Locus obtains certified status in Microsoft Partner Program

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., 26 January 2005, — Locus Technologies (Locus), a leader in environmental information management, today announced that it has earned Microsoft Certified Partner status for software developed as part of Locus’s award-winning LocusFocusSM suite of environmental business solutions. The LocusFocus suite is a web-based environmental data management system – EIM™, along with Locus’s other environmental portal software applications for document management, environmental remediation system automation, waste management, and the soon-to-be-released air data management module.

“Only companies that have demonstrated high levels of customer service, proved their experience, and attained advanced certification receive the designation of Microsoft Certified Partner,” said Allison Watson, vice president of the Worldwide Partner Sales and Marketing Group at Microsoft. “Today, Microsoft recognizes Locus Technologies for its skills and expertise in providing customer satisfaction with Microsoft products and technology.”

Locus is pleased that its industry leading, web-based environmental database is based on Microsoft technology. “We find the Microsoft name to be immensely valuable when selling systems to Fortune 100 companies who value EIM’s Microsoft database engine behind the scenes,” said Dr. Neno Duplancic, President and CEO of Locus. “With more than 5,000 sites worldwide and millions of environmental records being managed in EIM, it’s clear that having a Microsoft database engine is a key differentiator in the marketplace and provides our clients with a high degree confidence in our systems.”

Microsoft appreciates companies like Locus that have skills and expertise in providing customer satisfaction with Microsoft products and technology. Microsoft Certified Partner status proves a high degree of competency and expertise with Microsoft technologies. Standards for acceptance into Microsoft Partner community are strict. To achieve Microsoft Certified Partner status, Locus satisfied Microsoft Competency requirements by proving its
ability and proficiency to develop high-quality products and software solutions based on Microsoft technologies.

“We are extremely pleased to have earned certified status in the Microsoft Partner Program. The certified status allows us to promote our relationship with Microsoft to our customers. The benefits provided through our certified membership will allow us to continue to enhance the offerings that we provide for customers,” added Dr. Duplancic.

The Microsoft Partner Program was launched in December 2003 and represents Microsoft’s ongoing commitment to the success of partners worldwide. The Microsoft Partner Program offers a single, integrated partnering framework that recognizes partner expertise, rewards the total impact that partners have in the technology marketplace, and delivers more value to help partners’ businesses be successful.

SLAC to implement LocusFocus environmental data system

System to Help SLAC Uphold a Commitment to Environmental Stewardship

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., 14 January 2004 — Locus Technologies (Locus), a global leader in environmental information management, today announced that Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) selected its web-based Environmental Information Management System (EIM[TM]) and LocusFocus(SM) environmental portal for management of important environmental data and information at their 430-acre Stanford campus located in Menlo
Park, California. EIM™ and the LocusFocus(SM) environmental portal are award-winning web-based tools for enterprise environmental information management.

Locus’s environmental data management system will be used by SLAC as a key part of their commitment to environmental stewardship. LocusFocus(SM) will be used to support SLAC’s environmental management needs, including data consolidation, multimedia evaluations, environmental restoration data analysis and reporting (including reporting California GeoTracker EDF format), document management, graphical analysis, statistical analysis, and spatial analysis and mapping.

“We are very pleased to have been selected by SLAC to provide solutions and support to the complex world of environmental data management,” said Dr. Neno Duplancic, president and CEO of Locus Technologies. “What is especially gratifying is that LocusFocus(SM) was selected after an exhaustive analysis of competing systems and approaches. We are proud to be the solution that will help SLAC achieve a more focused, streamlined, and quality focused data management process that will help them achieve their long-term goals in environmental stewardship,” added Dr. Duplancic.

Locus’s EIM™ and LocusFocus(SM) web-based environmental data management systems provide clients a streamlined, easy to use, easy to access, comprehensive package to manage the wealth of data and information collected and developed as part of environmental activities. As the first system developed for the web, LocusFocus(SM) gives clients instant and universal access to data previously stored in non-integrated diverse silo systems. As part of Locus’s services, their data migration experts will assist clients in efficiently resolving historical data issues and creating economical, useful, secure, and accessible web-based data for all team members to share, collaborate, report, and archive.

Locus Wins Geothermal, Inc. Facility Closure Project

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, 6 October 2003 — Locus Technologies (Locus), a leader in environmental consulting and construction services, announced today that it has been awarded a contract to provide design-build services for closure of the Geothermal Inc. (GI) Facility Closure Project. The contract will be performed over a three-year period.

The GI Facility is an inactive disposal facility located near Middletown, Lake County, California. The facility includes seven surface impoundments and two disposal trenches that accepted liquid and solid waste from the geothermal energy exploration and production fields. The non-hazardous waste is a mixture of geothermal well drilling fluids and other geothermal power plant wastes. The three-year facility closure will consist of completing the final engineering design and necessary closure documents, obtaining necessary permits, and performing closure construction activities. The waste will be solidified and capped with a low-permeability engineered closure cover system consisting of a geomembrane barrier layer, geocomposite drainage layer, and clean vegetated soil cover. Pond liquids will be treated using reverse-osmosis and thin-film solar evaporation technologies. In addition, phytoremediation will be used to lower groundwater to achieve the required separation from the waste. Disposal trenches will be excavated, solidified, and consolidated into the closure cells. When implemented, closure will assure the long-term protection of human health and environment.

GI’s owners and operators abandoned the site in 1986 and filed for bankruptcy before posting their required closure bond. Consequently, 17 companies that disposed of material at GI are financing the closure. A Site Management Committee with top environmental staff from five of the companies has been planning the closure. Under the contract, Locus will provide turnkey professional consulting, engineering, and construction services for remedial
construction.

“We are very pleased to be selected by the GI Site Management Committee to close the GI site. This further demonstrates Locus’s ability to provide turnkey consulting and construction services to our clients on complex, multidisciplinary soil and groundwater sites. We will be working closely with the Cooperating Entities, other specialty consultants, regulators, and the public to implement the remedy and restore the site,” said Dr. Neno
Duplancic, President and CEO of Locus Technologies.

Chevron Environmental Management Company selects Locus’ web portal for environmental laboratory data management

SAN FRANCISCO, 30 September 2003 — Locus Technologies (Locus), a global leader in environmental information management, today announced that Chevron Environmental Management Company, a subsidiary of ChevronTexaco Corporation, San Ramon, California, has selected Locus’s web-based Environmental Information Management System™ (EIM™) for management of Chevron’s Environmental Laboratory Data at their environmental remediation projects. EIM™ is a module of Locus’s award-winning LocusFocus(SM) web portal for environmental information management.

As a part of an effort to consolidate analytical data and provide uniform environmental database management practices across its organization, Chevron Environmental Management Company decided to utilize a web-based system and will start using LocusFocus(SM) immediately.

Using a web-based system to organize and manage large amounts of environmental information, EIM™ provides users real-time access to crucial information that heretofore had been stored in distributed systems accessible to only a few. The development and deployment of these web-based databases requires deep content knowledge and years of experience developing applications for the environmental industry. Locus’s core team has more than 60 years of experience in this area and has worked with clients ranging from numerous Fortune 500 companies to the Department of Energy and the US military. Locus believes its dual expertise in content knowledge and computer applications has enabled it to develop the best-available tool to manage environmental information in existence today. LocusFocus(SM) is built on a robust infrastructure that leverages the latest web technologies, such as XML and Web Services, and utilizes advanced security and backup devices and tools to protect each client’s data.

“Clearly, the bet we are placing on web-based environmental software is a big one. And part of what makes it big is that it encompasses a solution to a problem that could not have been delivered to the environmental industry without the web. Environmental projects generate huge amounts of data that need to be analyzed and put to beneficial use. Complex and expensive decisions hinge on the accessibility, quality, and ease of use of this data, all of which better software tools can help to alleviate. Driving the content and technology solution at the same time requires a lot of work, but it is necessary, if one aspires to lead this industry. We are happy to have Chevron Environmental Management Company join the family of Locus clients,” said Dr. Neno Duplancic, president and CEO of Locus Technologies.

“There are many assets trapped in inefficient environmental information management, including excessive man hours to load laboratory deliverables, search for information, and produce reports. Companies are now pragmatically adopting these new technologies to improve the bottom line of their environmental projects,” added Duplancic.

Locus selects LiveVault to ensure the recoverability of its critical environmental data

Locus Technologies will provide its customers with guaranteed recovery through LiveVault

MARLBOROUGH, MASS. AND SAN FRANCISCO, CA, 5 AUGUST 2003 — LiveVault Corporation® (www.livevault.com), the leading provider of fully managed online backup and recovery services for business servers, and Locus Technologies (www.locustec.com), the leader in information management technology for the environmental industry, today announced that Locus has selected LiveVault Online Backup and Recovery Service™ to protect its customers’ critical environmental and business data. Locus Technologies’ customers are a number of Fortune-500 companies who subscribe to LocusFocus(SM) to manage their critical environmental information through Locus’s environmental portal.

“We are very pleased that our partnership with LiveVault will provide online backup and guaranteed recovery for our award-winning, web-based environmental information management portal, LocusFocus(SM) and EIM™,” said Dr. Neno Duplancic, President and CEO of Locus Technologies. “Now, large enterprise environmental information management applications have fully secured, controlled, web-based solutions through LocusFocus and EIM™, that are fully protected by LiveVault against system failure, virus, human error or other disaster.” Locus Technologies subscribes to LiveVault through channel partner US Data Trust (www.usdatatrust.com).

“It certainly demonstrates the value LiveVault’s online backup and recovery service provides when a trusted provider like Locus Technologies trusts LiveVault to protect their customers’ critical data,” said Bob Cramer, president and CEO of LiveVault. “LiveVault’s continuous online backup, and recovery guarantee, ensures that environmental and other data intensive businesses are always protected. Not just the data created last week, or last night, but the data created today, this minute, this hour.” LiveVault’s Online Backup and Recovery Service continuously backs up business server data via a secure Internet connection, and immediately stores it in an off-site Iron Mountain® (NYSE: IRM) facility, where it is available for immediate recovery in the event of a system failure, virus, human error or other disaster.

The LiveVault service is designed for customers with servers that reside outside of major data centers—such as remote or branch offices, or mid-sized businesses—and who have primarily relied on in-house tape backups to keep their data safe. Analysts estimate that nearly 50 percent of tape-based backups fail to restore properly, exposing these businesses to significant risk. Conversely, LiveVault guarantees recovery of all business-critical data
and allows companies to return to the state of their business prior to a data-loss event. For more information on LiveVault’s data protection and disaster recovery solutions, please visit www.livevault.com or call (800) 638-5518. For more information on Locus Technologies solutions for the environmental industry, now with data protected by LiveVault, please visit www.locustec.com or call (925) 906-8100.

 

ABOUT LIVEVAULT
LiveVault Corporation is the leading provider of fully managed online data backup and recovery services. LiveVault automatically and continuously backs up server data, and protects it in a secure, remote Iron Mountain facility, and makes it immediately available for recovery 7×24. Through its partnerships with Iron Mountain (NYSE: IRM), Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ), Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), and others, LiveVault helps ensure the business continuity of mid-sized businesses, as well as distributed offices of larger enterprises. Founded in 1993, LiveVault is based in Marlborough, Mass. For more information, visit www.livevault.com or call (508) 460-6670.

Mayfield general partner invests in Locus Technologies

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., 13 March 2003 — Locus Technologies (Locus), a leader in environmental information management, today announced that Mr. Wendell G. “Van” Van Auken, a General Partner of Mayfield, has invested personally in the company. Mr. Van Auken is an acknowledged mentor to entrepreneurs interested in building strong corporate organizations with solid financial structures. His combination of operating and financial expertise enables him to assist management in optimizing both market opportunities and company valuations.

As a partner at Mayfield, Mr. Van Auken has led investments in a wide range of industries. He is particularly interested in enterprise software. Mr. Van Auken currently serves on the Board of Directors of Advent Software (ADVS), Efficient Marketing Services, Global English, Montgomery Street Income Securities (MTS) and Skystream. He holds an M.B.A. from Stanford University and a B.S. in electrical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

“I am very excited to become a part owner of Locus Technologies to help advise their talented management team. Locus’s web-based enterprise software for the environmental industry is an innovative solution that allows companies and governmental organizations to better control and manage their environmental liabilities. The company has the potential to capture and maintain a leadership position in the large, underserved, technology market for environmental information management,” said Mr. Van Auken. The LocusFocus portal includes remote control and monitoring of treatment systems, Environmental Information Management (EIM™), document management, and collaboration tools. The EIM™ database is designed to manage the vast quantities of sampling, analytical, and geotechnical data that are typically collected during the investigation, cleanup, and monitoring of contaminated sites.

“Locus is very happy to have Mr. Van Auken as an investor and advisor to the company. His vast experience at Mayfield in building successful rapid-growth technology companies from start-up, including financial and business planning, operational analysis, and executive decision-making, will be a tremendous asset to Locus,” said Mr. Neno Duplancic, president and chief executive officer of Locus.”

Locus teams with MCC to provide accelerated groundwater remediation technology

WALNUT CREEK, Calif., 1 November 2002 — Locus Technologies (Locus), a global leader in environmental engineering, remediation and information management, announced today an exclusive teaming agreement with MCC Technology, Inc. (MCC) in the application of their patented Closed-Loop Bioreactor Technology. As part of its joint application and marketing partnership with MCC, Locus will be offering this remediation technology to its existing Fortune 500 client base and prospective new clients. MCC has committed to supporting Locus with the operational infrastructure and on-site operation of the remediation technology. The patented Closed-Loop Bioreactor Technology is gaining considerable interest in the engineering community for its ability to rapidly remove phase separated hydrocarbons from groundwater, often in less than 60 days. Likewise, it has the ability dissolve groundwater contaminants quickly, often within a 9-month period or less. Locus believes this technology will offer clients the ability to rapidly obtain closure for their groundwater sites, often in less than a year. The system is effective on common fuel constituents, such as BTEX, as well as pervasive additives, such as MTBE.

“The application of the Closed-Loop Bioreactor Technology will make the closure of complicated groundwater sites a reality. Clients can now make informed business decisions about the value of impaired properties in months, rather than years. Our system will reduce project cleanup schedules often by as much as 75%, allowing the value of impaired property to be realized and credited. Closure costs can now be more precisely defined, with substantial savings compared to traditional technology. The Closed-Loop Bioreactor delivers yet another powerful tool to Locus’s arsenal of cost savings technologies designed to lower cost at environmentally impacted sites,” said Neno Duplancic, President and CEO of Locus Technologies.

 

ABOUT MCC TECHNOLOGIES
MCC provides long-term remediation of soil and groundwater caused by contamination of hydrocarbon-based pollutants. With more than 15 years of experience in remediation, the patented Bio-Sparge(SM) system has recently been approved as an innovative technology for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

Locus releases eWell on Symbol units

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., 1 January 2002 — Locus Technologies (Locus), a global leader in environmental information management, announced today that they have released a new version of eWell, a PDA- and Internet-based application for recording water level data in the field. As part of its joint application development and marketing partnership with Symbol Technologies, Locus has committed to making all of its hand-held applications compatible with Symbol mobile computing devices. This new version of eWell, which runs on Symbol units, represents the first step toward this eventual goal.

eWell consists of two components: a standalone application which resides on the Symbol devices and a web-based module for uploading, downloading, and reviewing data. It can be used either as an independent application or in conjunction with LocusFocus(SM), Locus’s environmental web portal. Users of eWell download route and historical water level information from the web onto their Symbol units. In the field, the Symbol units are used to record water level and other field readings as well as to compare current with past values. Users can also take advantage of the bar-coding capabilities of the Symbol devices to record well location and measuring equipment information.

Back in the office, data collected in the field is uploaded onto the web through cradle synchronization or wireless synchronization using Symbol units equipped with wireless technology, such as the Palm™-powered SPT 1800 series. Data is then reviewed for accuracy and completeness. After all checks have been completed, readings are moved to Locus’s Environmental Information Management™ (EIM™) web-based database. This database can serve as the sole repository for this information, or firms can elect to download the data to their own corporate databases. eWell is currently being used on several large groundwater monitoring sites both in California and Nevada.

“The release of this new version of eWell delivers yet another powerful tool to Locus’s arsenal of web-based technologies designed to lower the cost of data collection and management at environmentally impacted sites,” said Neno Duplancic, President and CEO Locus Technologies.

 

ABOUT SYMBOL TECHNOLOGIES
Symbol Technologies, Inc. is a global leader in mobile data transaction systems, providing innovative customer solutions based on wireless local area networking for data and voice, application-specific mobile computing and bar code data capture. Information about Symbol is available at www.symbol.com, or by telephone at (631) 738-2400 or (800) 722-6234.

Locus and STP Specialty Technical Publishers team up to provide PDA auditing tool

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, 13 September 2002 — Locus Technologies (Locus), a global leader in environmental information management, announced today that it has entered into a marketing partnership with STP Specialty Technical Publishers. The two companies will develop application software focusing on compliance, auditing, and data and information gathering and management for the environmental, waste management, and due diligence industries.

Locus initially intends to add checklists, guidelines, and other content developed by STP Specialty Technical Publishers to eSurvey, Locus’s integrated environmental health and safety (EH&S) auditing software tool used by auditors in the field to record deficiencies as they are noted, either directly into a Palm OS™- or Pocket PC™-based personal digital assistant (PDA) or a Symbol Technologies™ unit equipped with a bar code reader. eSurvey
is a module of LocusFocusSM, Locus Technologies’ award-winning, comprehensive environmental web portal.

The functionality of eSurvey is provided through three separate interfaces: the PDA interface, a web-based user interface, and a web-based management interface. After an audit or inspection is completed, results are uploaded into a holding table on a networked database. Through the user interface, auditors can review and, as necessary, modify their findings before final logging into the system. Managers can track deficiencies in their various areas and monitor progress in resolving issues, as well as comment and schedule re-audits through the web-based management interface. eSurvey also includes e-mailing and customized reporting capabilities. Through the web-based user interface, EH&S staff can also print customized reports and presentations.

“We are very pleased that, through this partnership, STP Specialty Technical Publishers content will be made available to our customers via eSurvey. Auditors will be able to access familiar STP Specialty Technical Publishers auditing checklists and guidance in the field, directly through eSurvey, thus significantly reducing the time to perform the audits, reducing errors, and eliminating double-input of audit information,” said Mr. Neno Duplancic, President and CEO of Locus. “STP Specialty Technical Publishers content on eSurvey will be of particular interest to large industrial companies with numerous, complex industrial sites and those performing due diligence audits for Merger and Acquisition (M&A) industries,” added Duplancic.

“We are delighted to be able to offer our tried-and-tested compliance and auditing content in such an exciting new medium, and we look forward to working in partnership with Locus Technologies. While still producing our guides in the more traditional mediums we need to be at the cutting edge of technology in order to meet the needs of the entire compliance community,” says Chris Heming, president of STP Specialty Technical Publishers.

 

ABOUT STP SPECIALTY TECHNICAL PUBLISHERS
STP Specialty Technical Publishers, one of North America’s leading publishers of reference and interpretive materials, publishes environmental, health & safety, transportation, business management, and accounting guides, including International Standard Organization (ISO) guides. STP Specialty Technical Publishers publications are authored by experts in their respective fields who monitor changing laws and regulations to provide meaningful and practical updates. More information about the company can be obtained at www.stpub.com or by telephone at (604) 983-3434 or (800) 251-0381.

Locus and Symbol team up to help the environment

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., 20 February 2002 — Locus Technologies (Locus), a global leader in environmental information management, announced today that the company has entered into a joint application development and marketing partnership with Symbol Technologies, Inc. (Symbol). Locus and Symbol plan to develop and provide application software and business solutions focusing on data and information gathering and management in the environmental and waste management industries.

Data acquisition, storage, and management have been the Achilles Heel of the environmental industry for years. The investigations and cleanups of contaminated waste sites produce enormous amounts of data on the nature and extent of contamination at a site. At larger, more complex sites, it is not uncommon to drill several thousand boreholes and wells, collect tens of thousands of samples, and then analyze each of these for several hundred contaminants. Long-term monitoring of conditions at such sites, even after the initial cleanup is complete, can last for decades and cost thousands to several million dollars per year per site. Given that there are an estimated 300,000-400,000 contaminated sites in the United States alone, it is clear that both industry and government face significant “stewardship” costs for decades to come, and that much of these costs will be charges related to data collection and information management.

The data overload is not just limited to contaminated waste sites. The operation of water/wastewater treatment plants and various emission and process monitoring systems at industrial plants also generate enormous quantities of data.

The Locus and Symbol partnership will enable the collection of environmental data which can be facilitated using Symbol Technologies hand-held devices equipped with bar code readers feeding information directly into LocusFocus (SM), Locus’s award winning environmental web-portal and environmental information management (EIM) system. Locus’s existing Palm Pilot and PocketPC applications for Environmental, Health and Safety audits (eSurvey) and water level readings (eWell) will be ported to Symbol devices. Possibilities for expansion of these applications into other areas are limitless.

“A substantial reward awaits those companies with the vision and the will to take advantage of new technologies. Those companies that adopt hand-held wireless applications and web-based systems for data acquisition and storage, that bring greater automation to their environmental information management processes, and that otherwise eliminate inefficiencies stand to gain a substantial return on their investment, “ said Mr. Neno Duplancic, President and CEO of Locus.

“We are very pleased to join forces with Locus to bring the next generation of wireless and mobile computing products and solutions from Symbol to the growing environmental market.

Locus is in a leading role to improve field data collection. By automating field data acquisition, companies dealing with environmental problems stand to lower their operating cost, while helping to improve the environment at the same time,” said Mr. Stanley P. Jaworski, Vice President of Worldwide Channels and Alliances.

 

ABOUT SYMBOL TECHNOLOGIES
Symbol Technologies, Inc., winner of the National Medal of Technology, is a global leader in mobile data transaction systems, providing innovative customer solutions based on wireless local area networking for data and voice, application-specific mobile computing and bar code data capture. Symbol’s wireless information appliances connect the physical world of people on the move, packages, paper and shipping pallets, to information systems and the Internet. Today, some 10 million Symbol bar code scanners, mobile computers and wireless LANs are utilized worldwide in markets ranging from retailing to transportation and distribution logistics, manufacturing, parcel and postal delivery, government, healthcare and education. Symbol’s systems and products are used to increase productivity from the factory floor to the retail store, to the enterprise and out to the home. Information about
Symbol is available at www.symbol.com, or by telephone at (631) 738-2400 or (800) 722-6234.