.

For more information about UPIC and The UPIC Directory, visit www.upic.org.