Canada NewsWire, Thursday, September 5th, 2002.

Q9 Networks Inc., the leading Canadian provider of managed Internet infrastructure and Web hosting services, is pleased to announce it has been awarded a contract by Indigo Books & Music Inc. (TSX:IDG), Canada's largest book retailer. The initial value of the contract is estimated at approximately CDN $1.8 million over a three-year period.

The deal will see Q9 host Indigo's entire online infrastructure, including the Indigo Web site www.chapters.indigo.ca, in-store kiosks and back-end applications, such as order entry and inventory management, for all 280 stores. In addition, Q9 will host Indigo's online test and staging environment. Services provided by Q9 include data centre space, bandwidth and other managed services.

"When Indigo decided to consolidate its online and back-end infrastructure into one location, we sought a long-term, financially stable partner that could deliver the highest level of service and reliability," says Bill Schmidt, Director of Service Delivery, Indigo Books & Music. "Q9's 'can-do' attitude and responsive approach to our needs was very refreshing. Working with them has been a pleasure."

"We are delighted by Indigo's decision to entrust Q9 with a substantial portion of its technology infrastructure," says Osama Arafat, CEO, Q9 Networks. "Indigo is the Canadian pioneer of e-commerce and the confidence this decision shows in our people, facilities and services, clearly confirms Q9 as the leader in the Internet infrastructure services market. Indigo is a significant addition to a growing list of leading Canadian companies that are realizing greater efficiencies by outsourcing to Q9. We look forward to helping Indigo provide a superior purchasing experience for Canada's book buyers."

Q9's sole focus on Internet infrastructure allows it to hire, train and retain highly qualified experts in Internet-specific disciplines. Key services are backed with service level agreement (SLA) guarantees for installation time and problem identification and response. These factors enable customers to outsource mission-critical systems to Q9 with complete confidence.

Q9 delivers unparalleled service through an extensive suite of customer care products, including a web-based portal that provides complete visibility into customer equipment and Q9 services. All Q9 and customer systems are monitored from the Q9 Network Operations Centre (NOC) 24 hours a day, seven days a week. NOC experts are also available to customers on an around-the-clock basis to resolve issues and provide advice.