Dow and campsix Launch iVenturi to Accelerate New Product Development; Andersen Consulting Provides E Business Design and Strategic Deployment

Business Wire, Oct 9, 2000

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 9, 2000

The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE:DOW), Andersen Consulting and leading Internet incubator, campsix today officially launched a new company named iVenturi to deliver the industry's first fully integrated, Web-based worksystem of tools and business services to accelerate new product development (NPD).

iVenturi will deliver a fully integrated set of tools, services and expertise in a secure, centralized Web environment and was designed for NPD teams that need to overcome the challenges of multiple geographies, companies and information technologies. In addition to streamlining communications, collaboration and project management among NPD teams, iVenturi will provide immediate access to research and networking services, including customized market research and intelligence, customer insight, competitive analysis, technical information, prototyping services, product design and engineering and partner matching. These tools and services come together to form a worksystem for NPD teams with multiple capabilities that improve overall NPD development efficiencies, resulting in faster time-to-market, reduced development costs and greater return on product development investments.

"A key element of our eBusiness strategy is to fuel growth outside of our traditional product and service boundaries," said Dave Kepler, Dow Chemical's corporate vice president of eBusiness and CIO. "iVenturi is an example of where we have collaborated with others and leveraged our understanding of business processes and needs, to create new Web-enabled service offerings."

"iVenturi is the first of many eBusiness concepts we plan to bring to market with leading Global 1000 companies," said David B. Wamsley, campsix founder and CEO. "Based on the collective experience of the iVenturi shareholders, and the traction the business has achieved already, we have little doubt that iVenturi has the opportunity to set a new standard for the development of new products and services industry-wide."

With more than $100 billion in NPD spending and more than one million NPD professionals in the U.S. alone, even minor increases in the success rate of new products and services brought to market and in NPD process efficiencies translate into billions of dollars in top-line revenue increases and productivity gains.

"Although there's no shortage of product and service innovation in our time, what remains missing is the means to achieve product and service success," said Lisa Perri, senior analyst, Outsourcing Infrastructure and Services at Aberdeen Group. "With a proven methodology for product development, iVenturi will help standardize the process by which companies develop their products and services. iVenturi will give product managers the process, tools, and checkpoints to increase their efficiency and create great products."

iVenturi will begin beta testing with several identified Fortune 100 companies in the fourth quarter of this year and will be commercially available in the first quarter of 2001.

About Dow

Dow is a leading science and technology company that provides innovative chemical, plastic and agricultural products and services to many essential consumer markets. With annual sales of $19 billion, Dow serves customers in 162 countries and a wide range of markets that are vital to human progress, including food, transportation, health and medicine, personal and home care, and building and construction, among others. Committed to the principles of sustainable development, Dow and its 39,000 employees seek to balance economic, environmental and social responsibilities. Its home page address is http://www.dow.com.

About campsix

campsix is a full-service Internet incubator, designed for the specific needs of corporate partners and accomplished entrepreneurs to accelerate development of sustainable, scalable businesses. campsix speeds start-up time to sustainability through immediate access to funding, facilities, and on-premise, on-demand mentoring from its team of more than 60 seasoned executive professionals, and network of 40 Silicon Valley service providers in marketing, technology, business development, people, product management, sales, legal, finance and operations. campsix portfolio companies include Vectiv, USCreative, GetConnected.com, and Disappearing Inc. Its home page address is http://www.campsix.com.

About Andersen Consulting

Andersen Consulting is an $8.9 billion management and technology consulting organization that is reinventing itself to become the market-maker, architect and builder of the New Economy, delivering innovations that improve the way the world works and lives. More than 65,000 professionals in 48 countries deliver a wide range of specialized capabilities through service lines to clients across all industries. The firm's network of businesses provides a range of services including venture funding, business incubation and launch, consulting, technology and alliances. Its home page address is http://www.ac.com. On Jan. 1, 2001, the firm will enter the next century with a new name marking its wholly independent status and reflecting the firm's bold new approach to serving its clients.