NET THEORY

Process
Working Together
As a website development company working in browser-based information
systems since 1999, we have a broad base of experience assessing the complex
needs of our clients to manage information and work-flows. Our account groups
are formed by first pairing a design lead and a technical lead to interact directly
with the client’s team from the very beginning of every new relationship. This
ensures that your business aims, marketing goals and technological needs will be
heard firsthand by a Net Theory leader with the requisite expertise to
communicate priorities to the project team. These two key roles complement
each other to marry form and function. The end result is elegantly written code,
built upon robust and scalable technologies, with a visually compelling user
interface design that meets the client’s stated objectives.

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Building Your Site

When the engineering process begins, Net Theory researches available third party
solutions that may already meet your requirements. Typically, these are Open
Source or commercially available programs, intended to be integrated as website
components. Choosing an existing customizable solution speeds time to delivery
and minimizes cost. Further, it incorporates best-of-breed features that can be
found in an existing product that has been revised over time through use by many
clients. After appropriate third party pieces have been selected, we then begin
to write custom code to fill the functional requirements that are not represented
by these modules. This custom code also incorporates your particular business
logic, molds any third party pieces to your specific needs and adds the
presentation layer containing your unique visual identity.

CONTENT
MANAGEMENT
SYSTEM

ADMIN CONTROL PANEL

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 Net Theory General Information

Net Theory General Information

Company Overview
Net Theory is a privately owned Manhattan-based web development company
specializing in e-commerce, intranets, extranets and data-driven websites.
Our primary business includes long-term design and development and support
of multiple e-commerce sites, and corporate intranet and extranet sites. Our
customer-centered approach to programming has resulted in long-standing
relationships with clients, who rely on us to build and maintain their mission criti-
cal systems. We have fully integrated a usability and brand experience group to
partner with our programming team to ensure holistic, intuitive design
driven solutions.

Mission Statement
We believe in the ability of the web to transform the way people work. It is our
goal to assist organizations in choosing and building technology that will trans-
form the way they do business.

Established
1999. New York, NY.

Strategic Direction
Our strategic direction has become closely allied with the open source move-
ment. With some of our largest clients, we have gained a wealth of expertise in
open source J2EE implementations. Our current focus is on building our code
libraries in an abstract way for maximum reuse, thus speeding our time to delivery
while minimizing costs to the client. This added efficiency allows our team more
time to concentrate on the diverse needs of the site users.

Related Experience
Our entire development focus is on creating custom browser-based software
solutions. In most cases, this means web development, although we do have
clients that are leveraging the cross-platform nature of browsers to access appli-
cations over traditional LANs. The work we do is tailored to each client, frequently
starting with third-party open source components and working to incorporate
the business logic and best practices of each company. We have long-standing
relationships with our clientele, which leads to performing ongoing work on

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mission-critical systems. We have been exposed to varying practices and

problems of a wide variety of businesses and are adept at taking what we have
learned with each experience and translating it to seemingly unrelated industries
and new client challenges.

Environment and Team

Due to the nature of our business, our work lives contain a lot of variety and we
are constantly challenging our team members with new technology and interest-
ing problems. Through careful planning for sustainable growth, we have increased
our staff steadily over almost 7 years in business. Net Theory currently employs
twelve people full time. None of our personnel are consultants.

Our environment is collaborative, friendly and functions somewhat like a lab

or a think tank. We have extremely low turnover and our combined work
experience in technology totals 86 years! (For more information on specific
work experience, please refer to Theorist biographies included with this packet.)

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 Net Theory General Information

Key Contacts
Alyson Navarro
Chief Executive Officer

Navarro has over 15 years professional experience in the technology sector, with
a focus on the music and entertainment industry. She has extensive, hands-on
experience in the software development life cycle, including needs assessment,
architecture and design, implementation, quality assurance, documentation,
and cost management. Alyson was the Director of Operations for Transactions
are Power (TAP) at The Nielsen Company’s Entertainment Information Group
before co-founding Net Theory. There she was responsible for supervising the
development of the company’s intranet site, which evolved from a small music
retailer’s customer retention program into a national decision support system for
the music industry. Prior to The Nielsen Company, Alyson served as project lead
for the development of the Agent’s Booking Companion at Creative Arts Agency
in Beverly Hills, California.

Jude Huang
Chief Technical Officer

Huang joined Net Theory in 2003 bringing with him over 15 years of professional,
technical and managerial experience in the technology sector. In addition, Huang
holds a MBA from the Goizueta School of Business at Emory University. Huang’s
strengths include directing all facets of technology and software development
projects including fiscal planning, daily operation facilitation and management of
diverse development and programming teams. His extensive working knowledge
of multiple computer software operating systems, networks and languages,
married with his exemplary management training and skills has made him an
invaluable asset to the Net Theory Team. Jude’s other executive experience
includes CTO of Mondera Inc., VP of Technology at MamaMedia and Director of
Products at Leica Geosystems.

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Theorist
David Correll
CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Prior to joining the Net Theory team, David owned and operated his own design
studio in Brooklyn, New York. Clients he has worked with include Roth Horowitz
Gallery, Bumble & Bumble, Ann Taylor, Verizon Wireless, AT&T and The Whitney
Museum, among others. He is an award-winning published designer, and his
press kit includes samples from such international publications as Idea Magazine
and Creative Review. David graduated from the Rocky Mountain College of Art
& Design with a Bachelor of Fine Art in Graphic Design & Multimedia. He has
advanced knowledge of all major design software, and possesses programming
skills in W3C Standards compliant XHTML, CSS and JavaScript.

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Theorist
Thompson M. Marzagão
Web Application Developer

Thompson joined the team as a Web Application Developer, and has grown with
Net Theory to wear many hats. He works independently to turn business strategy
and goals into interactive systems. He has experience in a variety of applications,
particularly e-commerce, advertising and content management. His expertise
has provided him with the ability to mentor and tutor other developers, especially
where J2EE technologies are involved.

Thompson also acts as project manager and technical director of all projects
that involve Net Theory’s outsourced partners in Brazil, the US and China.
Thompson graduated from the University of Michigan in 1997, and left his native
Brazil in 2002 to become a full-time resident of the U.S. Thompson also plays
the tambourine.

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Case Study
Smithsonian Business Ventures
420 Lexington Avenue, Suite 2335, New York, NY 10170

Client Industry: Publishing

The system that was delivered: Online travel guide
Deployment date: February 2007
Relevance: Branding, Content Management System, Cutting edge technology
(Ajax)

goSmithsonian.com is the online travel guide for the Smithsonian Institution and
the National Mall. Its purpose is to help people explore what the Smithsonian has
to offer and aid in planning a trip. In addition to detailed information about each
museum (including exhibits, floor plans, and pictures), the site features an interac-
tive personalized itinerary.

Behind the scenes is a full-featured content management system for administra-

tion of every site element, from copy to homepage features to WebDAV image
control, which allows the client to drag images directly from their Desktop to the
Web server. The site features an interactive Ajax calendar of events, which means
users can schedule their trip with drag-and-drop ease. Third-party content
feeds are seamlessly integrated from sources such as VIARC, WCTC, ARES and
weather.com, as well as keyword and online ad tags for site monetization.

Net Theory also created the goSmithsonian.com branding concept and identity.
The client’s initial ideas and wishes inspired our design team and branding
experts to create a specialized name, logo, and overall design look for the site
that met all the client’s promotional goals, and impressed them with our creative
impact.

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Case Study: Illustration
goSmithsonian

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Case Study
Sherry-Lehmann, Inc.
679 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10021

Client Industry: Retail Wine Sales

The system that was delivered: Browser based point of sale system for manage-
ment of mission critical sales and customer service functions (fully integrated
with website).
Deployment date: Fall 2003-Present
Relevance: Personalized and attentive service, browser-based tools for client
maintenance of content, long-term relationship

Our relationship with Sherry-Lehmann is one that has grown over time, as our
two companies have developed a strong working relationship based on trust and
expectations met. We helped Sherry-Lehmann to roll out their first website with
a very limited selection of products in the fall of 1999. Since then, their site has
expanded to include over 3,000 products and represents approximately 15% of
their business. Along the way, Sherry-Lehmann has won awards and recognition
for their site as numerous features, such as dynamic publishing, user personaliza-
tion and an intelligent product search, were added.

Net Theory’s work for Sherry-Lehmann has subsequently moved beyond the
website as we have been entrusted with the task of developing software to
manage the client’s mission-critical sales and customer service functions. In late
2003, Sherry-Lehmann deployed this entirely browser-based point-of-sale (‘’cash
register’’) system on their busy sales floor. The system is fully integrated with the
website and the client is able to manage all products and customer records for
both the store and the web from the same administrative interface.

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Case Study: Illustration
Sherry-Lehmann

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 Net Theory General Information

Case Study
GE Housewares
105 Carnegie Center, Princeton , NJ 08540

Client Industry: Consumer Goods

The system that was delivered: Content Management Tools
Deployment date: Fall 2003
Relevance: J2EE, Content Management

The division of GE handling small appliances was struggling for technological

attention and support from the larger appliances group, even though their site
traffic made up 25% of the hits to the appliances site. Products and content were
outdated and the client had no control over when updates would be made. We
built a J2EE compliant system that provided complete control over products,
manuals and product registration. Consumer calls to the GE Call Center have
dropped measurably as a result of the current and relevant content.

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Case Study: Illustration
GE Housewares

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Case Study
Marsh Inc.
Waterfront Corporate Center, 121 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030

Client Industry: Risk Management

The system that was delivered: Project Management Site for Corporate Design
and Construction
Deployment date: Winter 2000
Relevance: Cost-effectiveness

Marsh, one of the largest risk management firms in the world, initially hired Net
Theory to build a simple document management system for their Procedures
and Standards Manual, which their Corporate Design and Construction depart-
ment was distributing via CD-ROM.

The project was so successful that it quickly expanded into a complete project
management extranet which allows all participants in the construction
process to collaborate online. An automated notification system ensures that
all team members are appropriately notified as construction progresses.
New features are being developed on an ongoing basis as the project continues
to gain visibility within the organization.

The client estimated that using their own IT resources for internal feasibility
assessment and development of technical specifications would have cost
more prior to build out than the outsourced project cost after two years of
ongoing development.

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Case Study: Illustration
Marsh, Inc.

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 Net Theory General Information

Case Study
Carmichael Films
37 West 28th Street, 12th Floor, New York, NY 10001

Client Industry: Entertainment

The system that was delivered: Branding Website
Deployment date: January 2005
Relevance: Rapid development cycle, commitment to client’s goals

Carmichael Films was on a tight deadline as they prepared for the Sundance
Film Festival in January 2005. Their business focus had shifted and their website
was outdated, but it had not been a priority for the firm until they discovered
that it was actually causing them to lose potential business by delivering the
wrong message.

The biggest challenge lay in the fact that the time frame for development was
extremely short and the client’s resources were directed toward the upcoming
festival and the business opportunities surrounding the event. Our team was
intensively focused on a redesign of all visual elements as well as streamlining
the navigation and producing the code. One week before launch, content
was not ready and the almost finished site could not be launched. We further
committed our resources by agreeing to refine the existing general marketing
documents into complete written content for the site. The client entrusted us
with developing their brand message and critical content. The site launched
successfully on the day the festival opened.

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Case Study: Illustration
Carmichael Films

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 Net Theory General Information

Case Study
GE Trading & Licensing
105 Carnegie Center, Princeton , NJ 08540

Client Industry: Manufacturing

The system that was delivered: Collaborative Workspace
Deployment date: Phased Rollout, beginning in Fall 2003
Relevance: J2EE, Technological Challenges

GE approached us with the challenge of building a collaborative space that

would help them make and track global trading opportunities. The custom
development that resulted incorporates a database of all deals and their status,
with management of associated documents, threaded discussion boards,
and financial reporting.

GE uses SSO (Single Sign On) technology that allows their users to sign on to
every GE site using the same user name and password. Authorized users
are maintained in a database at corporate headquarters in Connecticut and
looked up remotely by other systems. Prior to the build of our system, only sites
maintained within GE data centers were allowed to access this database. We
were the first outside vendor to successfully implement Single Sign-On from
outside the network.

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