For Immediate Release 

Susan Barich
Director of Communications
Silicon Valley World Internet Center
650-462-9800
barich@worldinternetcenter.com

IBM COPORATION AND THE SILICON VALLEY WORLD INTERNET CENTER COLLABORATE ON WEB-BASED-OPEN-STANDARDS WEBCAST

January 4, 2001, Palo Alto, Calif. -- In collaboration with Executive Sponsor, IBM (www.ibm.com), the Silicon Valley World Internet Center (www.worldinternetcenter.com) will produce a webcast panel discussion on web-based open standards development on January 17 at the Center in Palo Alto.

In the eBusiness world, a multitude of businesses and marketplaces depend on the existence of a common infrastructure in their attempts to interact seamlessly over the Internet. Key eBusiness industry standards, such as Extensible Markup Language (XML); Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI); Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), and other web-based industry standards are emerging.

The panel of experts gathering at the Center will include Dr. Robert S. Sutor, Director of eBusiness Standards Strategy, IBM Corporation; Mr. Allen Brown, President & CEO, The Open Group; Gary Oliverio, Business Manager, Embedded Products, Red Hat, Inc.

Topics of discussion will include the degree of importance of open standards in the expanding eBusiness economy, an examination of the challenges that exist for common standards in this area and the role and affects of proprietary standards on Internet technology development. Also, coopetition -- a balance of cooperation and competition -- will be weighed in its importance in the development of standards, such as that of Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), a result of IBM, Ariba, Microsoft, and other industry leaders working together. Finally, the group will look at ways large and small companies, as well as industry organizations, assist in bringing greater efficiency to the integration of technology across and between enterprises.

Those who are not able to be physically present at the Center for this program will be able to interact with the panelists and the audience members by submitting questions via a live webcast. Webcast registration is available at http://webevents.broadcast.com/worldinetctr/011701.

To attend in person, register with Sara Dean, Programs Manager at sdean@worldinternetcenter.com, or call Ms. Dean at 650-462-9800. The Silicon Valley World Internet Center focuses on the advancement of Internet-related eMarkets, technologies, people, and ideas through the collaborative exchange of knowledge. The Center is located in the heart of Silicon Valley and works on behalf of its sponsors to develop programs specific to the expanding Internet Economy. As multi-corporate, third-party venue, the Center provides a physical and virtual forum for collaboration among technology leaders and key end-users. The Center, a for-profit, fee-for-service corporation, focuses primarily on the areas of eBusiness, eServices and wireless communication.