ADVISORY/COVITS 2003 to Feature Luminaries from IBM, MCI, US Department of Homeland Security and Many More.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

ADVISORY...for Sunday - Tuesday (Sept. 21 - 23)

--(BUSINESS WIRE)

Leaders from Business, Government and Academia to Discuss Today's

Technology Integration Challenges at World-Class Symposium 

WHAT:   COVITS 2003 (www.covits.org), an annual conference to
        identify, discuss and propose solutions to critical technology
        issues

WHO:    A list of speakers scheduled for COVITS 2003 follows. Many
        speakers will do media Q&A sessions immediately following
        their presentations.

        --  Greg Baroni, President, Unisys Global Public Sector
        --  Randolph Blazer, Chairman and CEO, BearingPoint
        --  Phillip Bond, Under Secretary of Commerce for Technology,
            U.S. Department of Commerce
        --  Michael Capellas, Chairman and CEO, MCI
        --  Steven Cooper, CIO, U.S. Department of Homeland Security
        --  John Engler, President, State and Local Government, EDS,
            Former Governor of Michigan
        --  Bob Goodlatte & Rick Boucher, Congressmen, U.S. House of
            Representatives; co-chairmen, Congressional Internet
            Caucus
        --  Rt. Honorable John Major, CH, former Prime Minister of
            Great Britain
        --  Alfred Mockett, Chairman and CEO, AMS
        --  George Newstrom, Secretary of Technology, Commonwealth of
            Virginia
        --  Cathilea Robinett, Executive Director, Center for Digital
            Government
        --  General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, (Ret.)
        --  Ivan Seidenberg, CEO, Verizon
        --  Ravi Sethi, President, Avaya Labs
        --  Thomas Shelman, Vice President and CIO, Internal
            Information Services, Northrop Grumman
        --  Dr. Charles Steger, President, Virginia Tech
        --  Mark Warner, Governor, Commonwealth of Virginia (via
            teleportation technology)
        --  Dr. Irving Wladawsky-Berger, General Manager, e-business
            on demand, IBM Corporation

WHY:    To hear thought leaders from business, government and
        academia discuss the challenges and solutions of merging
        disparate systems and organizations into a single, highly
        responsive and secure enterprise environment

HOW:    If you cannot attend COVITS, you can receive once-daily news
        feeds from the conference. COVITS host and Virginia Secretary
        of Technology George Newstrom is available for phone
        interviews. Other speakers available for phone interviews
        based on availability.

WHERE:  The Hotel Roanoke & Conference Center, Roanoke, Va.

WHEN:   Sunday, September 21 - Tuesday, September 23, 2003