The eRoom Digital Workplace Solution Wins Crossroads 2001 A-List Award in Virtual Team Workspace Category

Business Wire, Jan 30, 2001

Business/Technology Editors

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--January 30, 2001

Recognized as One of the Best Field-Proven Solutions

for Today's Critical Business Challenges;

In-Depth Customer Interviews Play Key Role in Decision

eRoom Technology, Inc., a leading provider of digital workplaces for professional services organizations and manufacturing companies, announced today that its flagship product, the eRoom(R) digital workplace solution, is the winner of the Crossroads 2001 A-List Award in the Virtual Team Workspace category. The A-List Awards, which recognize proven products and services that enable organizations to better address today's business opportunities and challenges, are the result of detailed product strategy reviews and in-depth customer interviews for real-world validation. Customers with thousands of users reported that the eRoom solution enjoyed widespread appeal within their organizations, in disciplines ranging from engineering to manufacturing to professional services. Large customer installations also reported that the eRoom solution scaled exceptionally well and operated reliably, required little to no learning curve, and easily integrated with their existing desktop software.

"Requiring only an industry-standard Web browser, the eRoom digital workplace solution improves collaboration and minimizes conflict among organizations and team members by providing a distributed forum for feedback, document creation and review, discussion, debate, and decision-making," said Tom Grace, research director for the Crossroads Research Program. "This makes eRoom an ideal solution for organizations that require a transparent method of supporting cross-enterprise team collaboration, as they work to complete fast-cycle business projects."

The Crossroads 2001 A-List Awards are presented by Open Systems Advisors, Inc. (OSA), a research organization that bases its investigations on ongoing and in-depth dialogues with hundreds of seasoned IT executives and business leaders who are using emerging technologies to achieve business results. The Crossroads A-List Awards help companies make more effective technology decisions by:

--Uncovering new products or services that have proven their immediate business utility in the extended enterprise.

--Providing a credible third-party assessment of complex systems that cannot be duplicated in a lab environment.

--Identifying lesser known products and services with proven track records in large and/or rapidly growing businesses and trading communities.

--Jumpstarting business-technology teams on a shorter, yet more effective, technology evaluation and implementation cycle.

"Winning a Crossroads A-List Award is like having your customers give you a standing ovation," said Jeffrey Beir, president and chief executive officer for eRoom Technology. "This is because the A-List Awards reflect not only the carefully considered opinion of the Crossroads Research Team, but also in-depth, confidential interviews with a broad sampling of your company's customer base. It is truly an honor for any organization that places high value on maintaining an ongoing dialogue with its customers."

The Crossroads 2001 A-List Awards will be presented to winners and their customers at the Crossroads Conference, which is to be held March 18-21, 2001, at the Wigwam Resort in Phoenix, Ariz. More information about eRoom Technology or the Crossroads A-List Awards can be found at www.eroom.com or www.crossroads-osa.com, respectively. (Editors: see separate OSA release, issued on January 29.)

About Open Systems Advisors, Inc. and the Crossroads Research Program

Founded in 1989, Open Systems Advisors, Inc. (OSA) provides a real-world perspective on using new technology in business. OSA reports the Crossroads Decisions, confers the Crossroads A-List Awards and produces the Crossroads Conferences.

For additional information on the Crossroads Research program contact the company at: Open Systems Advisors, Inc., 268 Newbury Street, Boston, Mass., 02116, (617) 859-0859; www.crossroads-osa.com. Additional information on the Crossroads Conference can be obtained by contacting Meleena Erikson at (617) 859-0859 or merikson@crossroads-osa.com.

About eRoom Technology

eRoom Technology is a leading provider of Internet-based software and services for collaboration among an organization's extended enterprise of employees, customers, suppliers, and other partners. The company's eRoom product provides a digital workplace for the extended enterprise, allowing organizations to quickly assemble a project team wherever people are located and manage the collaborative activities that support their complex and rapidly-changing business projects and processes. Customers use eRoom digital workplaces to help get products to market faster, drive down production costs, enhance customer relationships, and improve the work products that drive their businesses. The eRoom solution is used by more than 475 companies such as A.T. Kearney, Bausch & Lomb, Compaq, Deloitte Consulting, EDS, Ford Motor Company, Hewlett-Packard, Ketchum, KPMG, Pfizer, Siemens, Solectron, Towers Perrin, and Verizon. More information about eRoom Technology and its product offerings can be found at www.eroom.com.