McGraw-Hill Construction and Microsoft Enter Strategic Partnership.

Business & High-Tech Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 6, 2002

Alliance enhances construction.com applications & services by

utilizing Microsoft(R).NET software integration technology

McGraw-Hill Construction, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE:MHP) today announced a significant expansion of its Web capabilities via a strategic partnership with Microsoft(R).NET.

The alliance will enable an unprecedented level of software integration for the industry's leading Internet portal, construction.com, through the use of XML Web services. Utilizing increased interoperability and ease of use, this alliance will help develop the next generation of McGraw-Hill Construction Web-based services and applications.

"This is a great development for our customers as they will begin to realize the benefits of this alliance immediately. By combining the construction industry's largest information source, McGraw-Hill Construction, and the world's leading software company, Microsoft, we are confident that we will lead the industry in introducing new, exciting, and reliable applications for the commercial construction industry," said Norbert Young, president of McGraw-Hill Construction.

Customers will be able to navigate more intelligently by using additional features that remember their personal preferences. McGraw-Hill Construction will be able to better facilitate customer tracking, redesign web properties for all products under one brand and integrate new applications with existing desktop software at a more efficient and cost effective rate.

Microsoft(R).NET connects small building block applications as well as larger Internet applications. It effectively eliminates the difficulty and exorbitant cost that is often associated with the integration of several technologies. Businesses retain the option of utilizing devices of their preference, without being limited by system compatibility issues.

"We are very excited about our partnership with McGraw-Hill Construction and the opportunity it provides to meet the combined needs of the construction industry," said Steven Lewis, general manager of business development at Microsoft. "McGraw-Hill Construction's commitment to web services and Microsoft .NET will programmatically expose the vital content that drives the construction industry. making it easier than ever before for industry professionals to access content and integrate it into daily business needs and practices."

"Given the many different technology applications and platforms that are provided via construction.com, it certainly made a lot of sense for McGraw-Hill Construction to enlist the help of Microsoft as we see construction.com continue its explosive growth," said Mr. Young. "Virtually everyone in our industry uses Microsoft applications today. Very quickly, customers will notice the difference as our products will become more interoperable with the many of the Microsoft applications our customers currently use, such as Microsoft Office, Microsoft Visio and Microsoft Project."

Additionally, McGraw-Hill Construction is making its current online products and applications easier to interoperate with by enabling access via the .NET Passport authentication service, MSN, B-Central and Microsoft Great Plains, respectively.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software -- any time, any place and on any device.

Microsoft, Visual J#, Visual J++, Windows, Visual Studio and MSDN are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.

The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

About McGraw-Hill Construction

McGraw-Hill Construction connects people, projects and products across the design and construction industry. From project and product information to industry news, trends and forecasts, the Company provides industry players the tools and resources that help them save time, money, and energy. Backed by the power of Dodge, Sweets, Architectural Record, Engineering News-Record (ENR) and our Regional Publications, McGraw-Hill Construction serves more than one million customers within the $3.4 trillion global construction community.

For more information, visit www.construction.com.

About The McGraw-Hill Companies

Founded in 1888, The McGraw-Hill Companies is a global information services provider meeting worldwide needs in the financial services, education and business information markets through leading brands such as Standard & Poor's, BusinessWeek and McGraw-Hill Education. The Corporation has more than 350 offices in 33 countries. Sales in 2001 were $4.6 billion. Additional information is available at http://www.mcgraw-hill.com.