Press Release - NOKIA VENTURE PARTNERS INVESTS $4 MILLION IN NETWORK INFERENCE

[Annika Thunell <pr@networkinference.com>]

NOKIA VENTURE PARTNERS INVESTS $4 MILLION IN NETWORK INFERENCE

London, 14th January 2003 ? Network Inference, the leading provider of software to allow semantic integration of data across the extended enterprise, today announced that the company has received $4million of Series ?A? funding from Nokia Venture Partners.

The capital will be used to commercialise the Cerebra Inference Engine and develop the Cerebra Semantic Integration Suite.  This portfolio of products addresses real business issues, allowing large, multi-national corporations to integrate databases and independent applications across incompatible and disparate technologies and data formats.  This reduces the cost of integration projects, delivers seamless interoperability and reduces maintenance costs.

Commenting on the investment, Martti Malka, partner, Nokia Venture Partners said; ?Network Inference?s semantic solution to data integration has huge potential.  It addresses a real data integration problem that most multi-national corporations have because of their disparate IT systems typically caused by acquisitions and restructuring processes.  We look forward to playing an active role in the Network Inference's success.?

Jon Matonis, CEO, Network Inference, added;
?Investment from Nokia Venture Partners brings the dual benefit of capital to develop our product portfolio and access to real technical insight and support. Our Cerebra Inference Engine has been developed out of 13 years of research at Manchester University and this funding will see us through beta testing and initial commercial success.?

Network Inference has been instrumental in the development of languages that underpin the emerging semantic web, including Ontology Inference Layer (OIL) and DARPA Agent Markup Language (DAML).  These languages have been taken up by the World-Wide Web Consortium (W3C) as the basis for the Web Ontology Language (OWL), the standard language behind the semantic web.

- ends -

 NOTE TO EDITORS:

Network Inference
Network Inference develops and sells software that allows applications, across the extended enterprise, to share data through semantic integration, providing a shared frame of reference for computers to communicate with each other.  The company?s Cerebra product portfolio is based on technology resulting from 13 years of research at Manchester University.  Network Inference is backed by Nokia Venture Partners and is based in London, England with a subsidiary in the US. For more information visit: www.networkinference.com.

Nokia Venture Partners
Nokia Venture Partners is a leading global venture capital firm based in Menlo Park, California. Launched in 1998, Nokia Venture Partners has USD$650 million under management and leads investments in early stage mobile technology companies around the world. The fund is backed by a number of value add limited partners and has a strong track record of leveraging its combined resources, experience and contacts to help build successful mobile businesses. The firm also has offices in Washington DC, London, Helsinki, Seoul, Hong Kong and Tokyo. For more information, visit http://www.nokiaventurepartners.com.

For more information please contact:

Richard Houghton/Malini Majithia
Carrot Communications
Tel: 020 7953 4010
e-mail: richard.houghton@carrotcomms.co.uk or malini.majithia@carrotcomms.co.uk

Gina Bauman
Nokia Venture Partners
Tel: +1 650 462 7255
press@nokiaventurepartners.com


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