Free Internet E-mail service links homebound student to teachers, peers; JUNO to collaborate with PLAYING TO WIN and HARLEM USA CONNECTING THE WORLD to provide free Internet E-mail to communities in need

Business Wire, April 25, 1996

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 25, 1996--Sixteen year old Killis Foster, a student at Central Park East Secondary School who has been battling Crohn's Disease for the past three years, will be presented on Friday, April 26 with a personal computer equipped to send and receive electronic mail over the Internet through JUNO(TM), a completely free e-mail service.

This technology will enable Killis to continue his schoolwork without interruption in spite of his illness, a condition characterized by unpredictable and acute episodes leading to hospitalization and lengthy home stays. The presentation will take place at 1:00 p.m. at the school (1573 Madison Avenue at 106th Street).

JUNO ONLINE SERVICES, L.P., providers of the first national free Internet e-mail service, arranged this opportunity in collaboration with PLAYING TO WIN, a firm whose mission is to provide access to technology to those who, for reasons of economy, class, or circumstance, would not otherwise have access; HARLEM USA CONNECTING THE WORLD, a not-for-profit entity organized to promote and provide Internet access and computer training to low-income communities; NEIGHBORHOOD GLOBAL NETWORK, a national online services provider targeting low and moderate income communities; and KIVA COMPUTING, the manufacturer/distributor of the nation's first network access appliance.

Currently, Killis Foster's teachers hand-carry lessons and assignments to Killis' home in Brooklyn and collect completed homework to be graded. E-mail will enable Killis to easily obtain and complete homework assignments, learn new classroom material, and stay in touch with teachers and other students while he is either homebound or hospitalized.

"It is a source of great satisfaction to us to be able to give Killis Foster the tools he needs to participate in school life despite his illness. His situation clearly illustrates the vital role e-mail can play in people's lives and underscores the importance of universal access to technology," said Charles Ardai, JUNO's President. "We are proud to be working with PLAYING TO WIN and HARLEM USA CONNECTING THE WORLD to make Internet e-mail available for free to the communities they support."

"It's great," said Killis. "When I can't make it into school, I can still write to my friends and get my homework by e-mail."

"We're very grateful that Juno was able to arrange for Killis to have e-mail at home," said Mrs. Courtney Foster, Killis' mother. "Now he has a better chance of staying with his current grade level even if he has to be out of school for several weeks. We would like to thank JUNO and HARLEM USA CONNECTING THE WORLD for being kind enough to assist him with communicating with the outside world in his time of illness."

Currently in the first phase of its nationwide rollout, JUNO's free e-mail service gives American computer users the ability to send and receive messages over the Internet, the rapidly growing international computer network over which some 35 million people are currently estimated to exchange more than a billion e-mail messages each month. Unlike other providers of e-mail, JUNO offers its service at no cost to its users, relying instead on revenues derived from interactive advertising, online polling and market research, and optional billable services.

PLAYING TO WIN and HARLEM USA CONNECTING THE WORLD are the first non-profit organizations to work with JUNO to provide e-mail to people in communities whose technology resources are otherwise extremely limited. Through their joint efforts, Juno software will be distributed at community computing centers as well as pre-installed on KIVA's computers. Juno was organized and funded by D.E. Shaw & Co., a small (about 320 employees) but highly capitalized (with aggregate partners' equity of more than $700 million) investment banking group with offices in New York, Boston, London, and Tokyo whose activities focus on various aspects of the intersection between technology and finance. The firm was founded in 1988 by Dr. David E. Shaw, who was formerly a professor in the Computer Science Department at Columbia University, and who was appointed by President Clinton in 1994 to the President's Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology, in which capacity he serves as chairman of the Panel on Educational Technology. Although it kept a relatively low profile during the early years of its existence, the firm has begun to attract attention as interest has grown in the financial aspects of the current information revolution. D.E. Shaw & Co. was recently described (Fortune, February 5, 1996) as "the most intriguing and mysterious force on Wall Street today".

Over the past two years, the firm has begun to invest in start-up and early-stage ventures within industries its management believes are likely to be fundamentally transformed by the use of computers. Personal communication is one such industry. "In a few years it may be as unusual to say, 'I don't have an e-mail address' as it is today to say, `I don't have a telephone number,'" said Dr. Shaw. "While Juno's launch represents only a first step toward the goal of providing universal access to the nation's emerging information infrastructure, we believe it's a very important first step." -0- Juno's free software can be requested by calling 1-800-654-JUNO (1-800-654-5866) or by sending e-mail to "signup@juno.com".