Supportgate.com Announces WebStar Service Awards Winners.

Business Editors

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 11, 2000

Supportgate.com announced today that seven companies, which deliver superior online Web site services, were awarded the prestigious WebStar Service Awards at the annual SSPA San Diego Summit, where professionals and industry experts of the Information Technology (IT) world met to discuss support services operational issues.

The annual WebStar Service Awards are presented to recognize e-tailers who excel and ultimately provide superior customer service to their online customers.

"The SSPA has a 10 year history of recognizing excellence in customer service," said Bill Rose, SSPA founder/executive director. "It is only logical that we identify and recognize Web-based companies that deliver exceptional service online. When Internet users visit the Winner's Web site and see a WebStar Service Award logo, they can be assured that this company delivers exceptional online customer service."

The Companies chosen for this year's WebStar Service Awards are:

-- Cognos Inc.--www.cognos.com

-- Network Appliance--www.netapp.com

-- Novell Inc.--www.novell.com

-- NoWonder--www.nowonder.com

-- SafeHarbor.com--www.safeharbor.com

-- Symantec Corp.--www.symantec.com

-- Yamaha Corporation of America--www.yamaha.com

"We are honored to have won the Supportgate.com 2000 WebStar Service Award," said Barry Davis, network appliance's director of eService. "It is a critical component of our eBusiness strategy to enable our customers to manage their own data via Web-based services. This award is confirmation that we are on the right track to providing world class eServices to our customers."

The WebStar Service Awards were developed:

1. To help consumers quickly identify which companies excel at

meeting their customer service expectations on the Web.

2. To help companies who excel at providing customer service a

means to differentiate themselves from

others.

3. To create industry benchmarks for levels of customer service

to be expected on the Web.

In the past, customer service was something that was looked at by many companies as something that happened after the product was purchased. Unfortunately, in today's new e-tailing companies, customer service is often viewed as secondary to everything else. Many times, new Web start-ups do not have the money to commit to develop a good customer service infrastructure.

The WebStar Service Awards are one of the vehicles that companies can use to promote themselves. By prominently displaying the WebStar logo on corporate Web sites, customers can quickly identify which companies have met the criteria needed to be WebStar Service Award Winner. As a result, online consumers should get a high level of assurance as to the level of customer service they will receive if they choose to shop on that particular site.

"NoWonder is very honored to be a WebStar award winner. It confirms that NoWonder, as the only true net-marketplace for IT support and services, is delivering on its mission to match users with fast, reliable, and above all, personalized technical assistance," said Anthony Lye, CEO, Sunnyvale-based NoWonder, the IT support and service marketplace for corporate and small business users.

About Supportgate.com

Supportgate.com builds Internet service communities. Through these 'gates' you will find the individual organizations of Service Vendors Alliance, (SVA), Support Center Practices (SCP) certification, Technical Support Professionals Society (TSPS(SM)), Software Support Professionals Association (SSPA), and SSPA Europe.

The Supportgate.com Web portal site is 'home' for service professionals and executives and features many opportunities such as Peer2Peer Connection Rooms; Member Showcases; Member2Member Information Exchange; Expert Connections; SupportBooks.com; Online Training and an industry specific Career Center. It also contains Conference and Events Calendars; a Virtual Tradeshow; Industry News; Surveys; SupportWeek.com and a Vendor Directory. Supportgate.com is the home for the Software Technical Assistance Recognition (STAR) Awards; the WebStar Awards; Support SuperStars Awards; SCP Site Certification and SSPA Individual Certification. For recent news releases and other information, see our Internet home page at www.supportgate.com.