Re: Net Objects who?
Wednesday March 19
IBM agrees to invest in NetObjects
Will Purchase Majority Interest in Leading Internet Company
IBM and NetObjects today announced that IBM intends to purchase a majority interest in NetObjects, the privately held provider of the award-winning NetObjects Fusion Web site building software. The investment reflects IBM's strategy to champion leading Internet
technologies that help businesses exploit network computing.
NetObjects, headed by Chairman and CEO Samir Arora, will continue to operate as an independent company that supports
leading platforms and standards. Michael D. Zisman, executive vice president at Lotus, will join NetObjects(a), Board of
Directors and will represent IBM's interests. The original investors, the management team and employees of NetObjects will
retain investment interests. No further details of the transaction were disclosed.
NetObjects is widely recognized as pioneering the category of site-base Web design software. The company's flagship
product, NetObjects Fusion, has wo several industry awards including CNET's 1997 Internet Excellence award for th Best
Web Design Tool. The only site-oriented product that is available for bot the Windows and Macintosh platforms, NetObjects
Fusion is used by tens of thousands of Web designers, developers and professional site builders within small businesses and
large corporations.
"IBM is investing in leading-edge technologies and companies which provide customer solutions that make e-business a
reality," said John M.Thompson, senior vice president and group executive responsible for IBM's software business. "IBM
recognizes the need for viable, independent software companies to fulfill the exploding market for open design tools any Web
site builder can use. NetObjects will continue to establish strong business partnerships with other leading Internet software
companies."
Recognized as a leading independent software company whose products are platform-neutral, NetObjects has forged
partnerships with other industry leaders including AT&T, Microsoft, Netscape, Sun Microsystems', JavaSoft and UUNET.
"Fusion is the best Web site creation tool in the industry, taking full advantage of open standards such as HTML, Java, and
Javascript," said Zisman. "Our investment in NetObjects will ensure that there are superb Web site creation tools, in addition
to our own, that can fully exploit the extensive capabilities of the Lotus Domino Web server, as well as other IBM products
such as DB2 and VisualAge. We know that our customers need a range of tools in this market, both for Webmasters and for
application developers, and we're committed to ensuring that these open, standards-based tools are available across all
industry standard platforms."
"IBM's investment in NetObjects will validate our unique approach to solving the problem of building Web sites and provides
us with the worldwide reach and resources to establish Fusion as a standard in Web site publishing and Web applications,"
said Arora.
Since the introduction of NetObjects Fusion in September 1996, more than 150,000 site builders have downloaded it to build
thousands of media-rich Web sites. NetObjects 2.0 for Windows is available today for an expected street price of under $500
in North America via Ingram Micro, a network of resellers and VARs and directly from NetObjects.
About NetObjects
NetObjects, Inc. is a privately held company funded by Perseus L.L.C., AT&T Ventures, Norwest Venture Capital, Venrock
Associates, Rae Technology L.L.C. and private investors. NetObjects develops Web site building products that are based on
the first visual, site-oriented approach to building Web sites, unlike first generation, text-based, page-oriented tools.
NetObjects Fusion is the first smart Web site building application that integrates automated site building, professional quality
design and data publishing, thereby lowering th cost, time and tedium of building high-quality Web sites. NetObjects Fusion ha
received wide acclaim including winning CNET's 1997 Internet Excellence Award for Best Web Design Product and being
named one of CNET's Top Five Internet Products of 1996, and PC Magazine's Editors Choice award. More information on
NetObjects can be found at www.netobjects.com. |
