Marimba, Inc. will make a major industry announcement during a press conference on Monday at 10 a.m. and several new products will be shown throughout the conference. Complete show information is available online at http://www.web97.com.

A forum for in-depth information sharing and training for all Web professionals, Web '97 is expected to attract 1,700 conference and 15,000 show attendees. Over 125 conference classes spread out over six tracks will be held Saturday through Wednesday, February 22-26. More than 80 exhibitors will demonstrate leading edge tools and technologies from 4 to 7 p.m. on Sunday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday and Tuesday.

The regional Web industry rivalry between Silicon Alley and Silicon Valley will heat up in good fun at Web '97, as an East team of developers led by New Yorker Kyle Shannon, of Urban Desires and WWWAC fame, will square off against Palo Alto's Glenn Davis of Project Cool and NoEnd and his West of the Mississippi team to literally design and build a "Cool Site in a Day."

Charity organizations will be announced Monday at 9 a.m. in the "Online Lounge" on the show floor. From then, teams will have eight hours to complete the sites, which will be judged by members of the distinguished Web'97 conference faculty between 5 and 7 p.m. Winners will be announced at a party hosted that evening by Microsoft. Both charity organizations will leave Web '97 with new sites worth more than $20,000 each, and the winner will receive a complete Internet presence prize package from various exhibitors and Internet Service Providers.

Hundreds of the Web industry's leading design and technical experts will both lecturing and learning between a full calendar of social activities and special events. Among the keynote addresses slated for Web '97 are Marimba, Inc. CEO, president and co-founder Kim Polese, who will share her insights on the next generation of Internet tools and how they will be used to propel the Internet into the next century; Javasoft president Dr. Alan Baratz will address the future of the Internet as it relates to the use of Java; and Macromedia chairman Bud Colligan will speak on the future of multimedia on the Web.

"With so many experts in one place, discussions held this week could have a profound impact on the direction of the Web during the next eight months," said conference director Eric Faurot. "Just giving designers, developers, marketers and webmasters an intimate setting to meet is something no other Internet show offers."