FOR RELEASE: November 2, 2000
CONTACT: Tom Wickham, General Motors Corp.
PHONE: 313-665-4301 
CONTACT: Jeff Leestma, DaimlerChrysler Corporation
PHONE: 248-512-2692 
CONTACT: Paul Krell, UAW
PHONE: 313-926-5201
CONTACT: Julie Mason, America Online
PHONE: 703-265-0059
CONTACT: Blake Williams, Bohle Company (Workscape)
PHONE: 310-785-0515 
CONTACT: George Jamison, HUGHES
PHONE: 310-662-9986

DETROIT - In an industry-leading announcement, DaimlerChrysler Corporation, General Motors Corporation and the International Union, UAW will join with America Online Inc. to offer the automakers' U.S. employees America Online, the world's most popular Internet online service. In addition, through Workscape Inc., the leading provider of online human resource applications, employees will be able to tap employee portals, from work or home, offering a broad array of comprehensive corporate information and personalized human resource tools.

Under the agreement with the automakers, AOL, with its hallmark ease-of-use and convenience, will be the preferred Internet provider made available to nearly 200,000 employees at GM and 100,000 employees at DaimlerChrysler Corporation.

In addition, DaimlerChrysler Corporation and GM are partnering with HUGHES to offer U.S. hourly and salaried employees HUGHES' cutting-edge DIRECTV interactive television service and with Philips Electronics to provide leading-edge set-top technology.

GM and DaimlerChrysler Corporation employees will have easy access to the features and functionality of AOL and the Internet through the AOL service or the AOLTV service, which will be delivered via either the HUGHES DIRECTV digital satellite system or through a Philips receiver set-top box.

"This is all about speed, flexibility and offering our employees three great technology options that will assist them in juggling the demands of work and home in the Internet age," said Rick Wagoner, president and CEO of General Motors. "Making it easier for employees to access the Internet puts us on the leading edge of the revolution that is quickly weaving the Internet into the fabric of our daily lives."

Approximately 75 percent of GM employees have personal computers and virtually all have televisions, Wagoner said.

Employees of both companies will also be able to use the AOL service to access employee portals that will be developed by Workscape, a Reston, Va.-based provider of Internet-based, human resource self-service solutions. Additionally, DaimlerChrysler Corporation and GM will use Workscape's Employee.com technology to name and customize portals that employees can use in a central, secure location to access information, such as career planning or continuing education, do real-time updates on health and retirement benefit plans, as well as a variety of other features. To build and power these new Workscape offerings, Workscape and its technology partners - HUGHES, Sun Microsystems, iPlanet and Philips Electronics - will develop and deploy the technology that will give employees at each of the automakers easy online access to information and news at work or home.

"Our portal will enable, educate and empower," said Jim Holden, president and CEO of DaimlerChrysler Corporation. "The power this portal offers, combined with access through the Internet, makes this the most significant communications tool we have ever implemented.

"It is imperative that all our employees have access to the Internet. The concept of having a Web-savvy workforce is at the heart of our business-to-employee strategy. We are now making it very easy for employees to use the Internet and to access employee-related information and services."

Said UAW President Stephen P. Yokich, "We are excited to be a part of this innovative program to provide our members at General Motors and DaimlerChrysler Corporation low-cost access to the latest in e-communications technology. This is an important step in our ongoing efforts to keep our members at the cutting edge of the new technologies that are changing the way we work and live."

The DaimlerChrysler Corporation- and GM-sponsored program will provide access to the full-featured, $21.95-a-month AOL service or to the AOLTV service for a reduced employee contribution. The employee contribution to the full price is currently set at only $3 a month for traditional AOL online service or only $5 a month for AOLTV, which includes the Philips receiver. Employees opting for the AOLTV and DIRECTV package will contribute just $31.95 a month, which will include AOLTV with DIRECTV service in a single set-top-box.

"We're pleased to be working with General Motors, DaimlerChrysler Corporation and the UAW on this innovative agreement, which will offer employees convenient access to the AOL service and to the AOLTV interactive service, including our popular e-mail and chat features," said Bob Pittman, president and chief operating officer, America Online. "The agreement builds on our commitment to make Internet access easily available to both businesses and families and make going online as easy and convenient as possible."

Internet access through AOL is expected to be rolled out to U.S. employees in early 2001.

"Digital communication is the oxygen of the new digital economy," said Michael T. Smith, chairman and CEO of HUGHES. "Through this new program, HUGHES and DIRECTV will offer GM and DaimlerChrysler Corporation employees immediate access to this critical technology, and that will benefit them both personally and professionally."

Workscape's portal technology allows for each company to offer a safe and secure environment, using logins and passwords, for employees to access their personalized company information from home.

"Workscape shares DaimlerChrysler Corporation and GM's vision for employee portals that transform relationships among companies, employees and HR suppliers," said Tim Clifford, president and co-CEO at Workscape. "Workscape is excited to work with AOL, Sun and other technology partners on what we believe to be one of the largest business-to-employee solutions in any market segment."

Helping power the alliance is Sun Microsystems, a leader in network computing hardware, software and services, and iPlanet E-Commerce Solutions, the first provider of a comprehensive, best-of-breed Internet Service Deployment Platform that allows for the rapid development, assembly, and deployment of scalable Internet services.

"As widespread Internet access becomes more available and emerges as the catalyst for a new wave of opportunities, the need for a robust, scalable and highly available infrastructure increases," said Ed Zander, President and COO of Sun Microsystems, Inc. "Sun is pleased to provide the network computing platform that will power this project. With Sun's hardware and the iPlanet Internet Service Deployment Platform at the heart of this infrastructure, we are enabling a truly innovative program."

As part of the agreement, GM, DaimlerChrysler Corporation, AOL and Sun Microsystems will have an equity interest in Workscape.