Visto Tops 800,000 Members; Growth Rate Accelerating as People Move to Manage Their Lives on the Web

Business Wire, Sept 20, 1999

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 20, 1999--

Visto Corp., the pioneer and leading personal and group application service on the web, today announced that its member base has topped 800,000 and, over the past few months, Visto's growth rate has continued to accelerate as more web users move to manage their personal and business lives on the web.

"Two years ago, we were the first to introduce the idea of putting personal content on the Web by offering a secure, scalable service," said Doug Brackbill, Visto president and CEO. "We have integrated a personal calendar, access to personal files, address books, email, communications services, content synchronization with PC's, mobile phones and handheld devices, PIMs, and others; moreover, earlier this year, we added an integrated private group capability so that users can have a home on the web and share everything from a group calendar and group files to graphics and photos, music or audio. Every day, more and more people discover the power of using the web to have private, secure access to all of their personal content and interacting with their personal groups."

According to Stewart Alsop, Visto director and general partner of New Enterprise Associates (NEA), "Visto has discovered that pe access to that information anywhere from any computer. That vision is so fundamental that other companies are now trying to follow in Visto's footsteps."

Visto's member base includes web-savvy business people, wired families, and college students who lead busy lives and are lookollege students keeping up with high school frithers.

This past summer, in recognition of:NETA), GE Investments, and leading venture capitalists CMG@Ventures, NEA, Bessemer Venture Partners, and otajor telecommunications and telephone providers this fall.

The Visto service has been recognized with alable at no charge, with up to 15 megabytes of free storage, at www.visto.com. Based in Mountain View, Visto is privately held.

Note to Editors: Visto, the Visto d trademarks of Visto Corporation. All other tr

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ey Detailing Issues Motivating Women in Technology; Survey Identifies How Companies Can Attract and Retain Women Professionals

Business/Technology Editors

SAN MATEO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 20, 1999--IDG's InfoWorld, the IT newsweekly that defines technology for business, will publish the findings of a survey conducted among Women In Technology International (WITI) members on the factors motivating professional women in technical and scientific companies. The full results of the survey will appear in InfoWorld's WITI FastTrack supplement in the September 27 issue.

The survey, created jointly by InfoWorld and WITI, identifies the key reasons women choose technology-related career paths and provides a guide for companies of all types on how to recruit and retain women professionals. While compensation was chosen by the most women -- 61.2% -- as a top factor for selecting a prospective employer, personal growth factors, such as work assignments that allow for professional growth and entrepreneurial experience, are the primary reasons they stay with companies.

After compensation, the top factors respondents used to select their current employer were: work assignments that allow for professional growth, admiration for the company's product or service, a rapid growth rate, and the opportunity for personal advancement. When it came to reasons to stay with a company, more women -- 55.7 percent -- chose work assignments that allowed them to grow, over compensation. In fact, work assignments with growth opportunity ranked high across all levels, from staff workers to executives.

When asked which single factor would make them even happier with their current employers, more respondents chose a flexible work schedule over any other factor. Flexibility also ranked in the top five reasons to stay with a company, with more than one-third selecting it as a reason to stay, making it the fourth highest factor overall. Among women in executive positions, more respondents selected flexibility as a reason to stay than at all other levels -- challenging the notion that flexibility isn't achievable in the higher ranks. Flexibility was also just as important to women without children in the home as it was to those with children.

"This survey paints a complete picture of what's important to women in technical fields," said Sandy Reed, editor in chief of InfoWorld. "Smart companies and recruiters will use this information to hire and then to keep women in technical areas."

According to outside experts, InfoWorld's survey results are applicable to women in various roles within scientific and technology industries nationally -- not just WITI members.

"IDG has been a terrific partner in teaming with WITI FastTrack to identify the issues and barriers that continue to exist for professional women reliant on technology for " said Carolyn Leighton, Chairwoman and Founder The WITI FastTrack survey findings can also b