MENLO PARK, Calif., Aug. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- The business of America may be business, to paraphrase Calvin Coolidge, but the software application of business is clearly Excel(R). By some accounts, 90% of modern business is run on Microsoft Excel spreadsheets. Their continued daily use by over 150 million businesspeople, years after the introduction of ERP, supply chain, CRM and other "official" enterprise systems, leaves no doubt as to their power for business planning, reporting and analysis.

And yet a major flaw has plagued the use of Excel. As individuals, teams and whole companies become increasingly connected, solutions enabling Excel collaboration haven't kept up. More than ever, communities of businesspeople need an open, managed, easily accessed, yet secure way to view and use Excel spreadsheets together in real time.

eXpresso has developed the answer. Menlo Park, California-based eXpresso Corp, a provider of managed business community solutions, has a hosted online service, now in beta, that allows subscribers to upload, securely store, and organize Excel spreadsheets. The service makes a user's spreadsheets available from any PC with an Internet Explorer Web browser (other browser interfaces are under development); perhaps more importantly, users can authorize others to view or edit the same spreadsheets as needed, and even hold virtual meetings where invitees simultaneously work on spreadsheets together.

"eXpresso is at the vanguard of the business community movement," said George Langan, chief executive officer of eXpresso. "Our service lets companies treat Excel spreadsheets as enterprise assets rather than hidden, closeted repositories of critical business data. It combines the flexibility of a Web 2.0 environment with the power of relational database technology and users' familiarity with Excel, breaking down barriers and enabling a new class of business collaboration within, and between, organizations."

"More than three years of development and six proprietary, patent-pending technologies have been invested in the eXpresso platform," noted Huy Nguyen, founder and chief technology officer of eXpresso. "Our unique ability to abstract Excel elements into a relational database enables us to efficiently apply all the security, storage, management and auditing capabilities of the database to our customers' information-a discipline that will also be adaptable to other Office products in the future."

Simple, Inexpensive

All that's needed to use eXpresso is a Web browser and an Excel license. eXpresso's patent-pending platform does the rest, securely storing spreadsheets and controlling their use per the spreadsheet owner's direction.

The eXpresso service includes such valuable features as version control, comparison and integrated online chat tools. Three versions of the service are available. eXpresso Standard, the free option, supports secure storage of up to ten spreadsheets, while eXpresso Premium (free during the beta trial) and eXpresso Workgroup offer unlimited spreadsheet storage.

eXpresso Premium and eXpresso Workgroup offer other benefits as well, including an alerting capability that will notify the spreadsheet owner when certain events (e.g., cell changes) occur, plus history and audit logs. eXpresso Workgroup is the most powerful of the three options, due to its advanced community management and group-based login/licensing.

Even after the free beta period ends later this summer, eXpresso will be extremely cost-effective for all users. eXpresso Standard, the basic package, will remain free of charge. eXpresso Premium will be priced at $15 per month per user, and eXpresso Workgroup will feature custom pricing and aggressive group discounts.

Strong Acceptance

Leading technology and business process analysts, as well as corporate customers, have already identified the value and uniqueness of eXpresso in meeting the critical need for easy business collaboration. Among their comments:

"Companies today are using Excel for a variety of reasons and regardless of how they try to replace it with applications, users migrate back to Excel. Companies need a way to use Excel and feel good about it. eXpresso fills that gap." -- Richard Currier, Principal, Park City Marketing Group

"No other vendor has any collaborative capabilities for sharing spreadsheets and we are similarly unaware of any other product that can provide the automated conversion of spreadsheets that is provided within eXpresso." -- Philip Howard, Research Director-Data, Bloor Research

"We feel we're mitigating risks by using eXpresso. Nothing has fallen through the cracks-the right people, often in different geographical locations, always have the right documents at the right time. The version control feature also helps everyone remain focused and 'on the same page'." -- Jim Kanir, president and CEO, Cohesia Corporation

Availability

The eXpresso spreadsheet community solution will be in general release starting in early August, 2007. To schedule an online demo or for further information, log on to http://www.expressocorp.com/.

About eXpresso(TM):

eXpresso is a pioneering provider of managed business community solutions. The company offers secure, hosted online workspaces suitable for business collaboration, beginning with the Excel spreadsheet environment. eXpresso's unique capabilities leverage multiple homegrown, patent-pending technologies, enabling users to access, share, compare and collaborate on business information from any location. The privately-owned company is headquartered in Menlo Park, California. To learn more, visit http://www.expressocorp.com/.

CONTACT: Serena Thomas of SS-PR, +1-847-955-0700, ext. 9312,
sthomas@sspr.com, for eXpresso

Web site: http://www.expressocorp.com/