PORTLAND, OR — July 31, 2000 — Emerald Solutions Inc., a premier provider of e-business solutions and services, announced today that it has acquired Alliance Consulting Group, Inc., a leading e-business strategy consulting firm based in Boston, Mass. The acquisition involved a cash and stock transaction; the transaction figure was not disclosed.

"The acquisition of Alliance continues an evolution of strategically-planned growth for both companies and we are excited about joining forces with such a well established firm to enhance Emerald's extensive mix of e-services," said Martin Wright, CEO of Emerald Solutions. "Emerald now offers clients unmatched user experience, strategy services, and e-business technology infrastructure through the accountability of a single vendor. Alliance's e-strategy expertise, accomplished team of professionals, and Fortune 500 client base combine to offer the sophisticated, strategic services Emerald desires for its clients."

To continue Emerald's overall growth strategy of becoming an integrated, holistic e-business services organization, the company needed to invest in strategic consulting services. Further, market research indicates that e-business strategy services, such as those Alliance offers, represent one of the fastest growing e-services spending segments, growing at approximately 36 percent annually.

Alliance has focused primarily on e-business strategy over the last five years, assisting large corporations in transforming themselves into e-businesses, as well as enabling start-ups and pre-IPO companies refine their strategic direction for purposes of rapidly gaining competitive advantage or accelerating time to market.

This focused e-business strategy offering was built upon a foundation of traditional strategy development processes, with client experience across a broad range of industries. Michael Norkus founded Alliance in 1986 and has built an impressive client list including Hasbro, Intel, Disney, Coca Cola, and Visa. An active speaker and publisher with more than twenty-five years of consulting experience, Norkus served as a Vice President and Director at Boston Consulting Group prior to founding Alliance. The firm's senior professionals all bring valuable experience from a broad array of consulting, corporate strategy, and industry backgrounds. Mr. Norkus will become president of the strategy group and will serve on Emerald's Board of Directors.

"Alliance has been helping the world's leading corporate entities develop e-business capabilities by guiding them through strategic transitions and the launch of new ventures," said Norkus. "Emerald has gained notice by building the infrastructure that make those kinds of projects highly successful. It became clear to both of us that an acquisition of Alliance represented the most attractive opportunity to better serve our clients and to accelerate Emerald's growth."

The acquisition of Alliance closely follows Emerald's acquisition of ZCom (subsequently renamed Emerald Solutions Interactive Group), a creative design firm providing Internet marketing solutions, branding strategies, digital advertising and web design services. The ZCom acquisition reinforced Emerald's user experience and technology solutions offerings, while also adding new capabilities, particularly in the areas of digital branding and online media services.

Both the Alliance and ZCom transactions have already led to significant new business for Emerald. In June, the company engaged with the Association of American Railroads (AAR) on a project that will integrate the e-commerce capabilities of the association's members, leading to greater operating efficiencies and helping to move the rail freight industry into the digital age. Also, Emerald has recently begun work with Hasbro, Inc., on the company's online games portal, Games.com (www.games.com), an assignment that resulted from previous work with Hasbro Interactive, Inc.

"We absolutely expect that the AAR and Games.Com projects are a foreshadowing of the types of organizations and projects on which we'll be highly competitive," said Wright. "Our combined strengths and services reflect a rapid acceleration of direct business benefits realized by our clients and enable Emerald to provide our customers with the right blend of business strategies and technology execution."

About Emerald Solutions
Emerald Solutions is an e-business services company that designs and builds Internet-based business solutions by integrating digital business strategy with both emerging and existing information technologies. Emerald Solutions helps its clients to create entirely new e-businesses or to expand and improve their existing e-business activities. Emerald Solutions enables its clients to use the Internet to enhance relationships with their customers and business partners, improve the efficiency of their operations and create new revenue opportunities.

Emerald's client base includes AT&T, Lucent, Boeing, Priceline.com, Warner-Lambert/Parke-Davis, Pfizer, Flowerbud.com, Consolidated Freightways, Lucy.com, Emery Worldwide, Benjamin Moore, and Hawaiian Airlines. Emerald is a U.S.-based company with offices in 10 locations.



Company Contact
Covington Associates
[617] 314-3950
info@covingtonassociates.com