IBM & Steelcase Announce Global Initiative to Design Office of the Future

Select Companies Currently Evaluating BlueSpace -- an Innovative Work Environment That Integrates Architecture and Furniture with Advanced Technology

January 2002 (Newstream) -- IBM (NYSE:IBM) and Steelcase Inc. (NYSE:SCS), an international work effectiveness company whose offerings enhance the quality of people's lives in work environments, on January 14 announced the creation of BlueSpace -- an interactive and personalized office of the future. The joint project combines IBM's technology expertise with Steelcase's workplace knowledge to create a new office environment that integrates the physical workspace with advanced computer, sensor, display and wireless technologies.

Through BlueSpace, IBM and Steelcase are working to address the many changing technological, physical and psychological needs knowledge workers face. With a combination of technology and design, BlueSpace enriches the overall work environment by providing greater comfort and personalization through unmatched user control. For companies, BlueSpace has been designed to enhance productivity, increase collaboration among employees and improve space utilization. BlueSpace also is intended to serve as a valuable tool for employers in attracting and retaining quality workers.

IBM and Steelcase are currently working closely with half a dozen companies -- ranging from multi-national corporations to small businesses -- to evaluate BlueSpace and gather feedback on its existing design and functionality. Onsite pilot projects with select companies will begin later this year.

Highlights of the elements in this fully Internet-enabled IBM-Steelcase smart office include: BlueScreen: This touch screen, which sits adjacent to the computer monitor, puts users in control of their physical and virtual environments. Interactive icons allow users to adjust -- with the touch of a finger -- temperature, airflow or lighting to suit their preference. Users can direct heat to cold feet, adjust humidity levels, increase volume of white noise, or modify lighting based on preference or the focus of their work. Interactive icons help employees share projects, better communicate with their team members, and access real time news feeds.

Monitor Rail: This patent-pending moving rail consists of a work surface that travels the length of the work space and a dual monitor arm that almost rotates to a complete circle, allowing the users to be positioned anywhere in the area. Currently, most office environments have stationary computer monitors that limit the position of users.

Everywhere Display: A display projects information onto any surface, be it a wall, desktop, or floor, transforming everyday objects into interactive displays, and untethering employees from their desktop computers. Wireless computer-processed sensing technologies enable touch sensitivity, allowing fingers to act as cursors, even on walls or desktops. A guest badge in the office vicinity automatically helps cloak confidential information by prompting the Everywhere Display to project a generic image.

Threshold: Designed in response to a need for increased privacy control, this patent-pending moveable work surface, ceiling and wall act as a "technology totem" that provides on-demand visual and territorial privacy to the user. Color-coded lighting at the top of the threshold in blue, red and green alerts colleagues when an employee is away, busy or accepting visitors. An integrated front panel display on the threshold can visually communicate what each employee wants to share with colleagues, such as current projects and scheduling. The lighting and entrance display promotes employee interaction without unwanted disruption.

"IBM's work with companies like Steelcase is part of a company-wide initiative to drive computing into everyday things not normally associated with computing, even furniture and walls," said Rod Adkins, general manager of IBM's Pervasive Computing Division. "By combining IBM's technological expertise and Steelcase's knowledge of the workplace, we're now able to embed computing into the physical office and focus on creating work environments that fit the needs of individuals."

"As work becomes more collaborative and office workers become increasingly dependent on technology and the ability to be more mobile, Steelcase and IBM are offering new ways to develop future office environments that provide highly effective, user centered space," said Mark Greiner, senior vice president of ventures, concepts and research and development for Steelcase Inc. "This alliance with IBM and the creation of BlueSpace reinforces Steelcase's continued commitment to align with leading technology companies to research and jointly develop products that create a more seamless and personalized physical work environment. We look forward to working with IBM to enhance the development of BlueSpace and continue our joint efforts to research new solutions for the office of the future."

"I believe that BlueSpace provides an opportunity for corporate buyers of space and technology to begin to think differently about how they might deploy these tools to their users," notes Jeff Austin, vice president of innovation in the Corporate Real Estate division of Wachovia Bank, formerly First Union. "Many corporate users see workspace as an integrated product, but most companies still deploy space and technology as separate components. We at Wachovia have been piloting Information Technology and Workplace integration for some time and are encouraged to see IBM and Steelcase collaborating to further the integration of these two powerful effectiveness tools."

Studying the ways people work through user observation and video ethnography, coupled with intensive focus groups, allowed IBM and Steelcase to identify a number of unmet and emerging needs facing today's knowledge workers. This includes the need to eliminate "distractions" through user control of the physical environment, to improve knowledge sharing and collaborative work through the ability to constantly display information, and to increase speed and access to information. These needs provided the basis for many of the elements developed and designed for BlueSpace.

About IBM

IBM is the world's leading e-business company offering a wide range of services, solutions, software and technologies that allow businesses to take full advantage of the exploding wireless market. IBM's pervasive computing and wireless solutions extend new and existing e-business applications to the emerging class of connected devices and appliances. IBM has pioneered mobile e-business across many industries, geographic locations, and the three key business segments: business-to-employee; business-to-business; and business-to-consumer. Together with our partners, we have developed mobile solutions in the health care, financial services, retail, travel, utilities, government, and public and telecommunications industries. More information about IBM can be found on the web at www.ibm.com.

About Steelcase Inc.

Steelcase Inc. helps individuals and organizations around the world to work more effectively by providing knowledge, products and services that enable customers and their consultants to create work environments that harmoniously integrate architecture, furniture and technology. Founded in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1912, the company has led the office furniture industry in sales every year since 1974. Its product portfolio includes interior architectural products, furniture systems, technology products, seating, lighting, storage and related products and services. Fiscal 2001 global revenues were approximately $3.9 billion. Steelcase Inc. (www.steelcase.com), a Fortune 500 company, and its subsidiaries have authorized dealers in more than 800 locations, manufacturing facilities in more than 30 locations and approximately 20,000 employees around the world. Its stock trades on the NYSE under the symbol SCS.

About Wachovia

Wachovia Corporation (NYSE:WB), created through the September 1, 2001, merger of First Union and Wachovia with assets of $326 billion as of September 30 and $29 billion in stockholders' equity, is a leading provider of financial services to 19 million retail and corporate customers throughout the East Coast and the nation. The company operates full-service banking offices under the First Union and Wachovia names in 11 East Coast states and Washington, D.C., and offers full-service brokerage with offices in 49 states and global services through more than 30 international offices. Online banking and brokerage products and services are available through www.wachovia.com and www.firstunion.com.

                   Contact:

                   My Luu, IBM
                   914-766-3055
                   myluu@us.ibm.com

                   Heidi Hennink, Steelcase
                   616-698-4514
                   HHENNINK@steelcase.com