Blueline Online Merges With eBricks.com to Become Cephren; Provides Unique Integrated Framework of Internet Collaboration and E-Commerce Services for the Construction Industry.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 17, 2000

Cephren is the new company formed by the merger announced today of Blueline Online, Inc., a leading provider of Internet-based project collaboration services for the global $3.2 trillion building and construction industry, and eBricks.com Inc., a leading e-commerce company providing product and equipment procurement services for the construction industry. Cephren, which is a reference to the master builder of the Great Pyramids, will use its combined Internet collaboration and e-commerce framework to help its customers change the way they build the world.

In a separate announcement also made today, Cephren closed its mezzanine funding round of $41.5 million, which was led by GE Equity Investments, GE Power Systems, Goldman Sachs & Co. and Grupo Picking Pack (GPP). E.M. Warburg, Pincus & Co. was the eBricks.com lead investor and will continue to be an active investor and board member in Cephren.

Construction is one of the vertical industries that can significantly benefit by conducting business on the Internet, according to industry analysts. "Today's top-tier builders and designers demand superior value in an open framework environment for services and products to succeed," said Dennis Byron, research analyst at International Data Corporation. "By combining Blueline Online's collaboration services and eBricks.com's e-commerce architecture into a single open framework of Web services, Cephren is well positioned to lead in this market."

Cephren is distinguished by its unique technology -- a Web-based, integrated framework of collaboration and e-commerce services and its reputation among notable customers. In addition, customers can, and will, access Cephren's collaboration and e-commerce services as stand-alone service offerings. The Company currently has projects on five continents representing more than $40 billion in total construction value. Cephren's current customer base includes more than 10,000 registered users from leading firms such as The Bechtel Group, 3COM, Webcor Builders, HOK, Odebrecht, Gensler, and Wimberly Allison, Tong and Goo. eBricks.com has developed an Internet-based exchange for companies to buy and sell construction products and services. Its charter customers, including Avon-Wesco, Mass Electric, E-J Electric Co., Liberty-Wesco, Fischbach & Moore LLC, DualStar Technologies, Forest Electric (EMCOR) and Midwest Mechanical of New Jersey, represent more than $1.5 billion in annual procurement transactions.

"We are excited about our strategic investment and partnership with Cephren," said Robert L. Nardelli, President and CEO, GE Power Systems. "Real-time project collaboration will play a key role in helping us fulfill the record orders for power generation equipment in the U.S. during the next several years. We anticipate using Cephren to create a seamless process that includes our suppliers and customers. Our goal is to help our customers bring their power plants online sooner, which helps them generate revenue sooner and leads to total customer success."

"The Bechtel Group regards the advent of the Internet to be a fundamental change transforming how the engineering and construction industry does business," said Riley Bechtel, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Bechtel Group. "Cephren is the leading provider of the most scaleable Internet collaboration and e-commerce framework for our industry and has assisted Bechtel in taking significant steps to leverage the Internet in delivering quality services to our global customers."

Cephren's ProjectNet(R) service, the leading Web-based project collaboration service, has already established a reputation for providing significant value to building industry firms. ProjectNet has been a key service for some of the world's largest engineering and construction projects, such as the Venetian Hotel and Casino located in Las Vegas. ProjectNet significantly accelerates time to market, mitigates risk and reduces cost for complex projects by

enabling the multitude of architects, engineers, contractors and suppliers, often separated by great physical distances, to coordinate all communications, design updates and project meetings through a Web-based, secure extranet. With the addition of e-commerce technology, Cephren offers a complete set of integrated collaboration and procurement services. With the eBricks.com procurement service for the construction sector, the Company will rapidly become the industry standard for the $3 trillion global design-build/construction industry. Cephren's unique integration of services and strong customer base distinguish it from competitors in this market.

"Combining eBricks.com's unmatched procurement technology with our premium ProjectNet collaboration platform places Cephren in a position to dominate the industry. We will help our customers change the way they build the world," said Robert J. Majteles, Cephren President and CEO.

"This merger complements our business and helps us execute on our plans much faster. Our integrated framework provides customers with a singular solution that meets all their project collaboration and procurement requirements, enabling them to deliver projects better, faster, smarter and cheaper," said Jas Dhillon, Blueline Online Founder, now Cephren Chairman.

"The coming together of eBricks.com and Blueline Online will help us achieve our mission of becoming the construction industry standard for web-based procurement. Everyone here at eBricks.com is excited to join forces with Blueline Online and make this a reality," said Tim Perini, eBricks.com Founder and CEO, now Vice President, Business Development for Cephren.

About Cephren

Cephren is changing the way the world is built with its collaboration and e-commerce framework. Through its integrated, online collaboration and e-commerce services, the Company increases revenues, reduces risk and improves time-to-market for the global building construction industry. Cephren is the industry pioneer serving this market and currently has customers in more than 800 firms and 10,000 registered users on five continents, representing construction value that exceeds $40 billion. Cephren's framework is being used at internationally renowned firms, including The Bechtel Group, Webcor Builders, Gensler, HOK, 3Com, Odebrecht, and Wimberly Allison Tong & Goo; charter E-Commerce customers include Avon-Wesco, Mass Electric, E-J Electric Co., Liberty-Wesco, Fischbach & Moore LLC, DualStar Technologies, Forest Electric (EMCOR) and Midwest Mechanical of New Jersey. Cephren is based in Palo Alto, California with offices across the United States and the United Kingdom. Cephren works through resellers in Asia and Latin America. Visit its website at www.cephren.com.

Note to Editors: Blueline Online, ProjectNet are registered trademarks; eBricks.com is a trademark of Cephren, Inc.