ASP Board press release: ITAA's ASP Board of Directors Grows

Arlington, Virginia - December 19, 2002 - The Application Service Provider (ASP) Committee of the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) today announced four new executives have joined its Board of Directors.

ITAA's ASP Committee, formed in 1999 to address issues specific to the market niche, has grown and strengthened even during challenging economic times for the IT industry. ASP-focused original research, guidelines and practices, and unparalleled networking opportunities have paved the path to the ASP Committee's leadership representing the ASP industry today. New board members are David Bennett, President, MIRUS; Tom Hughes, President, CEO and Chairman of the Board, WTS, Inc.; Prashanth Prahlad, President and Chief Operating Officer, Appshop; and John Whiteside, President, CEO & Founder, netASPx.

David Bennett has over 22 years of experience in the information technology and chain restaurant industries. From 1990 through 1994, Mr. Bennett was the senior information technology executive for Allied Domecq, Ltd.'s US retailing brands. As the Vice President of Information Services at Allied, Mr. Bennett directed data center operations for more than 5000 Baskin-Robbins and Dunkin' Donuts locations. For the past 5 years, Mr. Bennett was a project executive with IBM Global Services, where he led over $500M in large-scale information services contracts delivery.

Tom Hughes founded WTS, Inc. in 1997 and serves as president, CEO and chairman of the board. Tom sets the strategic vision and direction of WTS and leads the operations of the company. WTS, the first application service provider (ASP) to host J.D. Edwards®, focuses solely on hosting J.D. Edwards enterprise solutions and complementary products. Tom has nearly 25 years of general management and IT experience.

Prashanth Prahlad is the co-founder, President, and COO of Appshop. He brings more than 10 years of industry and domain expertise to the organization. Before co-founding Appshop, Prashanth co-founded Simplify, Inc.-a leading consulting firm serving the middle market. He also worked at Oracle Corporation in Applications Development and Oracle Services Group, handling projects for a number of Fortune 500 companies. Prashanth also worked for the Strategic Consulting Services Practice at KPMG Peat Marwick.

John Whiteside has over 20 years of experience in working with some of the world's most successful IT and networking companies. Beginning his career with IBM upon graduating from Yale University, John subsequently pursued strategic consulting and mergers and acquisitions upon graduating from Harvard Business School. John then joined MCI as the SVP of Alliance Management and Mergers and Acquisitions. John led the BT/MCI Concert alliance and completed over 15 transactions during his tenure at MCI. He left MCI to rejoin IBM as the General Manager of IBM Global Network. John led the team that grew that business to over $3 billion in revenue with 7,500 employees operating in over 80 countries. He was subsequently recruited to form ServiceNet, a joint venture between Andersen Consulting and GTE, the first true ASP in 1997 as the President and CEO. John grew ServiceNet to over $85 million in ASP revenue through its eight global data centers.

"Thanks to the leadership of ITAA's ASP Committee Board of Directors, the group is continuing to produce valuable products and services for the ASP community. I am confident that added leadership from our new Directors will enhance our ability to serve this vibrant market niche," said ITAA President Harris N. Miller.

"The ASP Board of the ITAA is very pleased with the continued expansion of its membership with such industry leaders like David, Tom, Prashanth, and John. We are looking forward to their participation and contribution," added ASP Board Chairman and Corio President and CEO George Kadifa.

For more information about ITAA's ASP Committee, visit http://www.itaa.org/asp/index.cfm. For the full list of ASP Board of Directors, go to: http://www.itaa.org/asp/about.cfm#ASP.

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