ROCKVILLE, MD, Nov. 7, 1990 -- GE Information Services today announced "LETTERS FROM HOME" - a program to allow families and friends of loved ones serving with the U.S. Armed Forces in the Persian Gulf region to send FREE electronic mail messages via the GEnieSM service.
"LETTERS FROM HOME", offered in cooperation with the U.S. Armed Forces, the Saudi-American General Electric Company, GE Rents and Pitney Bowes Inc., allows individuals in the United States with access to a personal computer and modem to send personal messages to loved ones serving in the Persian Gulf region.
Letters will be sent electronically via GE Information Services' worldwide teleprocessing network to GE's local telecommunications facility in Saudi Arabia. The letters will be received and printed on computers and printers supplied by GE Rents. The mail will then be folded, inserted and sealed in envelopes using state-of-the-art equipment provided by Pitney Bowes. The letters will then be given to the U.S. Armed Forces for delivery to the designated serviceperson.
In announcing "LETTERS FROM HOME", GEnie general manager Bill Louden said, "All of us at GE are proud of the men and women serving our country in the Persian Gulf. And we are pleased that our electronic mail service can significantly reduce the time required for delivery over traditional mail. "
"We also hope that the expeditious delivery of these letters through our worldwide teleprocessing network can serve as a real morale booster for the troops," added Louden.
Subscribers to the GEnie service need only type the word "LETTERS" at any menu prompt on the service. Non-subscribers can dial a local access telephone number or, if they are not near one of the more than 500 GE Information Services dial-up locations, access via a toll-free 800 number.
Note: In the Phoenix area try 275-9486
To send a Letter From Home, an individual will need to know the Name & Rank, Social Security #, Unit or Ship and APO or FPO of the recipient. The Letters From Home system will automatically prompt senders for the appropriate information.
The GEnie service, one of the leading online information services, is available throughout the U.S., Canada, Japan, Germany, Austria and Switzerland via a local phone call. For further information on the GEnie service and its free "LETTERS FROM HOME" project, please call GEnie Client Services at 1-800- 638-9636.
GE Rents offers daily, weekly, and monthly rentals of a wide variety of personal computers and peripherals. GE Rents can be reached by calling their nationwide toll-free number: 1-800-GE-RENTS.
Pitney Bowes, Inc. (NYSE: PBI) is a $2.9 billion, multinational manufacturing and marketing company that provides mailing, shipping, copying, dictating, facsimile and retail systems, as well as business supplies and services, and product financing.
The free "LETTERS FROM HOME" electronic mail service is in effect through February 28, 1991. GE Information Services, a division of General Electric Company, U.S.A., is headquartered in Rockville, Md. GE Rents, also a division of General Electric Company, U.S.A., is headquartered in Atlanta, Ga. Pitney Bowes is headquarted in Stamford, Ct.
(Note to Editors: Toll-free 800 access is available from 6 P.M. to 8 A.M. Eastern Time Monday through Friday and all day Saturday and Sunday. Local dial-up access and access through the GEnie service is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. A complete list of GE Information Services local telephone numbers is attached along with access instructions for non- subscribers.)
NOTE: GEnie is a service mark of General Electric Company, U.S.A
