General Motors, DaimlerChrysler Corporation And UAW To Offer Industry-Leading Internet Program Through America Online
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General Motors President and CEO Richard Wagoner (L), DaimlerChrysler North American President and CEO Jim Holden (C) and the United Auto Workers Union President Steve Yokich announced 11/2 they are working with America Online to offer low-cost home Internet access to their U.S. employees. 

Photo: DCX/GM

• Workscape Portal Provides Easy, Convenient Way to Connect Employees to the Web and Employers  

• Cutting-edge offering from HUGHES DIRECTV, coupled with leading-edge technology from Sun Microsystems, Philips Electronics and iPlanet will help power the alliance 

DETROIT - In an industry-leading announcement, DaimlerChrysler Corporation, General Motors Corporation and the International Union, UAW will join with America Online Inc. to offer the automakers' U.S. employees America Online, the world's most popular Internet online service. In addition, through Workscape Inc., the leading provider of online human resource applications, employees will be able to tap employee portals, from work or home, offering a broad array of comprehensive corporate information and personalized human resource tools.  

Under the agreement with the automakers, AOL, with its hallmark ease-of-use and convenience, will be the preferred Internet provider made available to nearly 200,000 employees at GM and 100,000 employees at DaimlerChrysler Corporation.  

In addition, DaimlerChrysler Corporation and GM are partnering with HUGHES to offer U.S. hourly and salaried employees HUGHES' cutting-edge DIRECTV interactive television service and with Philips Electronics to provide leading-edge set-top technology.  

GM and DaimlerChrysler Corporation employees will have easy access to the features and functionality of AOL and the Internet through the AOL service or the AOLTV service, which will be delivered via either the HUGHES DIRECTV digital satellite system or through a Philips receiver set-top box.  

Approximately 75 percent of GM employees have personal computers and virtually all have televisions, Wagoner said. Employees of both companies will also be able to use the AOL service to access employee portals that will be developed by Workscape, a Reston, Va.-based provider of Internet-based, human resource self-service solutions. Additionally, DaimlerChrysler Corporation and GM will use Workscape's Employee.com technology to name and customize portals that employees can use in a central, secure location to access information, such as career planning or continuing education, do real-time updates on health and retirement benefit plans, as well as a variety of other features. To build and power these new Workscape offerings, Workscape and its technology partners - HUGHES, Sun Microsystems, iPlanet and Philips Electronics - will develop and deploy the technology that will give employees at each of the automakers easy online access to information and news at work or home.  

The DaimlerChrysler Corporation- and GM-sponsored program will provide access to the full-featured, $21.95-a-month AOL service or to the AOLTV service for a reduced employee contribution. The employee contribution to the full price is currently set at only $3 a month for traditional AOL online service or only $5 a month for AOLTV, which includes the Philips receiver. Employees opting for the AOLTV and DIRECTV package will contribute just $31.95 a month, which will include AOLTV with DIRECTV service in a single set-top-box.  

Internet access through AOL is expected to be rolled out to U.S. employees in early 2001.  Workscape's portal technology allows for each company to offer a safe and secure environment, using logins and passwords, for employees to access their personalized company information from home.  

Helping power the alliance is Sun Microsystems, a leader in network computing hardware, software and services, and iPlanet E-Commerce Solutions, the first provider of a comprehensive, best-of-breed Internet Service Deployment Platform that allows for the rapid development, assembly, and deployment of scalable Internet services. As part of the agreement, GM, DaimlerChrysler Corporation, AOL and Sun Microsystems will have an equity interest in Workscape. 

(November 2, 2000)