'Informio Developer Network' Launched to Help Companies Use Voice Technologies to Deliver Internet-based Applications to the Mobile Phone.

Business & High Technology Editors

LEXINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 7, 2000

Viridien Technologies Partners with Informio and Joins Growing

Membership of IDN

Informio, the leader in voice Web infrastructure, launched today the Informio Developer Network(TM), an innovative program to help developers quickly and easily create voice Web applications and make them accessible anytime, anywhere via the phone. These voice applications can be delivered over any VoiceXML-compliant infrastructure, including Informio's, extending an organization's investment in enterprise applications beyond the PC to the phone. The IDN is currently available to partners of Informio. Later this year the program will be open to any developers interested in working with Informio to build and deploy voice Web applications.

Informio also announced today a partnership with Viridien Technologies, a charter member of the IDN and a leading provider of next generation eTechnologies delivering Wireline/Wireless Websites, eSolutions, Trading Exchanges, and Extranets as well as embedded Java engineering services. The Informio/Viridien partnership will focus on working with enterprises to build and deploy voice-enabled customer services applications.

"We're taking the mystery out of using VoiceXML to move Internet-based applications to the phone," said Informio CEO and co-founder Alex Laats. "Whether you want to deliver one application, or your entire Internet-based business to the phone, the IDN can help you build standards-based applications, and make them accessible to your mobile constituencies. Voice can be a powerful and productive vehicle for a wide range of companies - from the Global 2000, to the systems integrators who are building CRM or ERP for their clients, to ISPs hosting messaging services."

Free of charge, the Informio Developer Network is a growing consortium of cutting-edge application developers who are seeking a quick and easy way to move Internet-based, business critical applications beyond the PC onto the mobile phone. In addition to Viridien Technologies, IDN's growing membership includes Corechange and Aligo, and other enterprise-oriented partners who are currently developing VoiceXML applications for their customers.

Membership in the IDN includes:

-- A Web site where developers can easily create and share voice applications
on their PCs, and then host them on a local server or the IDN server.

-- Comprehensive documentation and sample code to facilitate the building and
deployment of VoiceXML applications.

-- An Internet-based test environment within which users can configure, test,
debug and demonstrate voice applications.

-- A knowledge-sharing environment with the building blocks and design
principles of voice applications.

-- Access to Informio professional services for assistance in designing,
deploying and hosting voice applications.

Applications developed with the IDN can be delivered via any VoiceXML-compliant network, including Informio's voice Web infrastructure. Informio's infrastructure technology -- the Unified Media Browser(TM) -- resides at the intersection of the Internet and the telephone network, creating voice Web infrastructure to deliver audio and voice applications, anytime, anywhere. The infrastructure provides:

-- Local telecom access to the Internet and critical enterprise

applications throughout the world.

-- Voice and touch-tone browsing of Internet content and

applications.

-- High-performance content distribution over the broadband

Internet backbone.

Informio Partners are First to use IDN

"We're excited to have a wireless technology leader such as Viridien as a partner and as an integral part of the IDN," said Scott Maddern, director of product management at Informio. "Viridien is focused squarely on delivering cutting edge, Internet-based applications to their customers, and we're happy to work with them to add the voice Web as part of those solutions."

According to Ulf Arnetz, president and CEO of Corechange, Inc., "We have tried a variety of VoiceXML developer programs and tools to enhance our wireless access framework, and we have found Informio's to be the most effective, straightforward and usable of any in the market today. We have easily developed, tested and deployed voice-enabled applications to access business critical information, and delivered them smoothly over Informio's infrastructure. We're thrilled to be able to utilize the IDN with our business-to-mobile (B2M (TM)) technology to better serve our customers who understand the value of moving past the PC onto the phone."

About Informio, Inc.

Informio (www.informio.com) is a Lexington, MA-based voice Web infrastructure services company. Informio provides a reliable, distributed, Internet-based solution for businesses extending their Internet presence to any telephone, anywhere, at any time.

Based on VoiceXML, streaming audio and other existing and emerging standards, Informio's architecture allows any organization to develop Internet audio and voice applications. Using VoiceXML, Informio's customers can extend existing Internet or corporate Intranet content and applications to mobile devices, and/or they can create entirely new applications targeting the mobile professional via the wireless telephone.

Current US cities in the Informio network include: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Orange County, Calif., Philadelphia, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose/Sunnyvale, Seattle, Washington, D.C./McLean. For more information, visit: www.informio.com.

About Viridien Technologies, Inc.

Viridien Technologies, Inc. leads the convergence of e-business and data communications with next-generation internetworking and wireless solutions for Internet enterprise users and Internet technology vendors. As the only provider to deliver both data communications and e-business solutions, Viridien assists customers in developing and implementing Web, Internet, and communications technologies for a competitive market advantage. Viridien provides time to market leadership via specialized project and professional services that include the analysis, design, architecture, implementation and software development required to enable clients to concentrate on core competencies and business initiatives. Customers include global networking equipment manufacturers and Fortune 1000 companies in the technology, manufacturing, dot.com, financial services, and retail industries. Voted by Computerworld as a Top 100 emerging company to watch in 2000, Viridien is employee owned, rapidly growing and profitable. Headquartered in Boxborough, Massachusetts, Viridien can be reached on the Web at http://www.viridien.com, or call [phone].

About Corechange

Corechange offers a true role-based, e-business access framework enabling enterprises to rapidly deliver business-critical information to customers (B2C), partners (B2B) and employees (B2E). The company's B2M(TM) (business-to-mobile) technology ensures vital information can be accessed via wired or wireless devices. Founded in 1996, Corechange has over 50 worldwide customers including ABB, ABN, AMRO North America, Credit Suisse First Boston, Ericsson, and Sears Canada. Headquartered in Boston, Corechange also has offices in New York, San Francisco, London, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto, Stockholm and Oslo.

About Aligo

Aligo, Inc. is a wireless software company that provides enterprises and IT developers a powerful mobile application server software, complete suite of mobile commerce applications and next generation development environment. Its unique Multiplatform Mobile Server(TM) technology enables businesses to deliver sophisticated mobile enterprise applications and conduct secure transactions on a variety of mobile devices including WAP phones, pagers, as well as regular cell phones. Aligo's platform seamlessly integrates with existing e-business and enterprise infrastructure, and easily upgrades, with no additional infrastructure investment, to support next-generation mobile devices and technologies as they become available.

Aligo, Inc. is a privately funded company headquartered in San Francisco, CA, with engineering operations in Phoenix, AZ. Aligo can be reached at http://www.aligo.com.

Informio, the Informio Developer Network and the Unified Media Browser are trademarks for Informio, Inc., and may be registered in certain jurisdictions.