The following companies were sponsors of the Health special interest group: Amgen, Inc. Thousand Oaks, California USA The Thousand Oaks, California-based company develops drugs for hematology, oncology, bone and inflammatory disorders, and neuroendocrine and neurodegenerative diseases. Its top products are anti-anemia drug Epogen and immune system stimulator Neupogen. Amgen also sells hepatitis C treatment Infergen in the US and Canada and Stemgen, which supports stem cell transplantation, in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. British Telecommunications PLC London, United Kingdom British Telecommunications (BT) is the UK's leading phone company. BT provides local and long-distance phone service with 28 million access lines, as well as Internet access and other data services. eircom PLC Dublin, Ireland Ireland's onetime state-controlled telephone monopoly, Dublin-based eircom was formerly known as Telecom Eireann. eircom's traditional fixed-line business (75% of total sales) maintains more than 1.5 million phone lines providing domestic and international voice and data communications for both the retail and wholesale carrier's markets. The company has expanded to offer data communications and Internet access, including broadband technology, e-commerce, and multimedia services. Fixed-line operations also include eircom's international presence in Northern Ireland and the UK. Intel Corporation Santa Clara, California With more than 80% of the PC microprocessor market, Intel is the world's leading chip maker. Intel makes microprocessors, including the powerful Pentium and the low-end Celeron, that have provided the brains for IBM-compatible PCs since 1981. Intel also provides flash memories and embedded chips for communications, industrial equipment, and military markets. Learning Lab Denmark (LLD) Denmark Learning Lab Denmark is a research-based experimental centre, which focuses on learning and skills development. By means of experiments LLD develops a knowledge of how companies (private as well as public), educational institutions, and organisations learn and develop new skills and competencies. LEGO Systems A/S Billund, Denmark The LEGO Company is the world leader in providing quality products and experiences that stimulate children's creativity, imagination, and learning. The company has been manufacturing children's toys since 1932. New business categories have been added during recent years. In addition to the well known bricks, LEGO Company now supplies software, clothes, learning materials, and adventure parks. The Denmark headquarters cooperates closely with the company's own development centers in San Francisco, Milan, and London. LEGO Company is privately owned MasterCard International Purchase, New York USA MasterCard International, a new member of the Laboratory's Things That Think consortium, is dedicated to helping more than 22,000 financial institutions worldwide offer consumers a variety of payment options. The company remains focused on helping shape the future of money by expanding acceptance of its global brands (including Cirrus†, the world's largest ATM network), and maintaining reliable, secure networks facilitating global value exchange. MasterCard has nearly 370 million credit and debit cards that are accepted at more than 13 million locations around the world. In 1995, gross dollar volume generated was almost $500 billion. Motorola, Inc. Shaumburg, Illinois USA Motorola is one of the world's leading providers of wireless communications, embedded semiconductors, and advanced electronic systems and services. Major equipment businesses include cellular telephone, two-way radio, paging and data communications, personal communications, automotive, defense and space electronics, and computers. Motorola Semiconductor Products Sector sponsors the Motorola DigitalDNA Laboratory at the Media Lab, which focuses on the development and linking together of "smart" products that anticipate the needs of their users to create "things that think and link." The term DigitalDNA defines Motorola's leadership in embedded solutions and the continuous innovations that help create smarter products. Motorola SPS is the world's leading producer of embedded semiconductor solutions, with more than 8 billion in use today. Communications devices, networking and computer systems, automotive electronics, and millions of other products are powered by Motorola embedded solutions. Motorola's 1998 sales were $29.4 billion. Swatch AG Biel, Switzerland SMH owns internationally recognized watch brands in every market segment, from $10 to $1 million per timepiece: Blancpain, Omega, Rado, Longines, Tissot, Certina, Mido, Hamilton, Pierre Balmain, Swatch, Flik Flak, and Lanco. SMH furnishes components to the entire Swiss watch industry and owns a large international distribution system. Under the name Swatch, SMH produces watches, including Swatch Access with a built-in access control function that can be used as a ski pass at most of the world's ski resorts, and Swatch the Beep with a built-in pager. The Swatch car is scheduled for production in 1998. Telmex Mexico City, Mexico Telmex is a world-class telecommunications company that provides total telecommunications solutions to its clients: Local and long distance wire service, wireless communications, multimedia network for video, audio and data, network engineering, digital wireless network access, and Internet. Based in Mexico City, Telmex is currently positioned as the regional market leader in Telecommunications, with a presence in Mexico, The United States, Guatemala, Puerto Rico, and Brazil. Formerly owned by the Mexican Government, Telmex was privatized in 1990. With the participation of Carso Global Telecom, France Telecom and Southwestern Bell, Telmex is positioned to remain at the forefront of telecommunications in the Americas. The United States Postal Service Washington D.C. USA The world's largest delivery organization, the United States Postal Service handles some 200 billion pieces of mail a year--more than 40 percent of the world's mail volume. Its 800,000 employees, supported by more than 250,000 vehicles, serve 133 million addresses from almost 40,000 postal facilities, every delivery day. The Postal Service's 1999's operating revenue of almost $63 billion came from the sale of postal products and services. The organization has not received an operating appropriation from Congress since 1982. With an unrivalled delivery, transportation, and retail network--as well as electronic access to many services--the Postal Service has a presence in virtually every community in the nation, providing prompt, affordable, universal service to everyone, everywhere, every day. United Technologies Hartford, Connecticut United Technologies Corporation is a $26 billion company that provides high technology products to the aerospace and building systems industries throughout the world.