ESRI President Jack Dangermond Named Honorary Chair for World Standards Day 2003; Honor Highlights ESRI's Commitment to Standards.

Business Editors

REDLANDS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 1, 2003

ESRI President Jack Dangermond served as honorary chairman during a special World Standards Day exhibition, reception, and dinner on Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2003, at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C. The theme for this year's event was 2003 World Standards Day: Building Global Security Through Standards. Dangermond's participation in the U.S. celebration of World Standards Day symbolizes this year's theme and highlights ESRI's commitment to the development and interoperability of geographic information system standards.

"It is a tremendous privilege to serve as honorary chairman for this very prestigious, important event," said Dangermond. "ESRI and the geographic information system (GIS) community as a whole are committed to designing and implementing technology and data standards. Our efforts, along with the work of others in both the public and private sectors, will help encourage the further deployment of national and international standards for security and emergency planning. This is a great opportunity to celebrate standardization efforts."

"Jack Dangermond is a visionary committed to finding solutions and creating opportunities through GIS technology," said International Code Council (ICC) CEO James Lee Witt, former director of FEMA during the Clinton Administration. "His dedication to the work and his partners is reflected in the unparalleled success and respect that ESRI garners."

The goal of World Standards Day is to raise awareness of the importance of global standardization to the world economy and to promote its role in helping meet the needs of business, industry, government, and consumers worldwide. This international event pays tribute to the thousands of volunteers around the world who participate in standardization activities.

ESRI's technology, software, and services work in virtually all areas of business and government; GIS users fight forest fires, determine new national boundaries during peace negotiations, find promising sites for fast-growing companies, rebuild cities around the world, support optimal land use planning, route emergency vehicles, monitor rain forest depletion, contain oil spills, and perform countless other vital tasks every day. Dangermond formed ESRI in 1969 with the commitment to improve the world and the use of our resources through better information management. With headquarters in Redlands, ESRI is widely recognized as the technical and market leader in GIS software, pioneering innovative solutions for working with spatial data on the desktop, across the enterprise, in the field, and on the Web. On any given day, more than 1 million people around the world use ESRI's GIS to improve the way their organizations conduct business.

The annual U.S. celebration of World Standards Day is organized by a planning committee consisting of representatives from industry, professional and technical societies, trade associations, standards developing organizations, and government agencies. The group is co-chaired by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST); the 2003 Administrating Organization is the International Code Council.

You can learn more about the event by visiting the ANSI Web site at www.ansi.org. Simply click on "meeting and events" and then click on "World Standards Week 2003." There you can learn about the U.S. Celebration of World Standards Day (Exhibition, Reception, and Dinner), the World Standards Day Fact Sheet, the World Standards Day Paper Contest, and much more. Press release graphics are available upon request.