Press Release 2003-06-24

CLEAR METHODS NAMES MICHAEL CUSUMANO TO BOARD OF ADVISORS

Competitive strategy and software technology guru to guide Web services startup

Cambridge, Mass., June 24, 2003 – Clear Methods (www.clearmethods.com), a startup providing advanced XML and Web services technology, today announced that Michael A. Cusumano has joined the Clear Methods Board of Advisors. Cusumano is the Sloan Management Review Distinguished Professor of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) Sloan School of Management, where he teaches classes on strategic management for technology managers and the software business.

Cusumano has consulted for major companies around the world, including Alcatel, Business Objects, Cisco, Ford, Fujitsu, General Electric, Fidelity, Verizon, Hitachi, IBM, Intel, Merrill Lynch, MITRE, NASA, NEC, Robert Bosch, Schlumberger, Siemens, and Toshiba. He has been a director of Infinium Software (ERP applications, now part of SSA Global Technologies) and NuMega Technologies (software development tools, now part of Compuware), among other firms, and an advisor to numerous high tech firms. He has also served as editor-in-chief and chairman of the MIT Sloan Management Review and has written for The Wall Street Journal, Computerworld, The Washington Post, Communications of the ACM and other publications.

“Michael’s experience, knowledge and insight into platform leadership have already had an impact on the direction of Clear Methods,” Said Mike Plusch, Clear Methods CEO. “We look forward to Michael’s ongoing advice as we deliver on the vision of a pure Web services platform.”

“I am delighted to join Clear Methods at this early stage. Web services has already become an important new computing platform, and this company has a better idea on how to develop software for this environment. It has the potential to influence the industry in a big way,” said Michael Cusumano.

Professor Cusumano has published seven books. Platform Leadership: How Intel, Microsoft, and Cisco Drive Industry Innovation (2002, with Annabelle Gawer) examines how industry leaders orchestrate complementary innovations that make their platforms more valuable. Microsoft Secrets (1995, with Richard Selby) is a best-selling study of Microsoft's strategy, organization, and approach to software development, and has approximately 150,000 copies in print in 14 languages. Competing on Internet Time: Lessons from Netscape and its Battle with Microsoft (1998, with David Yoffie), was named one of the top 10 business books of 1998 by Business Week and Amazon.com, and played a central role in the Microsoft anti-trust trial. His latest book, The Software Business, will appear shortly.

About Clear Methods
Clear Methods provides enterprises and independent software vendors with advanced Web services technology and solutions that dramatically speed the creation of flexible business software. The Clear Methods Steam XML platform is a pure Web services environment that enables the use of XML throughout the software lifecycle. Steam XML provides a compact, uniform, standards-based commercial product set for the open Water language.

Founded in 2001, Clear Methods is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.