Bell Atlantic and TReND Join Forces to Bring Business of Buying and Selling Homes to Internet

Bell Atlantic and TReND Join Forces to Bring Business of Buying and Selling Homes to Internet

February 10, 2000

KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa. - Real estate agents throughout the tri-state region soon will access multiple listings more quickly and easily than ever, thanks to an agreement announced today by Bell Atlantic and TReND, one of the largest multiple listing services (MLS) in the nation.

Under terms of the three-year, multi-million-dollar contract, Bell Atlantic's Data Solutions Group will provide a high-speed data network to more than 17,000 real estate professionals located in 2,000 offices throughout 14 counties in Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Dubbed the GoTReND! network, it will offer one-number local calling from anywhere in Bell Atlantic's mid-Atlantic region, and provide Realtors® with Internet access and a private, secure connection to TReND's web-based multiple listings --MLSWeb^TM. Bell Atlantic Data Solutions Group will manage the network and provide round-the-clock monitoring to ensure continuous, uninterrupted service.

"The Internet is the future of real estate," said Rita Johnson, TReND president and CEO. "It will fundamentally change the business of buying and selling a home.

"Our GoTReND! network and MLSWeb service will put critical information into the hands of our members on a real-time basis, making agents more efficient and bringing more valuable services to customers. We chose Bell Atlantic because it has the resources and expertise to create and manage the reliable, high-speed network we need throughout the region."

Johnson said the system has interactive capabilities that will not only provide information, but can automatically notify agents when new properties come on the market.

Dave Specht, CEO of Coldwell Banker Diamond and ERA Diamond Realty of Philadelphia, said, "Obtaining and satisfying today's home buyers and sellers require us to stay ahead of the technological curve. With TReND's Web-based multiple listings and Bell Atlantic's high-speed, economical connections, we are now in a position to deliver exactly what customers want and need."

"Anyone buying or selling a home in Delaware, New Jersey or Pennsylvania stands to benefit from this agreement," said Bell Atlantic Data Solutions Group President Joe Farina. "The network we've designed for TReND frees Realtors to concentrate on serving their customers while we ensure the information they need is delivered to their computers quickly, securely and reliably. Plus, the geographic reach of our backbone network will allow TReND to bring new members, and indeed entire regions, on-line with very little start-up time and expense."

Trend (www.trendmls.com), one of the five largest regional multiple listing services in the country, delivers MLS data services to over 1,700 real estate professionals throughout Kent and New Castle counties in Delaware; Burlington, Camden, Gloucester, Mercer, Ocean and Salem counties in New Jersey; and Berks, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties in Pennsylvania.

Bell Atlantic's Data Solutions group (www.ba-dsg.com) is dedicated to providing globally integrated network solutions that seamlessly connect businesses with their customers, partners and employees. The Data Solutions Group provides all aspects of data networking from the management and operation of customer networks and network integration, to network transport and advanced IP services, such as intranets and extranets, virtual private networks, web hosting and multimedia services.

Bell Atlantic is at the forefront of the new communications and information industry. With more than 44 million telephone access lines and 12 million wireless customers worldwide, Bell Atlantic companies are premier providers of advanced wireline voice and data services, market leaders in wireless services and the world's largest publishers of directory information.

Realtor® is a federally registered collective membership mark which identifies a real estate professional who is a member of the National Association of Realtors® and subscribes to its strict code of ethics.