Grand Central Communications Awarded InfoWorld Technology of the Year 2003; Integration-as-Service Model Wins Best Web Services Integration Solution Based On Simple, Cost-effective Integration of Business Processes.

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Grand Central Communications, Inc., provider of the leading Business Services Network that delivers "Integration-as-a-Service"(TM), today announced that it has been named a winner of the 2003 Technology of the Year award for Best Web Services Integration Solution by InfoWorld Magazine. Chosen by the InfoWorld Test Center, the award winners represent the best products in the 10 technology categories that Test Center analysts and editors deemed most important to enterprises. The complete article is available at http://www.infoworld.com/ and in the January 5, 2004 print edition.

Kevin McKean, CEO and Editorial Director at InfoWorld, commented that "In what may be a harbinger of things to come, both awards in the Enterprise Applications category went to hosted solutions -- one from Salesforce.com (for its CRM system) and one from Grand Central Communications."

"We're honored to be recognized as the top solution in the crowded integration market, by one of the industry's most respected publications," said Halsey Minor, CEO and founder of Grand Central. "This award validates the value and simplicity of our Integration-as-a-Service model, and speaks to the infinite possibilities that our solution enables that are just not possible using traditional integration software."

About Grand Central Communications

Grand Central delivers "Integration-as-a-Service" through its award-winning Business Services Network, the simplest, fastest and most cost-effective way to integrate and share business processes between business partners, customers, and diverse business units. Built on top of the Internet as a standards-based, highly scalable, fully managed network service, Grand Central provides a true alternative to complicated, lengthy and expensive software deployments. Grand Central's platform solves the business and technology problems associated with integrating applications, services, protocols, devices, partners and customers, without requiring expensive hardware, software, staffing, consultants, maintenance, upgrade fees, use of proprietary protocols, or adoption of additional standards. And because it's built on the "software as service" model, customers can be up and running in days or weeks -- not months.

Grand Central's innovative solution and market-changing approach has received significant recognition in the industry, including InfoWorld's 2003 Award for Best Web Services Integration Solution, AlwaysOn Top 100, Readers Choice Award from .NET Magazine, Investor's Choice Award from Enterprise Outlook, Network World's 10 Startups to Watch, Start Magazine's Hottest Companies, a "Deploy" rating from InfoWorld Labs, Two Thumbs Up from Web Services Journal Product Review, and the winner of the 2003 Comdex "Iron Chef" Web Services Competition.

The company is headquartered in San Francisco, California. Call 1-415-344-3226 or visit http://www.grandcentral.com/ for more information.

InfoWorld's Technology of the Year Awards

InfoWorld's annual Technology of the Year awards identify the 10 technologies of the past year that promise to make the greatest impact on enterprise IT strategies, and honor the products that best exemplify the implementation of those technologies. The Technology of the Year awards are not open to outside nominations; only products reviewed by the InfoWorld Test Center during the previous year are eligible. Selections are made by InfoWorld Test Center Analysts and Editors.

About IDG's InfoWorld Media Group

InfoWorld Media Group delivers in-depth analysis of enterprise technology and strategies combined to deliver insight into vital business solutions through its integrated online, print, research and events channels. In an era when technology is more critical to business success than ever before, InfoWorld Media Group provides senior IT level expertise for executives such as CTOs and CIOs on how technology drives specific business benefits such as revenue growth, relationship management, and enhancing organizational efficiencies.

InfoWorld Media Group's coverage of key technologies, products and trends that assist IT professionals in leveraging technology for business advantage is substantiated by original research done in InfoWorld's $23 million, dedicated multi-platform, enterprise test center. Since 1978, InfoWorld has performed the industry's most trusted testing of technology and products. To learn more about InfoWorld, go to http://www.infoworld.com/.

InfoWorld Media Group is a division of IDG, the world's leading technology media, research, and event company. IDG publishes more than 300 magazines and newspapers and offers online users the largest network of technology-specific sites around the world through IDG.net ( http://www.idg.net/ ), which comprises more than 300 targeted Web sites in 70 countries. IDG is also a leading producer of 168 computer-related expositions worldwide, and provides IT market analysis through 51 offices in 43 countries worldwide. Company information is available at http://www.idg.com/ .

CONTACT: Suzanne McCormac of Grand Central Communications, +1-415-344-3160, or smccormac@grandcentral.com; or Amy Swanson of Outcast Communications, +1-415-392-8282, or aswanson@outcastpr.com

Web site: http://www.grandcentral.com/