PlanSoft and Adams Business Media Join Forces; Daily News Feed Will Be Part of PlanSoft Databases, Directories on MeetingsNet

Business Wire, July 12, 1999

CLEVELAND--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 12, 1999--

PlanSoft Corporation, the meeting, convention and event-planning industry's premier developer of e-commerce solutions, has signed a multiyear agreement with Adams Business Media (ABM), the publisher of niche-market meeting magazines, that calls for the integration of PlanSoft's and ABM's products.

This alliance will provide greater access to editorial content and facility/supplier directories for customers of each organization, thereby facilitating easy-to-use solutions for connecting buyers and sellers of meeting and event services.

PlanSoft calls the agreement an innovative partnership between a meetings industry publisher and an e-commerce organization. This agreement adds to PlanSoft's extensive, existing agreements and partnerships with MPI and ASAE, the two largest meeting, conventions, and event associations. ABM is one of the industry's largest and fastest-growing business-to-business publishers, with six of its 57 titles making up the ABM Meetings Group. The six magazines are Association Meetings, Corporate Meetings and Incentives, Insurance Conference Planner, Medical Meetings, Religious Conference Manager and Technology Meetings.

As part of the arrangement, ABM will provide a daily news feed and other editorial content to The PlanSoft Network. In turn, the PlanSoft database and directories will appear on ABM's MeetingsNet web site (www.meetingsnet.com). PlanSoft's detailed data libraries, updated throughout the year, include information ranging from floor plans to multi-media graphics. Through this collaboration between PlanSoft and ABM, MeetingsNet visitors will be able to access more than 24,000 hotel, convention center, CVB and supplier listings contained in this industry-leading database.

The agreement further extends ABM's editorial product into the online forum, while it allows PlanSoft to further market its industry-leading databases by making them available to MeetingsNet users. The PlanSoft Network, the meeting industry's most comprehensive collections of tools, information and e-commerce, is available for free on the Web at www.plansoft.com.

Edward J. Tromczynski, PlanSoft president, praises the agreement as the beginning of an important industry collaboration. "PlanSoft has always been committed to the meeting professional researching new ideas and techniques," he says. "By collaborating with Adams Business Media in this way, PlanSoft is helping planners to broaden their planning strategies by enlarging the information network."

"We've been impressed with Adams Business Media's proactive approach to serving its audience, and we're confident that our audiences will be even better served through this partnership," notes PlanSoft Executive Vice President Theodore W. Frank. "Both companies are well aware of the market value gained by integrating editorial content and e-commerce tools into the business process."

"Adams Business Media has always prided itself on diverse, innovative marketing strategies to serve our customers," says Mark Adams, ABM president and CEO. "This collaboration with PlanSoft, which is built on our complementary strengths in the meeting planning market, will be a great new connection for buyers and sellers alike."

PlanSoft is the leading provider of e-commerce solutions and online communities for the meeting, convention and event industries. The company continues to strengthen its position as the dominant online business-to-business community, connecting buyers and sellers throughout the entire process of planning meetings, conventions and events. Through its PlanSoft Network, the company provides comprehensive information, extensive directories of suppliers (hotels, convention centers, ground transportation, companies, etc.), special promotions/rates, tools and services to request meeting-related proposals from suppliers, all located in one convenient place.

Supplementing the Network, the company provides powerful subscription-based software such as Ajenis(TM), a desktop-level gateway to connect planners directly with hotels for the electronic purchase of everything from coffee services to A/V projectors. Through its products and services, PlanSoft provides marketing, lead and yield-enhancing services to meeting industry suppliers, while it offers productivity and cost-saving meeting consolidation solutions to corporations and associations.

PlanSoft Corporation, recognized as one of the online industry's success stories, is supported by investors that include Hyatt Hotels Corporation, Marriott International, Starwood Hotels and Resorts, GES Exposition Services, American Society of Association Executives, Meeting Professionals International, Patricof & Company Ventures, Primus Venture Partners, Wasserstein Perella, IDG Ventures, and M.H.M. & Company and other individual investors. PlanSoft's solutions are for all buyers and sellers in its various industry targets. Current customers range from hotel chains such as Hilton, Wyndham, Fairmont, Ritz Carlton, and Adams Mark to numerous association and corporation meeting departments.