[0] Microsoft Contest Prize to Boost Philadelphia-Area Dot-Com; DotCombat Contest Awards PhoneFish.com Microsoft Products, Advertising, Pitch Opportunity.

Business Editors & High-Tech Writers

REPEATING...

PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 22, 2000

A Microsoft-sponsored contest will aid a Philadelphia-area dot-com with Microsoft software and free advertising, plus a chance to pitch their business plan to a major venture capital fund -- but that's only the start.

PhoneFish.com, which has created a wireless Internet e-mail service that allows users of Web-enabled phones to access their existing e-mail accounts, won the contest by submitting the most sound business plan at dotCombat, a full-day forum on dot-com startups June 15 at the Wyndham Franklin Plaza Hotel in Philadelphia.

"We're really excited about not only PhoneFish.com's win, but about the energy generated at dotCombat," said Microsoft's Greater Pennsylvania District General Manager Brian Boruff. "One of Microsoft's main goals is to provide resources and opportunities for dot-coms to grow and develop, and stay, in Philadelphia. Everyone has heard about `Silicon Valley,' but we at Microsoft are working to build a similar e-commerce community here in Philadelphia.'"

Microsoft's dotCombat featured veterans of the high-tech industry sharing their strategic battle plans for dot-com businesses with the 341 attendees. For the contest, 45 companies submitted one-page summaries of their business plans.

Thanks to its winning plan, PhoneFish won vouchers for $10,000 worth of Microsoft products, a 30-minute appointment to pitch the PhoneFish business plan to the Eastern Technology Fund and free advertising on Philly.com and in The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News. In addition, Omicron Consulting, a Microsoft Certified Solution Provider, will give PhoneFish a free review of its technology architecture.

Ed Dempsey, president of Blue Bell, Pa.-based PhoneFish.com, said he is already thinking of how the prizes will enhance his business. "First of all, we will be upgrading our current Windows software to the new Windows 2000 Advanced Server products to handle our growing business," Dempsey said. "And the ads will provide great platforms for explaining how PhoneFish can change your life."

Having the winning business plan in the dotCombat contest has also fueled his optimism about PhoneFish's pitch to the Eastern Technology Fund. "It's every entrepreneur's dream to make a pitch to a major VC fund, and we are eagerly looking forward to meeting with them in the coming weeks," Dempsey said.

He credited PhoneFish's success in Microsoft's dotCombat contest to a business plan that can boast a timely concept that has been clearly honed in the company's three years of working on it. "Wireless e-mail for Web-enabled phones has a ton of potential," Dempsey said, "and I think our contest entry made the concept easy to grasp."

"The emerging dot-coms in Philadelphia have immense potential, and we may very well look back at dotCombat as a milestone in building the e-commerce community in Philadelphia," Boruff said. Headlined by Steve Layne, CEO of United Messaging, and Harry Wallaesa, president and COO of Safeguard Scientifics, the event featured speakers with their own war stories of the trials and triumphs of emerging dot-com companies.

Thanks to Microsoft, PhoneFish will soon be sharing its own stories of struggle and success. PhoneFish will post regular journal entries at the Microsoft Web site www.microsoft.com/greaterpa/dotCombat/PhoneFish on how it is faring on the dot-combat front line.

"At dotCombat, we found that everyone really benefited from hearing about what other emerging companies have gone through," Boruff said. "This sharing of information and experiences will nourish the growth of dot-coms here and will be a vital tool in creating the e-commerce industry as a permanent source of new businesses and jobs in the Philadelphia area."

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT) is the worldwide leader in software for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software -- any time, any place and on any device.

Available for interview:

Brian Boruff, Greater Pennsylvania District General Manager for Microsoft Corp. Ed Dempsey, president of PhoneFish.com

This release can also be found at www.jackhorner.com