Office.com v. Office Live

Washington, DC, November 9, 2006 — Office.com (http://www.office.com) provides small businesses with a Web-based integrated suite of 13 software applications, including wiki, calendar, email and document sharing. Available from any Internet browser, the application allows group collaboration with colleagues down the hall or across the ocean.

The site gives small businesses the ability to collaborate with each other, securely sharing documents, group schedules, contacts and tasks. Traditionally, these sophisticated capabilities were only available to large companies and required lavish IT budgets and resources to deploy and operate.

Office.com brings these capabilities to any business with an Internet link. The price is right for struggling start ups — the basic subscription is free. Four additional subscription levels offer greater functionality and capacity and cap out at $39.95 for the most robust.

The Website has become increasingly sophisticated and integrated over the past five years as the number of small businesses with broadband Internet connection has dramatically increased. So too, has the number of competitors, including Google, Yahoo and now Microsoft.

“It is great that large businesses like Microsoft are finally realizing that there is a large, vibrant small business market for these applications,” said Tom Graham, President of Office.com. “The exposure we are getting now that some of the large players are entering the market has helped advance the cause and generated much more business.”

“Office.com had always been a resource for small businesses, now we have taken it to the next level,” said Graham. “Slowly, we began introducing the software and it took off and is now the focus of the business.”

Started in 1998, Office.com bought up a number of smaller Websites during the Internet boom. One of them was Graham’s prior company, Atyouroffice.com, which was one of the first commerce Websites selling office supplies. With millions in venture money flowing in from Microsoft, CBS and its parent Winstar, Office.com grew quickly. Then everything imploded. “Virtually overnight, Winstar was thrown into bankruptcy and with it went Office.com,” said Graham. Recognizing an opportunity, Graham and a partner bought the Office.com assets out of bankruptcy.

His partner was John Hechinger, Jr., the former Chairman and CEO of the Hechinger Company who had worked with Graham on the office supply business and was instrumental in quickly growing and selling that business. Together they hit the ground running.

“There is a demonstrated need for the capabilities the Office.com suite of applications provides. Now any small to medium size business can be as productive and efficient as a large enterprise without the need of a large IT staff or equipment. Office.com has what they need to level the playing field”

Office.com (http://www.office.com) is a privately held company that provides Web-based collaboration software applications from any Internet browser to your calendar, address book, email, and 15 other fully integrated applications.