Circles to Provide Online Concierge and Personal Services to Abilizer Clients; Companies Sign Reference-Sales Agreement.

Business/Technology Editors

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 11, 2000

Circles, an innovative company that combines high tech and high touch assistance to help busy people get things done, today announced that it has signed a reference-sales agreement with Abilizer Solutions, Inc. This partnership will provide online concierge and personal services to Abilizer's clients. With more than 70 clients, representing more than two million employees, Abilizer helps companies to strengthen the employer/employee relationship, by enabling their employees to manage work and life at work and at home.

Circles is partnered with over 80 clients and has a member base that exceeds 1 million users. Circles provides a complementary service to the Abilizer Employee Portal. The Abilizer Employee Portal, combines services and tools and is delivered via needs-based channels that enable employees to effectively navigate life's demands, at work and at home-- from planning a move, to finding childcare, to buying and financing a first home. Circles reliably completes simple, complex and unique tasks for time-starved professionals by integrating their leading edge technology and proprietary knowledge base with a nationwide network of "high touch" personal assistants.

"This relationship with Abilizer allows us to take employee benefits to a whole new level," said Janet Kraus, chief executive officer of Circles. "We are excited to work with Abilizer to provide employees powerful tools to help them effectively navigate their work and personal lives."

"Circles is helping to change the way personal services are delivered to employees," said Ken Rutsky, vice president of programming for Abilizer. "Circles and Abilizer provide synergistic services enabling employees at leading companies to effectively manage work and life at work and at home."

About Circles

Purchased as a customer retention and acquisition tool or as an employee benefit by over 80 industry leading companies, Circles delivers personal services to companies who are looking to implement innovative programs to build life-long relationships with their customers or employees. Circles business-to-business model combines a high tech Internet infrastructure and high touch personal assistance to help its members in accomplishing any mission from finding that perfect gift to securing tickets to a sold out concert to planning a complete family vacation -- nothing is too simple, hard to find or complex.

Circles corporate clients' include a diverse range of companies. They include Breakaway Solutions, CGEY, Datex-Ohmeda, Foote Cone Belding Chicago, Kirkland & Ellis, Livemind, Manhattan Associates, Millenium Pharmaceuticals, Navigator, SAS Institute Webhire and many others. Circles focuses on not only providing their services to companies as an employee benefit but also as a customer loyalty tool.

Circles is privately held and backed by TL Ventures, Trident Capital and GE Financial Assurance. The company currently has 250 employees, including 150 highly trained personal assistants. More information about the company is available on its website, www.circles.com, phone [phone], email [e-mail].

About Abilizer Solutions, Inc.

Founded in 1998, Abilizer Solutions Inc., based in San Francisco, provides a platform for transforming the workplace by strengthening the relationship between employee and employer, and enabling employees to effectively navigate their needs at work and at home. Abilizer has more than 70 leading companies, representing over 2 million employees, providing the Abilizer Employee Portal to their employee desktops. These companies include Ace Hardware, ACS, Applied Materials, Cendant, EDS, Ericsson, Fluor, HOK, Oracle, PeopleSoft, RE/MAX, Robertson Stephens, Sun Microsystems and Visa. Abilizer is privately held and funded by leading corporations and private equity firms including Technology Crossover Ventures, Thomas Weisel Capital Partners, the Blackstone Group, Cendant, Information Technology Ventures, US Venture Partners, Comdisco Ventures, the European Web Group, E*Trade and Dorset Capital.

Additional information on Abilizer Solutions, Inc. is available on the Internet at http://www.abilizer.com, by calling 415-216-0100 or by sending email to [e-mail].

Abilizer is a trademark and Abilizer Employee Portal is a service mark of Abilzer Solutions, Inc.