Switchboard Launches E-Commerce Program

Switchboard Inc. launched a new program
to “provide simple and cost-effective solutions” for business owners to
establish an Internet presence, get ready for e-commerce and attain the
visibility needed to reach their target markets.

Switchboard is the Internet directory subsidiary of Banyan Systems. The
company said it will team with large organizations that have established local
merchant relationships to provide a wide array of Internet services to their
merchant bases, including the construction, hosting and distribution of Web
sites and advertisements in the Switchboard directory and other Switchboard
co-branded partner directories.

Switchboard said it will provide a turnkey set of services which will enable a
new class of partners to become the source of support for local merchants.

Switchboard already signed a partnership deal with Discover Financial
Services, a business unit of Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co., which offers
the Discover Card brands, including
Discover Platinum and Private Issue by Discover. Under the terms of the
agreement, Discover/NOVUS Network merchants will be offered an opportunity to
establish Internet visibility through a variety of Switchboard service and
product
offerings.

“We are looking forward to aggressively expanding our local merchant base in
the coming months, and to providing unique ways for the 4 million users who
visit our site each month to find and do business with them,” said Dean
Polnerow, president of Switchboard. “. . .we plan to become the preferred choice
for promoting local businesses on the Internet.”

Switchboard.com was one of the first directory services to launch and said it
recorded $6.5 million in revenue in 1998, up from just $0.7 million in the
previous year, primarily driven by national advertising. To date, Switchboard
has attracted over 2.5 million registered users, and represents nearly 65,000
local merchants with a page or more describing their businesses.