London to be 'web nucleus' for
e-business to business (eb2)

 e-risk event™

London, UK, 17:30 GMT 9th November 1999 - mi2g software, a contributor to the prestigious eb2 "e-business to business" 18th November event, has projected that in the year 2000 and beyond London's pre-eminent position as a global centre for internet based finance and commerce will continue to strengthen. The concentration and diversity of London's financial markets, with their unrivalled openness and telecommunications accessibility, make London an attractive place for e-business to business activity.

Neither Wall Street nor the Silicon Valley, on the opposite coasts in America, individually have the scientific and financial acumen to rival the expert knowledge clusters of London. Ranging from Lloyd's of London to banking, commodity trading to broking and professional expertise to technical ability - the entire infrastructure is here and ready to take on the challenge of full e-business to business deployment. London alone accounts for 32% of the world market on foreign exchange trading, more than the markets of New York and Tokyo combined. The London Stock Exchange, the largest in Europe, has more foreign company listings than any other in the world. There are 539 foreign banks located in London, more than in any other city in the world.

"We were founded to serve London's financial institutions and welcome contributing to the Dr Moores eb2 event on 18th November, especially, as more than 70% of corporations in London have internet access and 65% have an on-line presence. London is the world's largest centre for international bank lending with 20% of the global market share. Taking the world's insurance industry as an example, 22% of marine and 27% of aviation risks are underwritten through here. e-risk insurance is being pioneered in London. mi2g's long term vision continues to be the provision of innovative e-risk solutions for Central London based e-businesses first", said DK Matai, Managing Director and Founder of mi2g software.

Introduced by Sky Television's Business News Editor and presenter, Michael Wilson, eb2 aims to become the principal forum for discussion, analysis and presentation of fresh ideas, projects and technologies surrounding this exciting marriage of commerce and technology, which will revolutionise relationships between companies, their suppliers and customers over the next decade. 18th November will involve case studies and presentations from a number of leading IT companies such as Amdahl, Intel, Informix, Softech and mi2g software, in support of the e-business to business proposition, its short and long term commercial value, risks and its crux role as facilitator.

According to a recent survey by The Research Group, 30% of the UK's top 1,000 companies consider business-to-business applications the most important area of new system growth over the next year. According to Dr Simon Moores, Chairman of The Research Group and IT commentator for BSkyB, Bloomberg and Computer Weekly, "There are two different agendas out there. End users think the big opportunity is business-to-business e-commerce. But solution providers are ignoring the evidence and are pushing business-to-consumer applications."

Background:

1. The Research Group founded in 1985 and chaired by Dr Simon Moores operates a number of professional user groups including the Microsoft Windows NT & BackOffice Forum, Microsoft Exchange Forum, Server Based Computing Forum, Java Forum, Lotus User Group and Enterprise in Government Special Interest Group. Its constituency of some 8,000 individuals includes many corporates from the FT-1000 and leading vendors including Microsoft, IBM, Lotus, Citrix, Unisys, Apple, Compaq, ICL, Oracle and Silverstream. The service package offered by the various forums' operated by The Research Group, provides corporates with analytical, commercial and technical assistance.

2. mi2g software presented seminars on e-risk in Central London at Richards Butler on 4th August, Hammond Suddards on 8th September, Reuters on 27th October and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on 4th November. A total of 450 CEOs, CTOs, COOs and Partners from USA, Germany, Japan, Singapore and Britain have attended the events. We presented an update on all major e-risk incidents and trends within the escalating threat to large on-line businesses, financial institutions and multi-nationals. Future seminars on e-risk and e-business to business are planned for this year and 2000.

3. London is a world centre of excellence for research and education with one of the largest critical masses of academic facilities and diverse stores of knowledge anywhere in the world. London's universities generate about 25% of the UK research revenues, the largest of any UK region. All statistics on London have been sourced from the London First Centre (www.lfc.co.uk).

4. mi2g software (www.mi2g.com) is a leading edge London based e-commerce enterprise specialising in e-risk management™ and bespoke security architecture™.

5. e-risk™, e-risk analysis™, e-risk management™, How to manage e-risk?™, Downstream Liability™, e-risk insurance™, Bespoke Security Architecture™ are trade marks of mi2g software™ (mi2g.com).