ADVISORY/Major General Thomas Wilkerson ''Ret.'' Joins Speaker Line up at 2003 NW Wireless Conference & Homeland Security Summit.

News Editors/Assignment Desks

ADVISORY...for Thursday (Oct. 2)

2003 NW Wireless Conference & Homeland Security Summit

--(BUSINESS WIRE)

WHO:      Major General Thomas Wilkerson (Ret.), a 31-year veteran of
          the U.S. Marine Corps and former Commander of the Marine
          Reserve Force, the largest command in the Marine Corps, with
          over 100,000 Marines at 200 sites around the country.

WHAT:     Wilkerson will join panelists Dr. Yoshiyasu Takefuji of
          Japan's Keio University, RAINS Chairman Charles Jennings,
          and Marc Pearl, Principal & CEO of IT Policy Solutions, LLC,
          as they explore homeland security policy from local,
          national and international perspectives at the 2003 Wireless
          Conference and Homeland Security Summit II, hosted by
          Regional Alliances for Infrastructure and Network Security
         (RAINS) and the Portland Business Alliance (PBA).

WHEN:     1:40 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. PT on Thursday, October 2, 2003

WHERE:    Oregon Ballroom, Oregon Convention Center in Portland,
          Oregon
          For more information and online registration, please visit
          www.portlandalliance.com.

About RAINS

Regional Alliances for Infrastructure and Network Security (RAINS) is a public/private partnership at a national level, launched in 2001 and incorporated in July 2002, to accelerate development and deployment of innovative technology for homeland security and to contribute to economic development. RAINS includes 60 vendors and over 300 participating organizations, universities and public agencies ranging from the Hillsboro, Ore., Police Department to the Oregon Emergency Management Department. RAINS' first initiative, RAINS-Net, a highly secure communications platform for sensitive information sharing, recently linked with Portland 9-1-1 to become the nation's first automated alert notification system for homeland security and emergency response serving schools, building managers and other key local public safety stakeholders. For more information, see www.rainsnet.org.

About PBA

The Portland Business Alliance, in existence as of July 1, 2002, is the result of a merger between the 135 year-old regionally driven Portland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and 23 year-old downtown-focused Association for Portland Progress. The Alliance serves nearly 2,000 members representing businesses that employ more than 325,000 employees in Multnomah, Clackamas, and Washington Counties in Oregon, and Clark County Washington. The Alliance focuses on five core purposes: Business Development, Marketing, Membership, Public Policy and Public Space Management. Key activities of the organization include effective advocacy on behalf of the business community at the local, regional, state and federal levels; enhanced small business services; maintenance of programs associated with the 212 block Downtown Clean & Safe Business Improvement District; marketing and membership programs.