October 1, 1999

Kevin J. Hafer, CEO

APEX, Inc.

Dear Mr. Hafer:

As a long-term small investor in APEX, I feel compelled to write to personally tell you how disappointed I am with the way you recently handled the disseminating of negative news regarding APEX, Inc.

It seems, in my opinion, you wanted to milk the negative news and get as much negative response from shareholders as possible, and therefore wiped out as much market capitalization as possible regarding APEX stock. As far as this making sense or not, makes little difference to me. The fact is, as of this morning, APEX has lost over 65% of its value in less than a month. Or in a dollar amount, over 473 million dollars.

If I had not read the news stories, but only watched the action in the stock price, I would of guessed that APEX had lost much more than 10% of its business and that it was going to report a loss for the quarter. To lose 65% of your market cap simply because of reporting a couple of cents less for the quarter and losing 10% of revenue when you are growing revenue at almost 40%, is indeed, quite an accomplishment for you.

As far as insiders losing large amounts of money as well, I could care less. Most insider have enough money as it is to own the biggest houses, biggest cars, and have the biggest bank accounts, there is only so much money one person can spend. Moreover, insiders know what is really going on with the company, unlike small investors like myself who don't know what to believe about APEX. And who have lost all faith in upper management and their ability to manage APEX stock.

Granted, you may feel that all that is important is the strategic plan which is understandable. You will still make a salary and bonus no matter what the current stock price is and as far as stock options, that only takes a quick signature from the compensation board and your stock options have a new lower strike price. Unfortunately, this is not the way it works for the small shareholders in APEX. The short-term 65% loss in APEX stock is real and meaningful.

Finally, allowing Wall Street more and more control over company stock prices without retaliation even when Wall Street screws up, can only be bad for the stock market as a whole and the economy of the US. This is the way I see it with APEX stock, that is, Wall Street has overly punished the stock based on the news currently reported by APEX. I do admit that maybe Wall Street knows something I don't. Even though the SEC promises me equal information, I have personally seen anything but that.

You have reinforced the fact that companies in general do not care about short-term stock prices and the way Wall Street controls them. This is the main reason why I continue to treat more and more stocks as short-term plays vice long-term investments. Better late than never, I will now treat APEX as a short-term play to better follow APEX philosophies.

Sincerely