THE EXPERTISE BEHIND THE EXPERTS

THE EXPERTISE BEHIND
THE EXPERTS
IntellectExchange.com, an online marketplace for knowledge and expertise, names Advisory Board

IntellectExchange.com, a new Web site that brokers information and consultation from professionals in business and universities, has named a six -member Advisory Board including notables such as Charles LaMantia, former CEO of Arthur D. Little, Michael Cassidy, founder of DirectHit, and best-selling author Robin Moore.

IntellectExchange.com is headquartered in Bedford, MA. The site, which had a "soft launch" in June, has attracted nearly 2,500 registered experts during an earlier registration phase. To actively oversee the company's direction, an Advisory Board that features a diverse set of credentials has been established.

Members of the new Advisory Board include:

·   Firdaus Bhathena - Co-founder of WebLine, a leader in the customer interaction software marketplace that was acquired by Cisco in late 1999. Firdaus is now director of engineering for the Customer Contact Business Unit of Cisco. Previously, Firdaus was the Vice President of R&D at Kurzweil Educational Systems, a start-up developing educational software products.

·   Michael Cassidy, CEO and co-founder of Direct Hit, a business based on a revolutionary Internet search technology that ranks sites according to popularity. Cassidy is a graduate of MIT, with a BS and MS in Aerospace Engineering and attended Harvard Business School. He was co-founder of Stylus Innovation, a company he sold to Artisoft in 1996 for $13 million. After taking a year away from the high tech world to study at the Berklee College of Music, Cassidy co-founded Direct Hit. Within just two years, the company was sold to Ask Jeeves for approximately $500 million.

·   Amar Gupta, a faculty member of the Sloan School at MIT. Gupta is co-director of PROductivity from Information Technology (PROFIT) program at MIT and a lead inventor of a new method for automated transfer of legacy information to computer-accessible media. He works on Internet applications at corporate, national, and international levels, in conjunction with organizations in the US, Brazil, and other countries.

·   Charles R. LaMantia, former Chairman, President and CEO of Arthur D. Little, Inc. LaMantia currently serves on the Board of Directors for the State Street Boston Corporation and the Boston Public Library Foundation and is an Advisory Director of StoneGate Partners. LaMantia is also a member of the Overseers' Advisory Board of WGBH, and a member of the Corporation of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.

·   Robert Lowell Moore, Jr. ("Robin Moore"), author of more than 30 books, including the best sellers "The Green Berets" and "The French Connection." Moore is Editor-in-Chief of Moore-Hill Publishing, Inc., President of Robin Books, Inc., and served on the Board of Directors of the Sheraton Hotel Company.

·   Douglas Wolf, an intellectual property lawyer, partner at Wolf, Greenfield & Sachs, P.C., is Vice Chairman of the MIT Enterprise Forum.

"Our mission is to create an exchange for knowledge and expertise that experts in business and universities can offer," said Charles Hsu, co-founder and Vice President of Operations for IntellectExchange.com. "As such, it was important to attract a diverse team of respected individuals to work with us and ensure the quality, usefulness and innovation of our site."

"Each member of our Advisory Board has gained respect and recognition in their respective fields," said Bill Spencer, co-founder and Chief Technology Officer. "We plan to take full advantage of this exceptional 'brain trust' that we are fortunate to have."

A BETTER ROUTE ON THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY
The World Wide Web is all about information. Unfortunately, there is far too much of it.

Search engines are too scattershot in the way they strip-mine data from Web sites to be much help to a professional with a vital business query. Many so-called expert sites offer little more than high school homework help from "experts" of dubious credential.

IntellectExchange.com provides a better way to get the answers you need from top experts in their fields. Experts from universities and the business community offer creative thinking and constructive advice on how to solve problems.

IntellectExchange.com's registered trademark, P2P, is more than just another addition to the buzzword lexicon. It sums up the focus of the new service as a marketplace exclusively for "professional to professional " exchanges.

For registered experts - which includes university professors, business leaders, consultants, lawyers, doctors, librarians, scientists, programmers and accountants - IntellectExchange.com provides a forum where they earn extra income out of what they have to offer. For users, the site is like having access to a large and prestigious consulting firm available at an affordable price.

GET DIRECTLY TO THE POINT, AND CLICK
IntellectExchange.com offers a simple interface that is easy to navigate for users and experts alike.

Users open an account, pose their problem and identify the expert category, subject areas, and other keywords in which the professional most likely to answer the question can be found. Users can also specify how much they are willing to pay and set a deadline. IntellectExchange.com will then match them with one or more experts who meet their criteria. Final arrangements for the transaction and compensation are made directly between the user and their chosen expert.

After working with an expert, users will be asked to rate them on the quality and timeliness of their response. This feedback will be used to rank experts for the benefit of users. Experts have the opportunity to respond directly to any negative rating in their profile. IntellectExchange.com charges experts a commission of 15 percent.

EDITORS - For more information about IntellectExchange.com or to arrange for interviews with the company's founders, please contact Steve Dubin, PR Works, (781) 878-9533, sdubin@prworkzone.com.