on the Company’s ATM network. In addition, the Company continues to invest in the on-going development of products that were re c e n t l y i n t roduced to the market. The Company’s re s e a rch and development costs incurred for computer products to be sold, leased or otherw i s e marketed increased to $6.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2000 from $3.2 million for the year ended December 31, 1999. Of this total f i g u re, $1.0 million and $322,000 were capitalized, as at December 31, 2000 and 1999, re s p e c t i v e l y, in conjunction with the Company’s accounting policy requiring the capitalization of development costs on a product by product basis once technological feasibility is established. Technological feasibility of computer software products is established when the Company has completed all planning, designing, coding, and testing activities that are necessary to establish that the product can be produced to meet its design specifications including functions, feature s , and technical perf o rmance re q u i rements.  Operating Loss The Software Solutions Segment incurred an operating loss of $21.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2000 and $7.1 million for the year ended December 31, 1999 as a result of the factors discussed above Operating Expenses Operating expenses for the Corporate Services Segment increased to $7.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2000 f rom $6.8 million for the year ended December 31, 1999. The components of corporate services operating costs for the years ended December 31, 2000 and 1999 were:  The Company’s expansion of its network infrastru c t u re, and increases in corporate and administrative capabilities are the primary reasons for these i n c reased expenditures.  Interest Income  I n t e rest income decreased to $1.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2000 from $2.0 million for the year ended December 31, 1999 and from $2.5 million for the year ended December 31, 1998. The decrease is the result of the decrease in investment securities and cash as a result of negative cash flow from operations and capital expenditure s . Interest Expense  I n t e rest expense decreased to $10.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2000 from $10.9 million for the year ended December 31, 1999 and increased from $7.8 million for the year ended December 31, 1998. The decrease from 1999 to 2000 is due to exchange rate diff e rences as the majority of the debt is denominated in Deutsche Mark. The increase from 1998 to 1999 is the result of accretion of the C o m p a n y ’s Notes Payable for a full year in 1999 in comparison to 6 months’ accretion in 1998.  Foreign Exchange Gain/Loss The Company had a net foreign exchange loss of $3.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2000, as c o m p a red to $2.1 million for the year ended December 31, 1999, and $1.9 million for the year ended December 31, 1998. Exchange gains and losses that result from re - m e a s u rement of certain Company assets and liabilities are re c o rded in determining net loss. A portion of the assets and liabilities of the Company are denominated in Euros, including capital lease obligations, notes payable (including the Notes issued in the C o m p a n y ’s public bond offering), cash and cash equivalents, investments, and forw a rd foreign exchange contracts. It is the Company’s policy to attempt to match local currency receivables and payables. The foreign currency denominated assets and liabilities give rise to foreign exchange gains and losses as a result of U.S. dollar to local currency exchange movements. Extraordinary Gain In 1999 the Company re c o rded an extraord i n a ry gain of $2.8 million (net of income taxes of $0) following its re p u rchase of a portion of its Senior Discount Notes. The gain re p resents the diff e rence between the allocated carrying value of the face value of the debt re p u rchased of $8.1 million less the consideration paid of $5.0 million, offset by the write-off of allocated unamortized deferred financing costs of $300,000. The Company has not re t i red the bonds re p u rchased.  In addition, the Company re p u rchased 97,023 warrants that were attached to the notes payable. Accord i n g l y, approximately $176,000 was allocated to the carrying value of the warrants which reduced additional paid-in capital.  In 1998 the Company re c o rded an extraord i n a ry gain of $2.9 million (net of income taxes of $1.5 million), following its re p u rchase of a portion of its Senior Discount Notes. The gain re p resents the diff e rence between the allocated carrying value of the face value of the debt re p u rchased of $10.2 million less the consideration paid of $5.5 million, offset by the write-off of allocated unamortized deferred financing costs of $400,000. The Company has not re t i red the bonds re p u rchased.  Net Loss The Company’s net loss increased to $49.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2000, as compared to $30.9 million for the year ended December 31, 1999 and $28.4 million for the year ended December 31, 1998, as a result of the factors discussed above.  Since its inception, the Company has sustained negative cash flows from operations and has financed its operations and capital expenditure s primarily through the proceeds from the 1998 issue of Deutsche Mark denominated notes payable, the Company’s 1997 public equity off e r i n g , equipment lease financing and private placements of equity securities. The net proceeds of such transactions, together with revenues fro m operations and interest income have been used to fund aggregate net losses of approximately $123.8 million, investments in pro p e rt y, plant and equipment of approximately $52.8 million and acquisitions of $24.6 million.  1 9 LI Q U I D I T Y A N D CA P I TA L RE S O U R C E S Non-Operating Results for the Years Ended December 31, 2000 and 1999  Corporate Services Segment  (in thousands) Years ending December 31, 2 0 0 0 1 9 9 9 Salaries and benefits $ 3 , 8 1 3 $ 3 , 3 3 5 Selling, general and administrative 3 , 8 4 1 3 , 2 7 0 D e p reciation and amort i z a t i o n 2 0 8 1 4 5 Total direct operating expenses $ 7 , 8 6 2 $ 6 , 7 5 0