SQL Server Magazine Spotlights Innovators; Grand-Prize Innovator Award Winner Profiled in January Issue

Business Wire, Dec 20, 2005

LOVELAND, Colo. -- The business manager of Penton Media's (OTCBB: PTON) SQL Server Magazine, Michele Crockett, announced the January issue will feature the grand-prize winner of the 2005 SQL Server Magazine Innovators Awards. The contest recognized IT professionals who used SQL Server and .NET technology in innovative ways to devise specific, beneficial solutions to tough business challenges.

The grand-prize winner was Kevin Manley, lead software developer for Arts Alliance Media in London, England. Manley received a complimentary conference pass and expense-paid trip to SQL Server Magazine Connections in Las Vegas in November 2005, where he was awarded a trophy for his work. The grand-prize winner also won a one-year VIP subscription to SQL Server Magazine and recognition at a party held in his honor at Arts Alliance Media. Manley and his winning solution are profiled in the January 2006 issue of the magazine, along with two runners-up.

"The SQL Server Magazine Innovators Awards is an excellent opportunity to honor DBAs, BI architects and developers who use SQL Server and .NET technologies to create innovative solutions to the challenges they face in their jobs," said Crockett. "Kevin Manley and the other award-winning IT pros who are profiled in our January issue provide an opportunity for our readers to learn real-world solutions and gain insight into the many possible ways SQL Server and .NET technologies can be used."

Kevin Manley developed a complex set of SQL Server 2000-based applications for City Screen, a network of independent cinemas based in the UK. Manley gave priority to City Screen's needs over being wedded to traditional tools and methodologies. In doing so, he demonstrated that stretching boundaries is a hallmark of innovation. The application he developed is innovative because of its coding techniques and its complex, yet reliable, replication capability. Manley and his team developed a solution that's state-of-the-art in the UK cinema industry.

For more information on the grand-prize winner and his innovative IT solution, see www.sqlmag.com and click on the image of the January issue.

About the Windows IT Pro Group

Penton's Windows IT Pro Group, the largest independent Windows IT community in the world, includes flagship print publication Windows IT Pro, three monthly paid subscription print newsletters, 12 direct-request email newsletters, and a Web-site resource for more than 2.5 million IT professionals each month. First published in 1995, Windows IT Pro is the editorial leader in its field and has a paid subscription base of 105,000. The magazine is published in 13 languages and has an international reach into 160 countries. Windows IT Pro UPDATE, the Group's flagship email newsletter, is the only e-newsletter to make BtoB Magazine's Media Power 50 list.

The Group also includes SQL Server Magazine, with 30,000 paid subscribers and two email newsletters sent to more than 130,000 opt-in subscribers. The two publications' Web sites generate more than nine million page impressions. Their email newsletters have more than one million opt-in subscribers. The Windows IT Pro Group is the world's leading producer of custom roadshows, paid conferences and paid workshops for Windows and SQL Server IT professionals. For more information visit www.windowsitpro.com/pressroom/, www.sqlmag.com and www.penton.com.