The Lotus Beacon Awards honor those Lotus Business Partners whose products and solutions have provided significant benefits to customers through the use of Lotus based products. There were a total of 14 awards given from a field of 13,000 Business Partners. The winners, judged by a combination of leading industry and press analysts and Lotus executives, were recognized at a gala event in Orlando in conjunction with Lotusphere '97, Lotus' fourth annual worldwide technical and business conference.

"Once again, our Beacon Award winners exemplify the high business value solutions our Business Partners are creating for their customers today," said Larry McMenamy, vice-president, Worldwide Partner Programs, Lotus Development Corp. "There is no substitute for their in-market groupware experience and innovative use of new technologies, which have put our Partner community ahead of the curve in realizing the collaborative opportunity of the Internet. The powerful combination of experience and vision is at work today in creating competitive advantage for customers."

Entries were submitted for the first time this year via Lotus' Web site by Lotus Business Partners and their customers. All nominations for the 14 categories had to include justification for the nomination, external references and additional supporting materials. This year, many nominations were received from customers, indicative of how they value their relationships with the Business Partners. Judging took place prior to Lotusphere.

"This award is very important to us not only because it was sponsored by Lotus, a subsidiary of IBM, and judged by some of the industries' top experts, but also because it came as a result of our clients' nominations," said V.A. Shiva, President of Millennium Cybernetics, Inc.

Brad Dupee, Director of Marketing, agrees, "Our staff has given a major effort over the past few years building EchoMail, and they have enthusiastically interacted with clients and prospective clients to enhance our products. It is very satisfying to see that our clients are pleased with our work."

EchoMail puts the power of technology in the hands of the end user allowing organizations to gain a competitive advantage by giving them greater accessibility to their customers

"The measurable value that organizations receive by utilizing EchoMail creates a great cross selling environment for electronic commerce implementation," said Dupee. "EchoMail is described as one of the most exciting software products to hit the marketplace in many years. Winning the Beacon Award will assist in expanding Millennium Cybernetics marketing program and allows us to showcase EchoMail nationally through trade-shows, advertising, and magazine articles."

Millennium Cybernetics, fuses art and information to create award winning messaging solutions and on-line interactive communities. Millennium Cybernetics’s EchoMail products increase profits and improves customer satisfaction by enhancing and automating customer interactions. Primary markets include customer focused enterprises such as electronic commerce, high technology, financial services, retail and the entertainment industry. The company plans to expand to other vertical markets in 1998.

Millennium Cybernetics’s EchoMail technology automatically reads, stores, classifies, routes, logs and tracks in-bound Email using advanced pattern recognition and classification technology. EchoMail helps company’s build advanced on-line communities with measurable relationship marketing and cross selling programs. Based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Millennium Cybernetics has additional offices in Washington, D.C and India. Millennium Cybernetics’s nationwide client base and a national marketing programs feature qualified corporations throughout the United States.

For more information about Millennium Cybernetics, visit the company’s World Wide Web site at http://www.echomail.com or contact EchoMail, Inc., 66 Church Street, Cambridge, MA 02138; phone (617) 354-8585, ext. 210; email: Press@EchoMail.com.