ChannelWEB Alliance with Merrimac's CertificationNet Gives Resellers Online Learning, Testing and Certification.

MANHASSET, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 23, 1999--CMP Media's ChannelWEB, the premier reseller-only Web site, has signed an agreement that provides its 70,000 members with online vendor training and certification from Merrimac Interactive Media's CertificationNet(TM). The service also will be offered to the CMP Channel Group's database of more than 249,200 resellers. Online programs from leading technology vendors such as Autodesk, 3Com, Cisco, Hewlett-Packard, Honeywell, Microsoft and Novell are now available at the ChannelWEB site, http://www.channelweb.com/training.

"This alliance will change the way resellers think about online vendor certification and training," said John Russell, senior vice president and group publisher of CMP's Channel Group. "CertificationNet's interactive courseware is dynamically updated, based on the preferences of the reseller taking the test and the vendor providing it, creating an entirely new online training standard."

With CertificationNet, resellers will not have to drive to a learning center or have a satellite hookup to receive the latest training. They can review the vendor courseware online and also take the tests where and when they want. This will also help vendors get their new product information out to the market in real time, and be sure resellers are familiar with any and all upgrades or improvements to their current products.

"Research companies forecast that the worldwide IT training and education market will reach $28.3 billion by 2002," said Harvey S. Kane, Merrimac's chairman and CEO. "We believe that a very significant percentage--much if not most--of that training will be delivered via the Internet."

Merrimac's president and COO, Matthew McGovern, stated that "ChannelWEB's members are not only the top resellers selling these technologies, but they are also Internet-savvy and will be extremely interested in increasing their knowledge base with this convenient form of training and certification."

To create CertificationNet training and certification courseware, Merrimac has in-house instructional designers, graphic designers and senior-level programmers. This team develops and can deliver, in multilingual format, any vendor's courseware training and test programs which may be updated swiftly, and as often as required. Vendors also receive dynamically updated information about the resellers who are taking their online or proctored tests.

Merrimac Interactive Media is a learning integrator and the developer of CertificationNet, the online learning, testing and certification/authorization system. As a learning integrator, Merrimac facilitates computer- and Web-based learning and training to achieve pre-established return-on-investment and return-on-knowledge objectives.

With more than 70,000 qualified members and over 1.5 million page views per month, ChannelWEB is the Web's most highly trafficked, reseller-only online community. It includes several sites designed exclusively for the technology-distribution channel, such as Computer Reseller News, Computer Retail Week, VARBusiness, CMP's XChange Conferences, Channel Information Services and Online Technology Investment Network, which helps channel members seeking to acquire strategic assets or divest existing businesses. The ChannelWEB home page is at http://www.channelweb.com.

CMP Media Inc. (Nasdaq: CMPX) is the leading high-tech media company providing essential information and marketing services to the entire technology spectrum--the builders, sellers and users of technology worldwide. With its portfolio of newspapers, magazines, custom publishing, Internet products, research, consulting and conferences, CMP is uniquely positioned to offer marketers comprehensive, integrated solutions tailored to meet their individual needs. Online editions of the company's print publications, along with products and services created exclusively for the Internet, can be found on CMPnet at http://www.CMPnet.com. NSTL, the company's independent testing lab and consulting organization, serves government, corporate and technology vendor clients around the world.