Media            Suzanne McCormac                      Rick LaBash

Contacts:      Grand Central                              Primordial

                   415-554-7750                    212-386-7900 x1780                                        smccormac@grandcentral.com        rlabash@primordial.com

 

 

Primordial® and Grand Central™ Create Alliance to Accelerate Delivery of Web Services Solutions

 

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.  October 8, 2001 - Primordial, an e-business consultancy specializing in Web services, and Grand Central, provider of the leading Web Services Network, today announced an  alliance designed to dramatically increase the rate at which companies can create and deploy Web services to solve enterprise integration problems.

 

Primordial – whose clients include a number of Fortune 1000 companies – helps companies deploy Web services to streamline processes, integrate systems, create business webs, and extend existing IT infrastructure.

 

“We chose to work with Grand Central because their service-based network approach made the most sense when it came to solving enterprise integration,” said George Weihs, chief technology officer at Primoridal. “Their Web services network provides the control, visibility and security businesses needed to effectively manage integration processes and interactions, and because it’s delivered as a service not as software, our customers can reap the rewards of network effects that only a shared infrastructure can provide.”

 

The alliance is being formed just as Web services are gathering momentum as a way for companies to exchange data internally and externally with partners. Primordial’s professional services arm, consults with clients, to design and implement Web services applications, thus permitting companies to exchange information quickly and less expensively, linking systems across the Grand Central Network.

 

“Primordial was one of the first companies to embrace Web services and help clients figure out how to use it to gain a competitive advantage. Their proven expertise in delivering high quality services combined with Grand Central’s low implementation cost and faster time-to-market will enable Fortune 1000 businesses to quickly attain real business value and become more agile and competitive,” said Craig Donato, president and chief executive officer, Grand Central Networks, Inc.

 

The alliance has two primary thrusts:

        On the services side, Primordial becomes a Grand Central Consultant and Integrator Partner. Primordial consultants will receive advanced training on Grand Central technology and tooling and will also have early access to next-generation Grand Central technology.

        On the product side, Primordial becomes a Technology Provider Partner. Primordial will add support for the Grand Central Network to Primordial’s WSBANG! (pronounced WHIZ-bang) Web services proxy server. This will allow WSBANG! customers to reliably and securely direct Web services traffic over the Grand Central Network.

 

In addition, the companies will engage in joint business as well as joint sales and marketing activities. Primordial and Grand Central will collaborate on numerous client engagements beginning in the fourth quarter of 2001.

 

“We’re excited to reach this new level in our relationship with Grand Central,” says Joe Labbe, CEO of Primordial. “Both companies are innovators and leaders in their respective category in the Web services space. Together, we will provide businesses with leading edge Web services strategies and solutions.”

 

About Primordial

Primordial is an ebusiness consultancy that helps Global 2000 companies conceive and execute Web services to evolve existing IT infrastructure and realize greater return on assets. Through process orchestration and application syndication, Primordial helps businesses achieve operating efficiencies and generate revenue opportunities throughout the value chain. Primordial is a member of the World Wide Web Consortium® (www.w3c.org), the non-aligned body that evaluates and adopts Web standards.

 

About Grand Central

Grand Central, the leading Web Services Network, dramatically reduces the cost and complexity of managing integration relationships with partners and customers.  Grand Central leverages open Internet and Web services standards to enable a wide range of applications and platforms to easily communicate across organizational and enterprise boundaries.  In addition to facilitating interoperability, Grand Central provides the control, visibility and security needed to effectively manage integration processes and interactions. Delivered as a subscription service, Grand Central has a low implementation cost and can be deployed in days rather than months.

 

About Web Services

Web services are modular XML-based e-business applications that interoperate easily and require minimal development time. Properly deployed, Web services help companies leverage their existing IT infrastructure by making valuable business processes available to partners, customers and other constituents.

 

 

Primordial is a trademark of Primordial, Inc. Grand Central is a trademark of Grand Central Networks, Inc.

All other trademarks are the properties of their respective companies.