Cinergy and Convergent Group to Launch emPowerNET, an ASP-based Energy Delivery and Energy Market Management Solutions Venture.

Business Editors

CINCINNATI & DENVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 20, 2001

Cinergy Ventures, LLC and Convergent Group announce the formation of emPowerNET, whose mission is to provide Application Service Provider (ASP)-hosted energy delivery and energy market management technologies to small- and mid-sized utilities.

Cinergy Ventures is part of Cinergy Corp.'s Power Technology and Infrastructure Services strategic business unit, responsible for pursuing technology equity investments and e-business development. Cinergy Corp. is one of the nation's largest diversified energy companies, serving 1.4 million electric and 478,000 gas customers in Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. Convergent Group is a leading energy market systems integration and business transformation firm.

emPowerNET brings together Convergent Group's energy technology expertise and Cinergy's utility operations expertise to offer transaction-based, Internet-hosted technology services for utilities who previously could not cost-justify purchase of the technologies being offered. The initial ASP offerings will encompass energy delivery resource planning (EDRP) solutions for distribution operations and an "eValue portal" offering load management, supply management and energy market information management.

"The ASP IT delivery model to be offered by emPowerNET provides for a standard, centrally hosted application set that's state-of-the art and available through a subscription fee," explained Glenn E. Montgomery, CEO of Convergent Group. "This enables small- to mid-tier utilities to deploy leading technology solutions that they've never before been able to afford. With a minimal upfront capital investment, smaller utilities can now secure affordable, noncustomized, centrally hosted application services for energy delivery operations and retail energy market decision making."

"Our research indicates that ASP offerings which provide a pre-integrated suite of relevant applications and data models will be attractive to the small-to medium-sized utility market," stated Rick Nicholson, vice president and director of META Group's Energy Information Strategies service. "Many of these organizations were users of time-sharing service bureaus in the past and do not have the capital budgets to implement their own systems."

The first of the ASP-hosted energy technologies, scheduled for release in summer 2001, will include GIS/asset management, outage and distribution management, mobile workforce management and distribution planning. Work management and executive information system technologies will be released in the second phase of ASP offerings. Convergent Group's Model Office(TM) will be the technology and integration platform for the offerings. Utility customers will be able to subscribe to individual components or license the total EDRP suite.

The energy-related services available through the emPowerNET ASP delivery model will be called Electronic Energy Market Management (E2M2). E2M2, also slated for a summer 2001 release, will provide energy control device and communications networking via the Web, metering information through fixed wireless networks, buy/sell functionality for end-use customers and price discovery data to perform analysis of real-time energy options.

"Our goal is to offer solutions to utilities who average under 500,000 customers and to ensure that these solutions are simple, affordable and repeatable," commented Larry Thomas, CEO, Power Technology and Infrastructure Services of Cinergy Corp. "This venture is a logical progression of our long-standing relationship with Convergent Group, who worked with us to develop the EDRP solutions and e-business applications we are using within Cinergy to cope with the deregulated market and to reinvent our business model for today's competitive, customer-service focused business environment. It is an ASP form of these proven solutions that we're now bringing to market for small- to mid-sized utilities," he said. Convergent Group worked with Cinergy to develop and implement an IT strategy which successfully consolidated the 45 systems used to plan and design, build and operate, and maintain its business to five systems.

About Cinergy Corp.

Based in Cincinnati, Ohio, Cinergy Corp. is one of the nation's leading diversified energy companies. Cinergy owns or operates nearly 20,000 megawatts of electrical and combined heat plant generation that is either operational or under development domestically and internationally. It also has 55,000 miles of electric and gas transmission lines in the United States and abroad and approximately 9,000 employees in nine countries.

About Convergent Group

Convergent Group, a Schlumberger company, is a global leader in the new energy marketplace and the premier provider of end-to-end business transformation solutions that span the energy value chain, from the customer, to energy delivery, to the energy trading exchange and retail services. The company combines its strategy and implementation expertise, proven business process models, consulting and systems integration services, and deep subject matter expertise with the world's best technologies to address the energy market's mission-critical business needs.

Founded in 1985, the company engineers, builds and manages digital business solutions that allow utilities to transform themselves into digital business enterprises where employees, contractors and customers can transact business on a real-time basis using traditional and blended media channels, including the Internet.

The company combines existing and emerging digital technologies and proprietary solution models with acute subject matter expertise, focusing on mission-critical solutions that help energy companies increase revenues, reduce costs, improve customer service, enhance service reliability, improve resource management and leverage information assets. Convergent Group calls its strategic blueprint to enable utilities to transform their business model into digital business enterprises the Digital Utility(SM). The Model Office is the technology infrastructure for the Digital Utility.