MadOnion.com™ strengthens its organization with strong management experience

Saratoga, CA – October 15, 2001 – MadOnion.com™, the leading provider of PC performance benchmark software and performance information services, today announced the strengthening of its executive team with the appointment of Mr. Risto Vehviläinen as the new Chief Executive Officer.

Risto Vehviläinen has held several executive positions in IT, consulting and service industries giving him a broad spectrum of knowledge to use in driving MadOnion forward. In conjunction with his appointment, the current MadOnion CEO and one of the company’s founders, Mr. Aki Järvilehto, will assume the position of Vice President Business Development, allowing him to concentrate on an area of strategic importance to the company, the cooperation and joint testing programs with PC and component manufacturers, known as the MadOnion Beta Partner Program.

The changes in MadOnion top management reflect the company’s ongoing evolution from a world-class benchmarking software developer to value-added technology service provider. Having divided the company into two distinct business units, in order to better focus resources, MadOnion recently launched a new product from its new Measurement Services Business Unit. Called the Performance Analyzer, it is an online service that enables PC shoppers to know, beforehand, exactly what performance increase they can expect from any upgrade or replacement strategy. Powering this unique capability is MadOnion’s online database of more than 3,000,000 PC configurations, the largest of its kind in existence.

“During the past four years MadOnion has built a comprehensive suite of products and services based on its strong technology and extensive database. In addition to that, the company has built a professional team actively at work on two continents. The role of Aki Järvilehto has been inspirational in leading the company through this period of transition, while developing critical relationships with industry executives. This new structure allows him to concentrate on deepening the levels of cooperation with the world’s largest IT manufacturers”, said Risto Vehviläinen, MadOnion’s newly appointed CEO.

“Strong experience and management know-how are vitally important to the continuing growth of MadOnion’s service business. Risto Vehviläinen, with his calm and analytical approach, strengthens the MadOnion team in exactly the right way. With this new leadership, we will focus on systematic development of our processes and on confirming the sustainability of our operations”, said Aki Järvilehto, MadOnion VP Business Development.

Risto Vehviläinen joined MadOnion as Chief Operating Officer in March 2001 from SQM Finland Oy, a management consulting company focused on service-oriented companies, where he held the position of Consulting Director. Previous to that, he was a Partner and CEO at DPM Consulting Oy, which was then sold and consolidated to SQM Finland Oy in early 2000. Before his entrepreneurial career, Mr. Vehviläinen held IT management positions at several Finnish blue chip companies, e.g. the national airline Finnair, TT-Innovation and Tietotehdas.

Pictures of Risto Vehviläinen and Aki Järvilehto

About MadOnion.com™
MadOnion.com™ is the leading provider of PC benchmark software and performance information services. MadOnion.com™ is known around the world for its benchmark products, including the 3DMark® Series and Video2000 (with more than 26 million copies distributed, worldwide). MadOnion.com™ has offices in Saratoga, California and Helsinki, Finland. For more information, please visit http://www.madonion.com/

Contact:
MadOnion.com Finland
Risto Vehviläinen, CEO
Email: risto.vehvilainen@madonion.com
Tel. +358-9-4355-0491, cellular +358-50-554-4722
MadOnion.com US
Tero Sarkkinen, Executive Vice President Sales
Email: mailto:tero@madonion.com
Tel. +1-408-517-0131, cellular +1-408-858-7662