Founded in 1993, AWS partners with a network of TV broadcasters in more than 100 US cities and more than 6,000 schools nationwide to collect local news, sports and weather content via the Internet. It then uses proprietary technology to deliver this information to television, Internet and the Wireless Web. AWS' InstaSports program boasts the nation's largest database of high school sports information and content. AWS' WeatherNet program is the world's largest live weather monitoring network, now more than triple the size of the National Weather Service reporting network and is the Web's only source for live neighborhood weather conditions and personal forecasts. AWS uses its web-to-TV technology in conjunction with local newscasts to broadcast live weather and sports information to millions of homes daily.

"AWS' innovative and unique technology is coupled with a business model that joins local media partners to schools and corporate sponsors," said Michael Taylor, Vice President of HarbourVest. "We are very confident and excited about the continued growth of AWS' current applications and about its potential for success in the TV-Internet convergence arena. The investment continues HarbourVest's tradition of financing companies with the experience and the technology to achieve rapid market growth." Mr. Taylor will join AWS' Board of Directors.

"This is a fantastic validation of our business plan and strategy," said Robert Marshall, President and CEO of AWS. "These resources will allow us to rapidly expand existing products and services, develop and deploy innovative content technology and, in turn, strengthen AWS' stronghold as the world leader in delivering hyper-local, personally relevant community content. Our products are perfectly positioned to capitalize on the convergence of TV and the Internet and deliver superb value to our local schools."

About AWS Convergence Technologies, Inc.

AWS (formerly Automated Weather Source) serves broadcasters in more than 100 markets with a suite of market-exclusive TV-Internet convergence products in the areas of News, Sports and Weather.

AWS owns and maintains the Internet's only source for live hyper-local neighborhood weather conditions and personal forecasts. Comprising more than 4,000 neighborhood WeatherNet monitoring systems nationwide and growing rapidly, AWS' WeatherNet is the world's largest real-time weather network -- more than three times the size of the National Weather Services reporting network, which all other weather content providers use for current conditions. Live data generated by WeatherNet is accessible via local partner television stations, PCs on the Internet, alpha-pagers, Internet-ready wireless phones and Palm Pilotsİ. AWS' WeatherNet recently garnered prestigious honors, including a highest-possible five-star rating from ZDNet for its wireless web technology, and the Television Broadcast Editors Pick of Show at the National Association of Broadcasters 2000 convention for the immensely popular new WeatherBug program, freely available at http://weatherbug.com

Launched in 1998, InstaSports enables local sports teams to better communicate with fans, team members and the media, as well as track and analyze team performance across 17 sports. Using AWS' web-to-TV technology, InstaSports allows its broadcast partners to expand their brands to the Internet by delivering personally relevant local news, reaching out to communities and supporting schools. InstaSports is widely considered the largest database of high school scores, schedules and statistics in the nation.

Unique to AWS' community content strategy is a strong value proposition for local schools. AWS' educational technology and teacher-developed K-12 curriculum provide real-time, real world applications and content for use in science, math, geography, health and journalism classrooms. AWS' education programs, currently in use at thousands of schools nationwide, recently received the coveted Media & Methods Award for Excellence in Education and are endorsed by the National Association of Partners in Education.

AWS' newest product is eNewsPlus, an opt-in news and weather alert service that notifies subscribers of breaking news, weather alerts, and other requested information via all popular wireless and online formats. For more, visit http://aws.com

About HarbourVest Partners LLC:

HarbourVest Partners, LLC, formerly Hancock Venture Partners, Inc., was established in 1982 and is now one of the largest private equity investment firms in the world, managing assets of more than $10 billion. HarbourVest has developed expertise in the areas of Internet infrastructure, networking, telecommunications, software and management buyouts. In the last two years, HarbourVest has deployed more than $500 million in more than 40 growth-stage enterprises. The firm currently has investments in the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America. Previous investments include: Clarus Corp., Commontouch Software, Inc., Daleen Technologies, Inc., Esprit Telecom Group PLC, Digital Insight Corp., NETCOM On-Line, Jacada, LTD., Quintus Corp., RADWARE, Trintech Group PLC, UUNET Technologies and Vixel Corp. HarbourVest has offices in Boston, London and Hong Kong. More information can be found at http://www.harbourvest.com