CombineNet Lands Veteran CEO; Tony Bonidy Assumes Leadership Role of Hot Local Area Startup.

Business Editors

PITTSBURGH, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 7, 2002

CombineNet, Inc., an advanced applied optimization software firm, announced today that Tony Bonidy has accepted the firm's top spot. Bonidy brings almost thirty years of experience in strategic sales, marketing, and product development from major corporations such as IBM, NeXT Computer and Legent Corporation. He takes over for interim CEO Brian Jacobsen, who will remain the company's CFO and VP of Business Development.

Said Jacobsen: "We are fortunate to have found a nationally recognized executive like Tony. He joins us at an exciting time, as our company has recently signed several Fortune 300 clients and is ready to take-off. Tony's leadership experience, especially as it relates to scaling business operations, will be instrumental to our continued success."

In his early career, Bonidy spent 17 years with IBM, leaving as its Application Systems Division's Vice President of Sales and Marketing. After IBM, Bonidy held several key positions at Legent Corporation and NeXT Computer. He also served as Vice President of Worldwide Sales at Revive Technologies, a database conversion and replication company.

"What CombineNet has accomplished with relatively little capital is truly impressive," said Bonidy. "I'm joining a firm that has demonstrated success in the worst of times -- clear evidence of the company's management talent and the market's need for its patented solution."

Headquartered in Pittsburgh next to Carnegie Mellon University, CombineNet has secured the intellectual properties of the world's leading experts in advanced combinatorial optimization. The company's flagship product, called ClearBox(TM), successfully implements patented, breakthrough optimization technologies to solve highly complex business allocation problems. ClearBox(TM) is currently being used in strategic sourcing and manufacturing distribution network optimization.