A Letter from the publisher

As publisher of the ITBusiness Group, I feel it necessary to address comments made by our competition regarding the recent announcement to slightly reduce the frequency of three of our publications.

The decision to reduce frequency was made after careful

analysis of current market conditions and listening to advertisers. Technology publication ad pages have dropped considerably the last three years. This frequency reduction reflects current market conditions and, at the same time, allows us to efficiently reallocate resources to the new ventures and projects that map to our clients’ current needs. Our clients have made many changes during this soft technology market – we felt it was time to make a few of our own.

In recent months we have:

• Increased the quality of paper stock, at considerable expense, for both EDGE and Communications & Networking, starting with the December issues.
• We have invested in major redesigns to both Computing Canada and Computer Dealer News.
• Committed to redesigning Technology in Government, taking it from a tabloid to a magazine (March launch).
• Produced four new print supplements in 2003 under the banner of the IT Business Report and have committed to four more for 2004.
• Developed and delivered several new online vehicles including Direction Informatique Express, CDN This Week, IT Business Pipeline and ITBusiness.ca Extra.
• Organized and hosted a number of major industry events including the highly successful Reseller Choice Awards and the Top100 Solution Providers, with more to come in the new year.
• Finally, we have built ITBusiness.ca to become the undisputed premier source of daily information about the IT industry in Canada. In fact, the advertising and sponsorship revenue attributed to our Web site is unprecedented for a Canadian business-to-business publisher.

The IT Business Group is producing more content than ever while undertaking a number of completely new initiatives. We think the decisions we made make good business sense. When ad pages come back, we will more than likely increase frequencies again.

Despite all the changes in the industry, we feel we have never been better positioned.

Sincerely,

Joe Tersigni

Publisher,

Transcontinental Media IT Business Group