Received: from PACIFIC-CARRIER-ANNEX.MIT.EDU by po7.MIT.EDU (5.61/4.7) id AA03667; Wed, 25 Jan 95 20:45:48 EST Received: from europe.std.com by MIT.EDU with SMTP id AA26252; Wed, 25 Jan 95 20:45:17 EST Received: from world.std.com by europe.std.com (8.6.8.1/Spike-8-1.0) id UAA20743; Wed, 25 Jan 1995 20:34:15 -0500 Received: by world.std.com (5.65c/Spike-2.0) id AA06363; Wed, 25 Jan 1995 20:34:42 -0500 Date: Wed, 25 Jan 1995 20:34:42 +0001 (EST) From: Jessica Lipnack Sender: Jessica Lipnack Reply-To: Jessica Lipnack Subject: Press Release: MassNet Initiative Launched To: Catherine B Cordes , oldbear@arctos.com, teamnet-talk@math.ethz.ch, schrage@latimes.com, howard@wired.com, bbarker@bbn.com, Fast Company <0006190004@mcimail.com>, ritacleary@aol.com, marchiony@tcm.org, murphy@globe.com, gmoke@world.std.com, lisa@tmn.com, naturlecon@aol.com, bjjohnson@vnet.ibm.com, ellen_herman@hbsqm1.hbs.harvard.edu, millst@nws.globe.com, btaylo@globe.com, John Dix , aoglesby@warren.med.harvard.edu, snt@netcom.com, mgrandfield@bbn.com, ecw@MIT.EDU, mhking@MIT.EDU, rdshydur@MIT.EDU, presnick@MIT.EDU, boone@tmn.com, Nancy Gilman , michael_hyde@delphi.com, msa@bcs.org, george_gendron@incmag.com, geo92@aol.com, tolan@tmn.com, mkapor@kei.com, plummer@tmn.com, slevy@bbn.com, Judith Ross Smith , "W. Curtiss Priest" , Gwen Bell , Richard Dale , Coralee Whitcomb , John Howard , morgan@acm.org, Eve Sullivan , teamnet@tmn.com In-Reply-To: Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, January 26, 1995 FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, CONTACT: Lisa A. Fisher (617) 423-6207 Additional information: massnet@netage.com MASSNET INITIATIVE LAUNCHED (Boston, MA)...MASSNET: COLLABORATION FOR THE COMMONWEALTH was launched on Monday, January 23, during a day-long event at The Computer Museum in Boston with great support from a diverse group of 225 business, education, government, and community leaders. The group unanimously voted for an umbrella, non-profit organization bringing together people and technology to boost economic growth in the Massachusetts region. Both a steering group and an advisory board were formed on the spot with Congressman Ed Markey and Rosabeth Moss Kanter of the Harvard Business School as the first volunteers. Markey, who formerly chaired the House of Representative's Telecommunications Subcommittee, said, "MassNet is an historic event that has pulled together the entire community. Massachusetts could be the capital of the digital domain, but we've created a generation of stand-alone geniuses who don't talk to each other. We need to foster the Silicon Valley hot-tub mentality where people talk to each other and schmooze." During her keynote address, which was enthusiastically received, Kanter added, "We are strong on concepts here but we need better connections among the sources and entrepreneurs. MassNet will aid that effort." "The vision represented by the MassNet initiative is perfectly aligned with the interests and needs of Massachusetts and the New England region and we at BBN will back it in every way we can," said Stephen R. Levy, Chairman of Bolt Beranek and Newman, and new advisory board member of MassNet. Professor and author Peter Drucker, who has been called the father of modern management, made a rare appearance by interactive video. Drucker addressed the evolution from the agricultural worker to the manufacturing worker to the information worker and the need for communication structures and networks to support the new technology. He stated, "We're in the midst of the biggest social change in human history. Perhaps we should call this new era, 'The Society of Networks.'" Drucker continued, "The first rule of the information society is that you must make yourself understood, which is different. Most of your jobs didn't even exist ten years ago." A high point of the day included an interactive conference with Harry Saal, CEO of Smart Valley, a business effort in Silicon Valley that helped inspire MassNet. Smart Valley has been successful in applying networking technologies to revitalize education, address health care cost and quality, make local government more responsive, create jobs, and keep business in the area. During the later part of the meeting, the group broke into working sessions and proposed 21 collaborations to boost the regional economy and civic community of Massachusetts. A sampling of these included Small Business Development; New Technology Applications; Public Sector Agencies; Health Care; Job Bank; Philanthropy Online; and Kids & Parents Online, among others. MassNet was designed by local business people led by Jessica Lipnack and Jeffrey Stamps, founders of The Networking Institute and authors of THE AGE OF THE NETWORK. "The inaugural meeting of MassNet was an extremely important meeting including all sectors in the Massachusetts economy: medical, government, education, business, and the community," said Frank Reece, CEO of US TeleCenters, one of the event sponsors. He continues, "What was enthusiastically supported was the need for a good technology infrastructure for the Commonwealth to support the work of businesses and communities. MassNet can provide that link." Other charter sponsors of MassNet include: Arthur Andersen, CFM, Inc., Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, The Computer Museum, CSC Index, EarthWeb, Inc., Interaction Associates, MIT Community Fellows Program, The Networking Institute, Oliver Wight/Omneo Publications, The Prosperity Collaborative, Steelcase Boston, US TeleCenters, and volunteers from the Boston Computer Society. -30-