AECdirect.com, New Work Site for Design and Building Industry, Powered by IBM Technology and E-Business Expertise.

Business/High-Tech Editors

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 19, 2000

AECdirect has selected IBM to build and maintain its online work site for the design and construction industry. AECdirect is a new Internet company delivering productivity tools and services to meet the changing needs of today's design and building industry professionals.

IBM is working with AECdirect to develop a comprehensive e-business strategy that will position the company at the forefront of the surging design and construction Internet market space. In addition, IBM's Atlanta Center was engaged to design, build and deploy the AECdirect.com portal, which recently opened for business. The work with AECdirect marks IBM's foray into e-business projects for this "bricks and mortar" industry.

"The design and building industry boasts enormous potential with relation to technology integration," stated Joe Conlon, vice president of midmarkets for IBM. "We believe AECdirect's approach to make offline tools and services relevant in an online environment will resonate with this industry and translate into time- and cost-saving benefits for end-users."

"We are excited to be able to offer our users the quality, knowledge and respectability associated with IBM and their e-business initiatives," stated Fred DeLuca, chief executive officer of AECdirect. "Our alliance with IBM furthers our goal to provide industry professionals the online tools, education and information needed to use technology effectively. By working with IBM and utilizing their tremendous skill and experience in e-business, we've created an intuitive, secure and reliable online work site for the industry that will help everyone communicate, collaborate and do business faster and more efficiently."

AECdirect is backed by leading companies in the design and building industry who are providing existing technology and developing original online services for the AECdirect.com site. Founding partners are Bentley Systems, Incorporated; CMD Group; Hanley-Wood; iPIX; McGraw-Hill Construction Information Group; and The American Institute of Architects (AIA).

AECdirect's partnerships enable the company to offer and integrate some of the most widely used industry tools and resources on the AECdirect.com site, helping users conduct business more efficiently and effectively. Current key services on the site include:

- Product Lookup: a product information and specification application;

- DirectNews: a customized and personalized news and information delivery
system;

- AEC Seminars: dynamic online continuing education courses offering
state-of-the-art multimedia delivery;

- Viecon.com on AECdirect: a co-branded version of Bentley's Viecon.com project
extranet hosting service.

ABOUT IBM

IBM Global Services is the world's largest information technology services provider, with 1999 revenues of more than $32 billion. Services is the fastest growing part of IBM, with more than 138,000 professionals serving customers in 160 countries. IBM Global Services integrates IBM's broad range of capabilities -- services, hardware, software and research -- to help companies of all sizes realize the full value of information technology. For more information visit www.ibm.com/services.

ABOUT AECdirect

AECdirect was founded in January 2000 and is headquartered in Washington, D.C. The company seeks to enhance and deliver proven offline design and building industry tools and resources in an online environment. AECdirect investors include some of the most respected and formidable organizations and companies in the building and business industries including Bentley Systems, CMD Group, Hanley-Wood, iPIX, McGraw-Hill Construction Information Group and The American Institute of Architects.