Booming Brazilian Internet Infrastructure Market Could be Next Logical Step for American Internet Companies.

Business Editors

HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 5, 2000

South American Internet giant Brazil - with its robust Internet

start-up base - provides great market opportunity for InterWeb

Houston InterWeb Design (OTCBB:HITD) announced today that it is in the process of setting up a joint venture in Brazil to capitalize on the country's rapidly growing market for Internet infrastructure- related services. Houston InterWeb Design's (InterWeb) new subsidiary will focus on providing Web site hosting services to businesses as well as the design of complex, interactive Web sites and other Internet based applications. The company will also license InterWeb's SiteBlazer(TM) site building technology to Brazilian customers.

"We want to be among the first major publicly traded American companies providing Internet enabling technologies and Internet infrastructure related services for e-businesses in South America. By taking advantage of less saturated markets, we believe that we can be more profitable without many of the typical e-problems like the downward price pressure associated with e-commerce sites or challenges with ad revenues associated with content sites. Instead, we want to provide the tools that the South American Internet companies need to conduct their business efficiently," explains Harry White, CEO of Houston InterWeb Design.

Web hosting, co-location, e-commerce and Internet usage are all growing faster in South American than in the U.S., which experienced its growth much earlier. According to the International Data Corporation's Latin America research group, the number of Internet users in Latin America will more than double from 13.3 million this year to 29.6 million in 2003.

"Brazil is the next logical step for our Latin American expansion. Brazil leads the region in the number of Internet users with 41% of the regional market. That's twice as many Internet users as Mexico or four times as many as Argentina. Brazilian online usage rates are growing so rapidly, in part, because of decreasing connection rates from ISP's. This growth is also fueling an explosion of new Internet start-ups. These trends in Brazil are so strong that we really felt like we couldn't afford not to participate," explains White.

The executives, as well as the core sales team of InterWeb's Brazilian partner company are in Houston for the next two weeks, where they are training at InterWeb's corporate headquarters. The final details regarding InterWeb's Brazilian operations are expected to be made public within the next 30 days.

American companies focusing on providing Internet infrastructure-related services in the U.S. include Exodus Communications (Nasdaq:EXDS), Digex (Nasdaq:DIGX), MSI Holdings (OTCBB:MSIA), Digital Island (Nasdaq:ISLD), Akamai Technologies (Nasdaq:AKAM) and Xcelera.com (AMEX:XLA).

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