BellSouth RealPages.com Advertisers to be Featured on Switchboard Yellow Pages
ATLANTA and WESTBORO, Mass., Dec. 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- BellSouth® RealPages®.com, a leading online yellow pages provider and Switchboard Incorporated (Nasdaq: SWBD), a leading provider of directory technology and online yellow pages solutions, today announced that they have reached agreement to incorporate RealPages.com advertiser listings for the Southeastern United States into the Switchboard directory platform, providing users with premier yellow pages content from this region. The implementation will give RealPages.com advertisers online exposure to Switchboard's sizeable national audience of more than 5 million unique users per month. RealPages.com content is expected to launch on the Switchboard network in the first quarter of 2003.
"Switchboard's distribution complements our Internet advertising product line. It provides our advertisers with the ability to reach more consumers in the Southeast and across the country, which ultimately increases the value of their online advertising investment," said Charles Stubbs, president of Intelligent Media Ventures, LLC, a subsidiary of BellSouth Advertising & Publishing Corporation.
BellSouth is the first regional Bell company to display advertiser listings on Switchboard. The advertiser listings will feature links to websites, email addresses, as well as other advertiser products. The listings will also include business information such as hours of operation, services provided, and brands carried.
"Today, we have taken a step forward in the evolution and development of our relationship with BellSouth, a key player in the yellow pages directory industry," said Dean Polnerow, president and founder of Switchboard Incorporated. "As one of the most visited yellow pages destinations on the Internet, Switchboard continues to demonstrate that it can add value to players like BellSouth and the local yellow pages customers they serve."
About BellSouth Corporation
BellSouth Corporation (NYSE: BLS) is a Fortune 100 communications services company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, serving more than 44 million customers in the United States and 14 other countries.
Consistently recognized for customer satisfaction, BellSouth provides a full array of broadband data solutions to large, medium and small business customers. In the residential market, BellSouth offers DSL high-speed Internet access, advanced voice features and other services. BellSouth offers long distance service for both business and consumer customers in Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina and South Carolina. The company's BellSouth Answers(SM) package combines local and long distance service with an array of calling features; wireless data, voice and e-mail services; and high- speed DSL or dial-up Internet service. BellSouth also provides online and directory advertising services through BellSouth RealPages.com and The Real Yellow Pages®. BellSouth owns 40 percent of Cingular Wireless, the nation's second largest wireless company, which provides innovative wireless data and voice services.
About Switchboard Incorporated
Headquartered in Westborough, Mass., Switchboard Incorporated is the leading provider of Web-hosted directory technologies and customized yellow pages platforms to yellow pages publishers, newspaper publishers and Internet portals that offer online local directory advertising solutions to national retailers and brick and mortar merchants across a full range of Internet and wireless platforms. Switchboard offers a broad range of functions, content and services including yellow and white pages, product directory, What's Nearby(SM) proximity searching, and interactive maps and driving directions. Viewed more than 100 million times each month, Switchboard.com (http://www.switchboard.com) is an excellent resource to consumers and a showcase for Switchboard's superior directory technologies and breadth of product offerings. ePresence (Nasdaq: EPRE) owns approximately 52.0% of the outstanding shares of Switchboard. "Switchboard" and "What's Nearby" are registered service marks and "Switchboard Matrix" is a service mark of Switchboard Incorporated. Other trademarks and service marks used in this release are the property of their respective owners.
Forward-Looking Statements
This release contains forward-looking statements based on current expectations or beliefs, as well as a number of assumptions about future events, and these statements are subject to important factors and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements in this release address a variety of subjects including, for example, the economic value and utility of the products and services offered by Switchboard to Switchboard's alliance partners and customers. The following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in these forward-looking statements: Switchboard's alliance with BellSouth may fail to evolve as hoped, or may fail to produce the expected benefits. For a detailed discussion of other cautionary statements, please refer to Switchboard's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including Switchboard's Amendment No. 1 to Annual Report on Form 10-K filed on September 19, 2002 and its most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2002, filed on November 14, 2002. Switchboard cautions readers to consider carefully the foregoing factors and other such factors. Further, Switchboard's forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which such statements are made. Switchboard disclaims any intention or obligation to update any forward-looking statements as a result of developments occurring after the date of this press release. SOURCE Switchboard Incorporated.
Contact: Switchboard Elaine Haney (508)898-8146 [email protected]
BellSouth David Rogers (678)406-2457 [email protected]