HP AND REUTERS LEAD $35M EQUITY INVESTMENT IN NORTHERN LIGHT TECHNOLOGY LLC

HP AND REUTERS LEAD $35M EQUITY INVESTMENT IN NORTHERN LIGHT TECHNOLOGY LLC :: Confirms Northern Light's Leadership in Information Commerce Cambridge, Massachusetts, April 26 - Northern Light Technology LLC (http://www.nlsearch.com) today announced that two of the most highly regarded companies in the computing and imaging and media industries - Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE: HWP) and Reuters Group PLC (Nasdaq: RTRSY) - are leading a U.S dollars 35 million investment in the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company. HP and Reuters are expecting to work with Northern Light to develop professional products focused on vertical information markets. Northern Light will work with HP to incorporate HP's Internet printing technology and personal publishing software into its service to provide users with desktop publishing quality from Web documents. With this new financing, Northern Light has raised a total of dlrs 50 million in equity finance since it was founded in 1996. Laura Cory, general manager of electronic publishing services for HP LaserJet Imaging Systems said: ''The investment in Northern Light is an important step in HP's strategy of building e-publishing services. HP evaluated a variety of partners in this area. We were impressed both by the broad range of content licensed by Northern Light as well as their integrated search capability across both their content and the Web. Northern Light's information commerce platform will complement HP's future e-services.'' Ms Cory will be joining NL's board of directors as a result of the investment. John Taysom, director of new business development for Reuters commented: ''We expect Northern Light Technology will enable us to build industry focused information products that are vertical portals.'' Mr Taysom will be joining Northern Light's board of directors. HP is one of the largest and most respected computing and imaging providers in the country and Reuters is one of the world's leading financial information and news groups. ''We are encouraged and honored by the confidence these industry leaders have shown in our company and the technologies we have developed,'' said David Seuss, chief executive officer of Northern Light. ''The new strategic investors in Northern Light understand the growing importance of information commerce in the world that the Web has wrought, and are affirming Northern Light as a supplier of technology and services. The new funds will enable us to strengthen our position as the premier Internet research service and information commerce platform.'' The Times Mirror Company also contributed to this second round of financing as did: Leonard Riggio, the chairman and chief executive officer of Barnes and Noble, Inc; Andrew McKelvey, the chief executive officer of TMP Worldwide (NYSE: TMPW), which owns the leading online career site, Monster.com; Jon Moynihan, executive chairman of PA Consulting Group, the international management consulting firm; two groups of investors organised by ZA Associates of Morristown, New Jersey; and Adam Smith and Company. ZA Associates, led by managing partners Robert Agriogianis and Michael Zaroff, included Gregory Whitten, formerly chief architect of language and office applications for Microsoft Corporation. Credit Suisse First Boston acted as advisor and placement agent to Northern Light in the transaction. Tom Unterman, executive vice president and chief financial officer for Times Mirror Company, said: ''In these times of the dumbing down of search engines into portals, the new corporate and individual investors in Northern Light recognise that best-of-class search tools make the experience of finding information on the Web more productive. Northern Light is demonstrating its capabilities as the leader in defining information commerce.'' About Northern Light Northern Light Technology LLC (http://www.nlsearch.com) is the developer of the world's first research engine. The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company provides enterprises and individuals with access to highly relevant, quality information from a variety of sources. Northern Light's research engine intuitively combines the reach of the world's largest(A) World Wide Web search engine with access to over 5,400 premium full-text sources previously unavailable except to users of expensive commercial online services. Northern Light features exclusive classification and organisation technology so users more quickly find the information they need. Northern Light has a broad array of technologies and operating capabilities to enable Web-based information commerce. Northern Light Technology was founded by a seasoned management team of librarians, software engineers, and information professionals who recognised the need to fill the gap left by search engines and private research services. Northern Light introduced its research engine in August of 1997. Note(A): Based on Search Engine Showdown, The Users' Guide to Web Searching by Greg Notess [http://www.notess.com/search/stats/] - statistics updated March 5 1999. Contact: Susan M. Stearns, Northern Light, Massachusetts +1 617 577 2194, or email sstearns@northernlight.com or Peter Delgrosso, Blanc & Otus, tel +1 617 2259990 or email pdelgrosso@bando.com ends lah