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February 10, 1997 Focus: Triangle.Tech.News Firm's web site targets black professionals CHAPEL HILL -- In an effort to enhance the quality of life of African-Americans in the Triangle, Chapel Hill-based EasyWeb Inc. is building a reputation on designing World Wide Web sites that pull together all segments of this diverse community. Whether it's college sports, music or workplace issues of interest to black professionals, the goal is to create an online community that can be easily accessed by anyone with a computer, said Erroll Reese, president of EasyWeb. Called "CommunityNet," the web site is composed of an integrated system of web pages that offer information on community, business and government issues, as well as items of personal interest geared toward the black community. It can be accessed at http://www.CNNC.com. And while the current web site focuses on North Carolina and the Triangle, Reese has even loftier challenges in mind. "Our goal is to have a CommunityNet for Virginia, South Carolina and Atlanta," he said. Reese spent two years with IBM, heading up the advanced design team for Big Blue's OS/2 operating system. But 15 months ago he decided to start his own Internet design and marketing company. Since then, he has not only designed Web sites for companies like Sara Lee Inc., but recently redesigned and re-engineered the City of Durham's web site. With Community Net, however, Reese tapped into another local success story. In October, EasyWeb formed an alliance with Raleigh-based Southeast Perspective magazine, a one-year-old, bi-monthly publication aimed at middle-aged black professionals. That magazine is available at most major bookstores, newsstands and supermarkets throughout the Southeast, including Florida. "We approached them on doing their magazine online and then we partnered with them," Reese said. But the online alliance will benefit both companies, said Keith Cook, Southeast Perspective's president and CEO. "We're trying to service the same niche market," he said. "We want people to know that they can log on to CommunityNet and touch all the bases. By putting our magazine online, it would be like one-stop-shopping." Cook said that partnering with EasyWeb will lead to more advertising revenue. "We hope that advertisers who want to reach this market can go to one place," he said. Cook said immediate benefits to advertisers include the opportunity to purchase a unique advertising package that will enable firms to reach upscale blacks through the print pages of Southeast Perspective and the CommunityNet pages of EasyWeb at a discounted overall rate. "In addition, our firms will communicate the benefits of our products and services to our subscribers, which we believe will increase subscriptions to the magazine and CommunityNet," he said. Cook said that the online version of Southeast Perspective consists of the cover story plus several other stories also found in the printed version. © 1997, Triangle Business Journal