Bowstreet and Sun Microsystems Partner to Offer Integrated Solutions for Building Intelligent Web Services and Business Web Infrastructures.

Business/Technology Editors

LYNNFIELD, Mass. & SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 5, 2001

Bowstreet(TM) Business Web Factory, running on the

Sun(TM) platform, will help high-growth businesses

collaborate with partners dynamically across Internet

Bowstreet, a leading business web platform provider for the creation, integration and management of a new class of dynamic e-business applications composed of plug-and-play web services, and Sun Microsystems, Inc., a leading provider of industrial-strength hardware, software and services that power the Internet, today announced a strategic alliance to offer tightly integrated, scalable solutions that e-businesses can leverage to build highly customized, collaborative business webs. The two companies are working closely to integrate their technologies and services to help customers build intelligent web services architectures and business web automation infrastructures that dynamically increase the speed, flexibility and effectiveness of e-business, while reducing cost and complexity. The alliance is announced in conjunction with Sun's launch of its Sun(TM) Open Net Environment (Sun ONE).

Also at the Sun ONE launch in San Francisco today, Bowstreet will demonstrate a true "smart services" scenario that leverages networked software that can be repurposed on-the-fly to morph business processes and user interfaces based on where and by whom the services are accessed. This business-to-business web purchasing cycle highlights how an architecture can unify access to any kind of back-end services provider. The Bowstreet(TM) Business Web Factory running the Solaris(TM) Operating Environment on a Sun(TM) Enterprise server dynamically assembles intelligent services and user profiles across the Internet using iPlanet's LDAP directory and EJB(TM) components hosted on industry-leading, Java(TM) 2 platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE)-compliant application servers. The result is the integration of content, process and user interface to present a customized web application tailored to the context of the request. The Bowstreet Business Web Factory provides discovery and "just-in-time" dynamic assembly of e-business applications. This dynamic construction and profile enablement provides a made-to-order, just-in-time, "smart service" application by returning HTML, ebXML or SOAP requests based on profile information.

Bowstreet and Sun collaborate to uniquely tailor customer business webs

Together, Bowstreet and Sun are enabling enterprise companies to significantly enhance the way they establish and maintain partner relationships on the Internet. By connecting with partner companies through customized business webs, enterprises can lower transaction costs, generate new revenue, enable collaboration on new products and services, and deliver greater value to customers. Sun's Java(TM) technology is emerging as the de facto standard for e-business, and Bowstreet has embraced Java technology and Sun's Solaris(TM) Operating Environment as the foundation upon which Bowstreet has built its Business Web Factory platform.

Bowstreet and Sun are already working together to deliver enhanced, open web services to industry innovators. SONICblue(TM) Incorporated (Nasdaq: SBLU), a leader in the converging Internet, digital media and consumer device marketplace and the company behind the popular Rio digital audio device, has augmented its ability to monitor its sales channel by standardizing on the Bowstreet Business Web Factory and Sun's Solaris Operating Environment. SONICblue's business web will provide its channel partners and internal sales managers with the ability to streamline the flow of sales and inventory information in real-time over the Internet, without hard-coded programming or technical help.

"Bowstreet and Sun are working closely with SONICblue as we implement our business web strategy," said Steve Kennedy, senior vice president of sales and marketing, SONICblue. "In the fast-moving digital media device market, the demand level can change every week. The Bowstreet- and Sun(TM) platform-enabled business web application allows us to monitor our sales channel on a daily basis. Bowstreet and Sun helped us design a robust solution that will help our company scale its IT infrastructure and take us through our company's planned growth over the next several years."

SONICblue has long relied on Sun to deliver the scalable web commerce platform that manages partner relationships. SONICblue turned to Bowstreet to develop a web services framework for automating business-to-business transactions and forging stronger relationships with its leading sales channel partners.

In addition to uniquely tailoring business webs for joint customers, Bowstreet and Sun will continue to work together on current and developing technology standards. Since the company's inception, Bowstreet has collaborated with Sun to extend open standards-based business-to-business transactions over the Internet. Together, both companies have worked on the Directory Services Markup Language (DSML), Transaction Authority Markup Language (XAML) and Electronic Business XML (ebXML) standards - all important initiatives in supporting and extending interoperability across the Internet.

"Bowstreet and Sun offer powerful enabling technologies to enterprises that want to quickly and confidently expand the reach and distribution of web services to their partners and customers. The Bowstreet solution running on the Sun platform enables companies to more easily customize web applications to provide greater value and a richer customer experience," said Doug Kaewert, vice president, Market Development at Sun Microsystems, Inc. "Because of our common commitment to open standards and technologies, Bowstreet's web process integration solution running on Sun's scalable systems and software can help our customers decrease solution time to market and the cost of managing dynamic web sites."

"Sun systems power many of the most aggressive e-business applications on the Internet, making them a perfect industry partner for Bowstreet as we execute our goal of delivering dynamic business webs into the hands of business people," said Bob Crowley, president and CEO of Bowstreet.

About Sun ONE

Sun Open Net Environment (Sun ONE) is one of the industry's most comprehensive offerings to deliver web services today and includes an architecture and roadmap based on open standards, such as Java and XML, to take advantage of the new generation of smart web services and beyond.

Smart web services are enhanced web services with a level of intelligence based on context, span multiple networks beyond the web, and provide a richer experience for both enterprises and end-users. Sun ONE will simplify the way in which both web and open smart services are created, assembled and deployed - benefiting enterprises with better business-wide productivity, developers with faster time-to-service and increased market opportunity, and consumers with an enriched user experience. More information about Sun ONE can be found at www.sun.com/software/sunone.

About Bowstreet

Bowstreet is one of the first companies focused exclusively on creating the software breakthroughs required to support business webs - the emerging model for companies in the digital economy. Bowstreet provides one of the industry's first business web platforms for the creation, integration and management of a new class of dynamic applications composed of plug-and-play web services. Unlike hard-wired solutions, Bowstreet's Business Web Factory platform was designed from the ground up to be totally vendor-neutral, employing highly innovative, parametric change-automation technology. With Bowstreet's Business Web Factory, technologists can design massively customizable business web applications that empower business people to expand their business web relationships instantly. More information can be found at www.bowstreet.com or by calling 781-586-7100.

About Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision - "The Network Is The Computer(TM)" - has propelled Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW), to its position as a leading provider of industrial-strength hardware, software and services that power the Internet and allow companies worldwide to dot-com their businesses. With $17.6 billion in annual revenues, Sun can be found in more than 170 countries and on the World Wide Web at http://sun.com.

Bowstreet is a trademark of Bowstreet, Inc.

Sun, Sun Microsystems, the Sun logo, Java, Solaris, Sun Enterprise, EJB and The Network Is The Computer are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other company names and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies or owners.