Black Sun Interactive brings real-time multi-user interaction to Ziff-Davis' ZD Net Web site; Leading cyberspace technology developer's innovative client/server technology enables visitors to VRML world to communicate with each other

"Just as we strive to provide our users with the latest information on technology developments, Ziff-Davis is committed to supporting the latest technology options available at our ZD Net Web site," said Jim Savage, vice president and general manager, ZD Net. "With Black Sun's products, Terminal Reality offers an entirely new experience for our users, reinforcing its example of where the Internet experience is headed through 3D multi-user interaction."

Cyberspace Enabling Technology -- Black Sun Interactive's Products

Black Sun's CyberHub is multi-user interaction server software that supports the operation, administration and usage tracking of virtual worlds. CyberHub can enable any VRML 1.0 site with interactive capabilities. CyberHub features include:

o Real-time tracking of avatar motion and position, with filtered

presentation of avatars closest to every user,

o Support for multiple conversational threads: open or broadcast to

the public, registered groups on specific topics, and one-on-one

private talks,

o Scalability to support worlds with hundreds or even thousands of

simultaneous visitors,

o Support for multiple virtual worlds with a single server, or

multiple distributed servers,

o Logging of avatar location and actions over time, supporting

virtual world usage analysis.

Black Sun's CyberHub currently enables multi-user interaction of the first 3D review service on the Internet, PointWorld, from Point Communications Corporation, the leading Web review service. Completely rendered in 3D, reviewed site categories appear as buildings that offer visual cues to their content: expansive buildings are sites which offer lots of information content; colorful buildings are sites rich in visuals and experience, making it easy for users to identify their favorite type of site at a glance. Totally free to users, CyberGate users have been visiting the 3D town square of PointWorld to interact with other Internet users, read and discuss the reviews and categories of Web sites in Point since February 1996.

CyberGate and CyberHub are two parts of Black Sun's integrated product line based on VRML, the Virtual Reality Modeling Language, the standard for 3D virtual worlds. CyberGate users can interact with each other in any VRML world supported by CyberHub, as well as view any VRML 1.0 world. CyberGate is currently in beta for Windows 95/Windows NT and is slated to be commercially released this summer. CyberHub is also currently beta testing for commercial release this summer, for Windows 95/Windows NT, as well as various Unix systems. A third product is the CyberKit builder for designers of virtual worlds. CyberKit will be commercially released in the fall, and is presently available to selected partners. -0-

Black Sun Interactive, with offices in San Francisco and Munich, is an international leader in cyberspace technology. Combining top talent from the US and Europe, Black Sun develops VRML-based client/server systems of unique scope and power: vehicles for shared virtual worlds. Black Sun's vision is of people everywhere, meeting to work and play as naturally in cyberspace as they do in the real world.

Black Sun Interactive is a subsidiary of CMG Information Services, Inc. (NASDAQ: CMGI). CMGI is a leading provider of direct marketing services and an innovator in the development of Internet, interactive media and database management technologies.