NEW YORK and CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- TechWeb's Light Reading Communications Network (www.lightreading.com), the leading integrated publishing, events and research company serving the global communications marketplace, today announced that it has acquired Pyramid Research (www.pyr.com), a market research and advisory service company. Pyramid analyzes and forecasts demand for communications and media services, applications, networks and devices in more than 100 countries, with a strong focus on developing markets, where much of the communication industry’s growth is expected over the next ten years.

Pyramid will be integrated with Heavy Reading (www.heavyreading.com/), creating the communications industry’s most comprehensive provider of research. Heavy Reading, the independent market research arm of the Light Reading Communications Network, offers quantitative analysis of telecom technology to service providers, vendors and investors.

“According to the US Telecommunications Industry Association, the worldwide telecom market is expected to grow $900 billion, to $3.9 trillion in 2009 and over 70 percent of that growth will be outside the US,” said Tony Uphoff, Chief Executive Officer, TechWeb. “Although we reach the broad universe of professionals who build, deploy, manage and finance next-generation telecom and enterprise networks with online, events and research, this blockbuster combination of Pyramid and Heavy Reading more than doubles the size of our research portfolio and positions TechWeb for increased global growth.”

Pyramid, which is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts and has offices in Hong Kong, London, Miami and Seattle, collects, aggregates and analyzes industry data to provide clients with quantitative insights into current and projected market conditions. It has established a reputation as an industry leader based on the breadth of its coverage, its time-tested database and forecasting methodology, and its multilingual analyst team. “We view this acquisition by TechWeb’s Light Reading to be highly advantageous,” said Daniel Schimmel, President & CEO of Pyramid. “Being part of a much larger media company will provide Pyramid with the resources and market access to grow.”

From a pure research perspective, the Pyramid and Heavy Reading combination is very complementary, according to Dennis Mendyk, Managing Director of Heavy Reading. “Pyramid’s ‘bottom-up’ methodology will complement and deepen Heavy Reading’s existing ‘top down’ research analysis business, provide growth opportunities and expand the group’s international presence. Additionally, Heavy Reading’s US-based customers will now have a great opportunity to access to Pyramid’s research and to its team of strategic analysts.”

Beyond the research business, the combination of Light Reading and Pyramid creates tremendous growth opportunities, according to Joseph Braue, Group Director and SVP of Light Reading. “Exposure on Light Reading, which is by far the largest online communications community in the world, will provide an excellent platform to highlight Pyramid’s unique value to the industry and drive Pyramid’s growth. Moreover, Light Reading’s expertise as the leading integrated webinar and research-based event producer in the communications market will create more formats and avenues for Pyramid content to be experienced by service providers and communications equipment and software vendors around the world.”

Pyramid’s headquarters will remain in Cambridge. Pyramid’s Schimmel will report to Heavy Reading’s Mendyk.

About Pyramid Research (www.pyr.com)

For twenty years, Pyramid Research has helped companies in the converging communications, media and technology industries stay ahead of market trends, understand competitive threats and capitalize on opportunities. We advise the world’s leading service providers, equipment manufacturers, content providers, and the financial community on how to implement best practices, build offensive growth strategies and drive profitability.

About Heavy Reading (www.heavyreading.com)

Heavy Reading is an independent market research organization offering quantitative analysis of telecom technology to service providers, vendors, and investors. Its mandate is to provide the comprehensive competitive analysis needed today for the deployment of profitable networks based on next- generation hardware and software. Heavy Reading is part of the Light Reading Communications Network (http://www.lightreading.com), the ultimate source for technology and financial analysis of the global communications industry, leading the media sector in terms of traffic, content, and reputation.

About TechWeb (http://techweb.com/aboutus)

TechWeb, the global leader in business technology communities, is an innovative business focused on serving the needs of technology decision-makers and marketers worldwide. TechWeb produces the most respected and consumed media brands in the business technology market. Today, more than 13.3 million business technology professionals actively engage in our communities created around our global face-to-face events including Interop, Web 2.0, Black Hat and VoiceCon; online resources like Light Reading, Intelligent Enterprise, InformationWeek.com, bMighty.com, and Financial Technology brands; and the market leading, award-winning InformationWeek Magazine, TechNet Magazine, MSDN Magazine and Wall Street & Technology magazines. TechWeb also provides end-to-end services ranging from next- generation performance marketing, custom media, research, and analyst services. TechWeb is a division of United Business Media, a global provider of news distribution and specialist information services with a market capitalization of more than $2.5 billion

* 13.3 million business decision-makers: based on # of monthly connections

About United Business Media Limited (www.unitedbusinessmedia.com)

United Business Media Limited is a leading global business media company. We inform markets and bring the world’s buyers and sellers together at events, online, in print, and with the information they need to do business successfully. We focus on serving professional commercial communities, from doctors to game developers, from journalists to jewellery traders, from farmers to pharmacists around the world. Our 6,500 staff in more than 30 countries are organised into specialist teams that serve these communities, helping them to do business and their markets to work effectively and efficiently.