BAPCo and MadOnion.com Form Strategic Alliance

Santa Clara, California - November 9th, 1999 - MadOnion.com™ (formerly Futuremark Corporation), the leading provider of PC performance and upgrade information, today announced a strategic alliance with BAPCo®, the Business Applications Performance Corporation, combining the strengths of Internet integration provided by MadOnion.com with BAPCo's technical expertise in business benchmarking. The strategic alliance enables the two companies to develop enhanced online benchmarking products that allow users to compare their systems globally. Through the strategic alliance, MadOnion.com will integrate a new interface and Internet-based engine for BAPCo's SYSmark® 2000, adding a layer to its Web services by providing the MadOnion.com engine to drive the online benchmark. SYSmark® 2000 is a business application benchmark supporting popular business applications running on the Microsoft Windows 2000 operating system. Modifications to the SYSmark 2000 benchmark reflect a shift to the increased use of the Internet. "The alliance will give BAPCo products, already at the cutting edge of benchmarking for corporate users, the power of global comparison in online benchmarks," said Aki Jarvilehto, CEO of MadOnion.com. "BAPCo's business applications, combined with MadOnion.com's online benchmark technology, enable business users to make more informed decisions about PC purchases." Under the terms of the alliance, MadOnion.com is also providing marketing support and distribution services for the SYSmark 2000 online benchmark to deliver the products to a wider corporate market. " BAPCo and its member companies are excited about the strategic alliance with MadOnion.com," says Andreas Uiterwijk, President of BAPCo. "This alliance will strategically enhance the ability of both companies to create and deliver both consumer and business benchmarking products. BAPCo's leadership in developing industry standard benchmarks, and MadOnion.com's marketing support and Internet-based engine, will create a synergy for success, benefiting all PC users." Pricing and Availability SYSmark 2000 will be available later this month at a price of $99.95 US. About BAPCo A non-profit consortium, BAPCo's charter is to develop and distribute a set of objective performance benchmarks based on popular/personal computer applications and industry standard operating systems. BAPCo's current members include: Adaptec (www.adaptec.com); Amdahl Corporation (www.amdahl.com); Compaq (www.compaq.com) ; Dell (www.dell.com); Federal Computer Week (www.fcw.com); Hewlett-Packard (www.hp.com); IBM (www.ibm.com); InfoWorld (www.infoworld.com); Intel (www.intel.com); Microsoft (www.microsoft.com) ; NEC (www.nec.com); and VNU Business Publications Limited (UK) (www.vnu.co.uk). BAPCo is currently headquartered in Santa Clara, CA. For more information, please visit www.bapco.com. About MadOnion.com MadOnion.com is a "layered" Web services provider, powered by an Internet-based engine . Our world-famous 3DMark™ 99 - The Gamers' Benchmark - was first released in October 1998. In March 1999, 3DMark™ 99 MAX was introduced. It measures 3D gaming performance and compares the results online against thousands of other system configurations. With their results, PC users can make upgrading decisions. Now, with a distribution list exceeding 10 million, 3DMark™ is the global standard. MadOnion.com is based in San Jose, California, with offices in Toronto and Helsinki. For more information, please visit www.madonion.com. 3DMark™, Futuremark™, MadOnion.com™ are trademarks of MadOnion.com, formerly Futuremark Corporation, Ltd. All other brands and names are property of their respective owners. For more information please refer to http://www.MadOnion.com or contact: Sarah Burns Senior Consultant High Road Communications 416-368-8348 sburns@highrd.com -or- press@MadOnion.com -or- John Peterson BAPCo 2200 Mission College Blvd., SC12-608, Santa Clara, CA 95052 408-988-7654 http://www.bapco.com