BAPCo and MadOnion.com Release SYSmark 2002; Compatible With Windows XP, Simple Installation With Trial Run Option.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 31, 2002

The latest implementation of industry standard benchmark tools, SYSmark(R) 2002, was released today by BAPCo(R), a non-profit consortium of leading computer industry publications, independent testing labs, PC hardware manufacturers, semiconductor manufacturers and software publishers.

SYSmark 2002 provides an application-based benchmark that accurately reflects usage patterns for business users in the areas of Internet Content Creation and Office Productivity.

SYSmark 2002 supports Microsoft(R) Windows(R) XP (Professional and Home), Windows(R) 2000 and Windows(R) Millennium Edition. MadOnion.com(TM), a leading provider of PC benchmark software and performance information services, will provide marketing support and distribution for SYSmark 2002.

SYSmark 2002 is used to:

-- Measure and compare PC performance based on real applications by PC OEMs,
hardware and software developers, IT departments, system integrators,
publishers and testing labs;

-- Forecast future desktop computing needs by Information technologists and
computer industry analysts.

Important New Features of SYSmark 2002

-- Windows XP(R) support

-- One-click installation on Windows XP

-- Automated error reporting

-- Command line support (installation and execution)

-- Trial run option

SYSmark 2002 incorporates the following Internet Content Creation and Office Productivity applications:

-- Internet Content Generation: Adobe Photoshop(R) 6.01, Adobe

Premiere(R) 6.0, Microsoft Windows Media Encoder 7.1,

Macromedia Dreamweaver 4, and Macromedia Flash 5

-- Office Productivity: Microsoft Word 2002, Microsoft Excel

2002, Microsoft PowerPoint 2002, Microsoft Outlook 2002,

Microsoft Access 2002, Netscape Communicator(R) 6.0, Dragon

NaturallySpeaking Preferred v.5, WinZip 8.0, and McAfee

VirusScan 5.13.

Availability

SYSmark 2002 is available for $199.95 USD. Please visit http://www.madonion.com/products/#sysmark2002/ (Powered by MadOnion.com) to order SYSmark 2002. The benchmark was developed and is fully supported by the current BAPCo membership.

About Business Applications Performance Corp. (BAPCo(R))

BAPCo's -- Business Applications Performance Corp. -- current members include CNET, Compaq, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, InfoWorld, Intel, Microsoft, VNU Business Publications Limited (UK), and ZDNet. BAPCo is a non-profit consortium with a charter to develop and distribute a set of objective performance benchmarks for personal computers based on popular software applications and operating systems.

About MadOnion.com(TM)

MadOnion.com is the leading provider of PC benchmark software and performance information services. MadOnion.com(TM) is known around the world for its benchmark products, including the 3DMark(R) Series and Video2000 (with more than 26 million copies distributed, worldwide). MadOnion.com(TM) has offices in Saratoga, Calif. and Helsinki, Finland. For more information, please visit http://www.madonion.com.

Note to Editors:

BAPCo, and SYSmark are registered trademarks of The Business Applications Performance Corp. MadOnion.com(TM) is the trademark of MadOnion.com. All other names mentioned are trademarks, or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

For more information, please refer to www.bapco.com or www.MadOnion.com or contact:

John Peterson

BAPCo

Operations Manager

Phone: [phone]

[e-mail]

Tero Sarkkinen

MadOnion.com Inc.

Executive Vice President, Sales

Phone: [phone]

[e-mail]

Agency Contact:

TechWire International

831/429-6288

Leo Pot

Email: [e-mail]

Attached: Extended Features Outline

SYSmark(R) 2002 Extended Features Outline

-- Modern usage model: SYSmark 2002 is organized as scenarios,

which are designed to reflect snapshots of "a day in the life"

of an Internet Content Creator and Office Productivity

Applications user

-- Popular applications: SYSmark 2002 includes a robust set of 14

applications covering a wide range of Internet Content

Creation and Office Productivity application categories. The

SYSmark 2002 workload emulates usage patterns of today's

desktop business user that includes concurrent execution of

multiple applications

-- Current application versions: Applications have been updated

to include Office XP, PhotoShop 6.01 and Windows Media Encoder

7.1

-- Internet Features: SYSmark 2002 tests performance of a PC

executing a wide range of popular operations using leading

Internet Content Creation applications

-- Average Response time metric: Response time of Applications to

user interaction is used as a performance metric rather than

end-to-end run time. Users care most about the response time

of the application to input

-- Concurrency Performance: BAPCo has extended its

state-of-the-art benchmarking technologies by devising methods

(first introduced with WebMark 2001 and SYSmark 2001) for

accurate and realistic measurement of concurrent tasks.

SYSmark 2002 uses scenarios where background applications that

detect viruses, compress files, encode video and convert

speech to text run concurrently with other business

applications

-- Realistic execution speed: The benchmark runs at realistic

execution speed, with think times between application

interactions, in order to emulate a desktop user's interaction

with the operating system and applications. The think time

emulates a desktop user's interaction with the operating

system and applications. Operating system behaviour is more

realistic when application interaction has think times (just

like a real user) as the OS can devote itself to other

housekeeping activities (like memory management, scheduling

etc.)

-- Reliable and Repeatable Results: SYSmark 2002 implements

standardized testing through an automated, point-and-click

Benchmark Manager with reporting guidelines to ensure

reliable, repeatable results

-- Multiple OS Support: SYSmark 2002 supports Windows XP

(Professional and Home), Windows 2000 and Windows Millennium

Edition

-- Non-US English OS Support: Supports European Windows Operating

systems (Dutch, French, German, Italian, and Spanish),

Japanese and Chinese

-- Compare Results: SYSmark2002 includes the ability to collect

and store performance data for user-specified projects;

ability to compare user results with a wide range of vendor

and testing lab results available publicly on BAPCo's web site

at www.bapco.com

-- Automated generation of BAPCo's Full Disclosure Report (FDR)

for ensuring consistent reporting of results

-- Comprehensive System Performance Testing: Benchmark workload

content carefully developed to reflect accurate and realistic

usage patterns covering a wide range of functionality within

each application

-- Extensive validation across multiple hardware and software

configurations to ensure consistent and reliable performance

measurement results