VZones Press Releases

This page contains press releases that were issued by Inworlds.com and Avaterra.com, Inc when they did business as VZones. Press released related to the company will also be found here.

1999

July

22nd

AVATERRA.COM LAUNCHES SCI-FI VIRTUAL ZONE

First Element Launches Today in Cooperation with TriWay Promotions

SANTA CLARA, Calif., July 22, 1999 -- The success of television shows like the X-Files points to our insatiable appetite for information about UFOs. Capitalizing on this interest, Avaterra.com, Inc. (AVAR-OTC/BB), a provider of avatar-based technologies and services for the next generation of Internet communities, launched today its latest VirtualZone called VZscifi -- an online community of UFO experts and enthusiasts at www.avaterra.com/VZscifi. The Zone will kick off with a virtual area called UFOchat, produced in cooperation with TriWay Promotions of Los Angeles, which opens today at 6:00 p.m. PST.

VZscifi will feature a range of Sci-Fi, UFO and fantasy content, with UFOchat focused on top UFO researchers, renowned authors, military personnel and lecturers coming together to conduct online lectures, workshops, seminars and interactive sharing of research and knowledge in real time. All of these activities are happening within Avaterra.com's graphically rich VirtualZones, where visitors are represented on-screen as avatars -- or customized graphical representations of themselves -- and can see, talk and interact with other visitors.

"This launch marks another milestone in our strategy to build commercially sponsored, targeted Internet communities based on our VirtualZone concept," said David Andrews, president and CEO of Avaterra.com. "UFOs and the paranormal are popular topics on the Internet, so we expect to generate tremendous traffic to our new VZscifi zone."

Marcia Pellitteri, CEO of TriWay Promotions, is credited with booking the leading UFO experts who will be conducting daily chats and events. Participants include Jim Hickman of SkyWatch International, Derrel Sims, CM.Ht., R.H.A., former intelligence staff for the C.I.A., popular author Dr. Roger Leir, retired Air Force Major George Filer, John Carpenter, Joyce Murphy and many others.

"We're providing a place where people from all over the world can access the latest research information about UFOs," explained Pellitteri. "And by hosting this community inside Avaterra.com's avatar-inhabited environment on the Internet, we're able to have people interact in real time with knowledgeable speakers and participate in interactive workshops with leading researchers and celebrities in the UFO field."

About Avaterra.com, Inc.

Avaterra.com was formed in May 1999, when it acquired core technologies from Fujitsu's WorldsAway Products and Services Group, in order to develop its VirtualZone business model. The company builds VirtualZone communities on the Internet where consumers interact, play, shop, educate and socialize within a graphical environment where they and other visitors are represented as avatars (customized graphical representations of themselves). VirtualZones are built around specific topics to attracted targeted audiences, and they are commercially sponsored by brand advertisers. Avaterra.com's two showcase VirtualZones have been online for more than three years and include members from around the world, meeting 24 hours a day.

Avaterra.com provides superior community-building technology with features like customizable graphics, high subscriber involvement, a working economy based on tokens, several patent-pending tools for social order and management, and one of the highest "stickiness" factors on the web (with an average session length of 3.5 hours). The company derives revenue from its unique advertising venues, fee-based membership, custom virtual community development and software co-licensing.

Avaterra.com is publicly traded on the OTC Bulletin Board under ticker symbol AVAR. For more investor information, please call 1-888-845-5853 or e-mail ir@avaterra.com, or visit the company web site at avaterra.com.

In keeping with U.S. law, Avaterra.com, Inc. notes that this press release includes forward-looking statements. Actual results may vary significantly due to various risks and uncertainties. Those include, but are not limited to, the risk that new technologies are inherently subject to development, timing and consumer acceptance risks.

All trademarks, trade names, registered trademarks, or registered trade names are property of their respective holders.

October

5th

Avaterra at the Discovery Expo in NY

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 5, 1999--No matter the market gyrations today, there will come a time when investors will wish they'd bought some new hot stock of the new millennium back in '99. Brokers, analysts, fund managers and sophisticated investors who hope to ride that new wave of successful shares right up onto the beach can review 60 serious hopefuls at the 10th Discovery Expo from noon to eight p.m. October 7 in the Rhinelander Gallery at the New York Hilton and Towers at Sixth Ave. and 53rd St.

Exhibitors at this Expo, being held so close to the moment of the Millennium, are additional examples of what a wired world we have entered as the century turns. Although food, medicine and even plastics are among the products being showcased at the October Expo, the majority of companies attending the event have something to do with the Internet. One firm offers online retailers a multi-currency processing of credit card and debt card transactions while another is an entertainment portal for GenX and GenY consumers. One of the software companies at the Expo has a software product which allows for multipoint video conferencing on the net. A leader in image processing computer systems, a real estate trust and several banks fill out the diverse exhibitor ranks.

Attendees, who are admitted free if they surrender their business card, will have opportunities to talk and question the chief executive officers and other executives of these growth firms.

The whole show is geared towards making the discovery and research of young energetic companies easier for the financial professional and the investor.

You can check out www.w3otc.com, W3OTC's Discovery financial portal Web site for online small-cap investors, while Standard and Poor's demonstrates their new investor-oriented Web site for the big-caps.

Unique Event

This 10th in a unique series of Discovery Expos was organized by The Investment Reporter, a Newport Beach, Calif.-based financial newspaper to bring together underdiscovered companies with high profile growth fund managers, analysts, stockbrokers and sophisticated investors in a semi-annual one day event.

"The financial world definitely needs to find growing companies whose shares have strong upside potential, and these companies want to be discovered," said John Robbins, publisher of the 10-year-old Investment Reporter and host of the Discovery Expos.

Sponsors of the Expo include; Investor's Business Daily, Business Wire, Standard & Poor's, Equity Resource Options, The Boston Stock Exchange, The Investment Reporter and Emerging Equities.com.

Participating Companies

Among the companies appearing at Expo'99 are: Adatom.com (NASDAQ:HMSI); BioTransplant NASDAQ:BTRN); Columbia Bancorp(NASDAQ:CBBO); Cowlitz Bancorp (NASDAQ:CWLZ); FirstBank (NASDAQ:FMSB); FirstMutual Bank (NASDAQ:FMSB); First Washington Bancorp (NASDAQ:FWWB); High Plains (NASDAQ:HIPC); Host America (NASDAQ:CAFE); Mercury Computer Systems (NASDAQ:MRCY); Nara Bank (NASDAQ:NARA); Northrim Bank (NASDAQ:NRIM); PBOC Holdings (NASDAQ:PBOC); Percon Holdings(NASDAQ:PRCN); Perficient (NASDAQ:PFRT); SafeScience(NASDAQ:SAFS); Six Rivers National Bank (NASDAQ:SIXR); United Security Bancorp. (NASDAQ:USBN); Washington Banking (NASDAQ:WBCO); Washington Real Estate Investment Trust (NYSE:WRE); White Pine Software (NASDAQ:WPNE); Wilshire State Bank (NASDAQ:WSBK).

Among those in the OTC Bulletin Board(R) section sponsored by Standard and Poor's are: @pos.com (OTCBB:EPOS); Avaterra.com (OTCBB:AVAR); Axonyx (OTCBB:AXYX); billserv.com (OTCBB:BLLS.E); Botex (VSE: BTX); Cosmoz.com (OTCBB:CMOZ); DynaMotive (OTCBB:DYMTF); eUniverse (OTCBB:EUNI); First Ecom.com (OTCBB:FECC); Gary Player Direct (OTCBB:GPLY); Hanmi Bank (OTCBB:HNBK); IJNT.net (OTCBB:IJNT); Interactive Marketing (OTCBB:IAMK); Lifepoint (OTCBB:LFPT); M&A West (OTCBB:MAWI); Phon-net.com (OTCBB:PNET ); Sonicport.com (OTCBB:ISPS); Sungold Gaming (OTCBB:SGGNF); Superwire.com (OTCBB:SUPW); View Systems (OTCBB:VYST); VirtualSellers.com (OTCBB:VDOT); Virtual Technology (OTCBB:VTCO); W3OTC.com (OTCBB:WOTC).

Nasdaq and OTC Bulletin Board are registered trademarks of the National Association of Securities Dealers.

CONTACT: Pre-Expo Contact: Alan Kenney
949/724-0444
or
At Expo Contact: Peggy Powell