Rocket Network Receives Funding from Impress Group; Company Completes Round With Investment From Japanese Publishing Giant.

Business Editors

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 11, 2001

Rocket Network, the global production network for audio professionals, announced today that it has received funding from Impress Group, a Japan-based publishing corporation. The investment marks the second closing of Rocket Network's most recent round of financing. Investors in the first closing of the round, which occurred in May of this year, include Cisco Systems, Vulcan Ventures and Weston Presidio.

"We are thrilled to have Impress as a funding, development and resale partner," said Pam Miller, President and CEO of Rocket Network. "Rocket Network and Impress plan to work together on a number of initiatives that will help bring Rocket Network to the Japanese market."

Impress was introduced to Rocket Network through an editor at Rittor Music, an Impress subsidiary company. Rittor Music publishes several Japanese music magazines including Guitar, Sound & Recording, Bass, Rhythm & Drums, Keyboard, and Acoustic Guitar. Director Susumu Kunisaki learned about Rocket Network while researching trends in the recording industry. Mr. Kunisaki introduced Rocket Network to executives at Impress and championed the partnership through.

Development groups at both companies will begin working on localizing Rocket Network's software for new Asian markets. The development will involve modifying the Rocket code to accommodate translation work for Asian languages.

"Impress' corporate directive is to complement our expansive content with meaningful services for our customers," said Keiichiro Tsukamoto, Impress Corporation's President and CEO. "Rittor's customer base consists largely of music producers, sound engineers, and musicians. A Rocket Network studio center hosted by Rittor will be an exciting new way for our customers to work together during the production process."

About Impress Group

The Impress Group is a digital content publisher, providing content and services of a superior value. Impress' main fields of business are IT, music, design and finance. By taking advantage of the digitalization of information and of the fast-paced development of Internet businesses, Impress is creating a completely new type of publishing organization, the "Digital Kyoku." Impress Group's holdings include Impress Communications Corporation, Rittor Music, Inc., MdN Corporation, Music Media Research, Inc., Impress Capital, Inc., Creators Guild Co., Ltd., and PAXNet Impress Corporation.

About Rocket Network

Rocket Network is the industry standard global production network for audio professionals. The Company has established this standard through development and resale partnerships with leading audio companies, including Digidesign/Avid, DSP Media, Emagic, Euphonix, MOTU, Steinberg and Waveframe who have developed or are developing "RocketPower(TM)" versions of their products. This allows users to access the network via their favorite audio applications.

Rocket Network's worldwide network for audio production and session management allows simultaneous multi-user access to files that can be dynamically updated from anywhere, at anytime and provides services that enhance session workflow, such as central secure archiving, talent search, and cross application support. Rocket Network's technology and services are becoming an integral part of a growing percent of professional audio sessions.

Note to Editors: RocketPower is a registered trademark of Rocket Network Inc. Other products mentioned are the trademarks of their respective manufacturers.