Bowstreet introduces next-generation portal solution

[Ann Kelly <akelly@bowstreet.com>]

Bowstreet introduces next-generation portal solution  

Speeds creation and mass customization of portals; converges e-business
initiatives 

LYNNFIELD, MA, April 23, 2001 - Bowstreet (www.bowstreet.com) today
announced the commercial availability of Business Web Portal Solutions, a
ready-to-use suite of products that enables businesses to produce massively
customizable portals to expedite many of today's most pressing e-business
initiatives. These initiatives include enterprise information sharing, eCRM,
syndicated storefronts, corporate intranets, partner extranets and supply
chain collaboration.
 
Because Business Web Portals are built on top of the Bowstreet Business Web
Factory, companies can realize massive economies of scale by aggregating
disparate e-business initiatives on a single, vendor-neutral platform. Now,
using Business Web Portals, non-technical business people can produce
customized portals for thousands of different users and dozens of e-business
initiatives, with minimal help from IT and in a fraction of the time and
cost required by traditional "hard-wired" enterprise portal solutions. This
signals the redefinition of "portal" from just aggregating content inside a
corporation to assembling and delivering content and business processes
across the Internet, to any kind of device anywhere - on-the-fly. 

The Thread's Executive VP of Operations, Gene Ostrovsky explains, "The
nature of the apparel industry requires uniquely tailored renderings of The
Thread's product and service offerings for each of our customer's supply
chains. The other portal vendors that we evaluated couldn't deliver the mass
customization or keep up with changes inherent in our business in a
cost-effective way. Bowstreet's Business Web Portals provide us with an
out-of-the-box method to quickly customize and reuse existing applications
that we can then embed in any customer or partner site, syndicating our
presence across the Internet."

Business Web Portals can assemble business process components from legacy
systems and client/server applications such as ERP, CRM and supply chains,
as well as web services from Microsoft.NET, Sun ONE, Oracle Dynamic
Services, IBM Web Services, and/or HP E-Speak as they become available.
Business Web Portals include plug-and-play web services "modules" for news,
Microsoft Outlook and e-mail integration, and other business functions, as
well as point-and-click wizards. Already in production with several
customers, Business Web Portals also power Bowstreet's own partner and
customer service portals. 

"Bowstreet's Business Web Portals take the portal category to an entirely
new level - replacing rigid client/server and hand-coded applications from
traditional portal vendors with a component-based architecture and
parametric automation technology," stated Bob Crowley, president and CEO of
Bowstreet. "The future of portals lies in the ability for businesses to
provide the ultimate user experience to their customers, partners and
employees. This will be accomplished by empowering business people to create
and massively customize thousands of portals with individualized views - all
without writing new code."  

"Bowstreet's entry into portal and packaged applications markets is a
logical next step in the evolution of the company's web services platform,"
said James Kobielus, analyst with The Burton Group. "Bowstreet has clearly
recognized that standards-based and directory-enabled portal products will
be critical platforms for interoperable web services. Standards such as
Extensible Markup Language (XML), Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP),
Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI), and Directory
Services Markup Language (DSML) will be critical to the development of
interoperable web services, and Bowstreet has taken the right approach in
committing to support these and other industry specifications."
 
Putting portal power in the hands of business people
Bowstreet's parametric automation system makes customizing and proliferating
portals a point-and-click proposition.  

Powerful wizards enable business people to create new portals for their
customers, partners and employees, then customize the look, feel, content,
behavior and access rights to information, applications and services. An
added feature is the ability for business people to embed portals they
create in customers', partners' and suppliers' web sites, instantly
extending market reach.   

Users can securely delegate portal creation and customization to others
within their organization, who can further delegate it across the
enterprise, or even to customers and partners. For example, a major
commercial insurer can create a custom portal for each corporate customer to
which it provides life insurance. The corporate customer's human resources
director can then create multiple intranet portals for each class of
employee according to designated benefits package that would automatically
determine what benefits processes (e.g., 401K, term life insurance, medical
forms, etc.) and content each class would see. Each employee could then
further customize the look, feel and behavior of his personal benefits
portal.

Once created, the components that make up each portal - and the portal
itself - become reusable components stored in the Business Web Factory's
"warehouse," enabling them to be modified and repurposed. The company's
e-business assets thus grow organically, versus becoming static as they do
in programming-bound organizations.

Business Web Portals include the following:

* Portal Wizard - a point-and-click wizard that business people use to
create and customize portals, embed portals in partner web sites, and
delegate portal creation privileges.  
* Portal Architect - a wizard that IT staff can use to define new portal
types 
* Portal Modules - ready-to-use, customizable web services that business
people can plug into portals, such as news feeds, weather reports, maps,
e-mail, chat, discussion forums, stock tickers and search engines. New
modules can be created by IT based on vendor-neutral standards.
* Portal Administrator - a console to delegate who can use and create
portals.

About Bowstreet
Bowstreet, recognized as a leader in web services by industry analysts,
enables businesses to transform themselves from hard-wired enterprises into
fluid, purpose-driven "business webs." Bowstreet's pioneering web services
automation system, the Bowstreet Business Web Factory and Business Web
Portal Solutions (including enterprise information sharing, eCRM, syndicated
storefronts, corporate intranets, partner extranets and supply chain
collaboration), brings massive economies of scale to e-business. Bowstreet
empowers IT people to create reusable application models that business
people can then "mass-customize" and manage - without programming - for
customers, partners and employees. More information may be found at
www.bowstreet.com or by calling 781-586-7100.

# # #

Bowstreet is a trademark of Bowstreet, Inc. All other company names and
product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective
companies or owners.

Contact:	

Ann Kelly
Bowstreet
603-559-1557
akelly@bowstreet.com

Tim Munroe 					 
Beaupre & Co. Public Relations Inc. 		
603-559-5820					
tmunroe@beaupre.com