NEWS BRIEFS

New York, N.Y. — Starting today, home broadband users who visit the DataSynapse website ( http://www.datasynapse.com ) and sign in will be able to profit from the time their computers sit idle by joining the company’s premium distributed computing platform. In exchange for downloading a lightweight application smaller than the typical business presentation, members will receive a host of benefits that include a state of the art security firewall, an initial payment of $5 of Flooz and the chance to win a sports car or a PDA, with other benefits to come through continuing participation.

DataSynapse, a new company with an innovative approach to brokering processing power between home users and corporations is actively recruiting members to its 100% broadband network. Once part of the DataSynapse network, users can exchange their dormant computing power for benefits including future gifts of Flooz and chances to win additional prizes.

Recognizing that security is a top concern of Internet users who download files, DataSynapse will offer Zone Labs’ top-rated Internet security software, Zone Alarm, a combined personal firewall and application control, into the free DataSynapse application download available to all users.

The full list of DataSynapse benefits includes:

— Zone Labs’ award-winning Internet security utility, Zone Alarm, to protect their PCs from Internet vandals and hackers.

— Flooz online gift currency earned on a per-hour basis, which can be used to purchase goods and services at the Web’s best stores, or members can donate their flooz to charity through Charitableway.

— The opportunity to win a Porsche 2001 Boxster.

— A chance to win a Palm V Pilot every week.

— Access to the network’s ‘idle PC power’ for the next generation of web searching, communications, and collaborative applications.

“We are bringing more value to our members for less intrusive participation,” said Peter Lee, co-founder and chief executive officer of DataSynapse. “Other companies ask members to download files of 50 to 100 megabytes, configure settings, run applications in the background while users are using their PCs, and actually slow down the computer’s performance. We will never ask our users to sacrifice any application performance and we will continue to reward broadband Internet users for participating in our network.”

DataSynapse currently has five beta clients in the financial services sector, an industry with an ever present need for speed. DataSynapse divides large computing jobs from its financial services clients into smaller tasks, each to be performed by an idle network computer. Through the 100% broadband network, DataSynapse enables supercomputer-level processing speed.

“We are working with financial institutions on three different levels,” said Lee. “We can work with the institution’s own pool of computers, an extranet of our computing power partners, or the power derived from our Internet-based 100% broadband user network. We can help customers unleash the supercomputer hiding in the corners of their own offices, or bring supercomputer-like power to their doorstep.”

“Peer-to-peer technology for distributed computing opens up whole new methods for financial services organizations to provide real-time information to customers,” says Cheryl Currid, President of Currid & Company, a Houston-based high-tech research firm. “Based on years of experience in the financial services sector, the founders of DataSynapse created a platform that will enable financial institutions to meet customer expectations. Using DataSynapse’s peer-to-peer approach, these financial organizations can migrate from more expensive, and less efficient batch processing, to cost-effective, real-time supercomputing power.” DataSynapse anticipates building a network of thousands of home broadband users by the end of the end of the first quarter of 2001.

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