ZAZZLE APPOINTS TUOC LUONG AS CHIEF TECNHOLOGY OFFICER AND VICE PRESIDENT OF ENGINEERING AND EMBARKS UPON A NEW ERA OF WEB 2.0 TECHNOLOGY
ZAZZLE APPOINTS TUOC LUONG AS CHIEF TECNHOLOGY OFFICER AND VICE PRESIDENT OF ENGINEERING AND EMBARKS UPON A NEW ERA OF WEB 2.0 TECHNOLOGY
Industry Figure Appointed to Revolutionize Technology
in the Rapidly Growing Online Customization Market
Palo Alto, CA - May 15, 2006 - Zazzle, the Internet's customized products marketplace, today announced the appointment of Tuoc Luong to the position of Chief Technology Officer and Vice President of Engineering. Luong was most recently the Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at IAC Search & Media (formerly Ask Jeeves, Inc.), which includes such popular destinations as Ask.com, Bloglines, Evite, and more.
Luong brings decades of engineering expertise to Zazzle. He has extensive experience in building and managing world-class, consumer-facing applications. At Ask.com, Luong aggregated and led all of the disparate technology teams under one roof, managing everything from the core search product, end-to-end development, QA, production, data center and network operations. Responsible for all aspects of Ask.com's technology and an organization of over 300 engineers, Luong had a dramatic impact on the company's success. In the past year, Ask.com's share of the search market increased, despite intense competition from Google and Yahoo.
"We are thrilled to welcome aboard such a world-renowned engineering executive, whose experience couldn't be more relevant and beneficial to Zazzle's long-term success," said Robert Beaver, Chairman & CEO of Zazzle. "Tuoc has a demonstrated track record of building extraordinary engineering organizations and cutting-edge technology solutions. He is a key addition to our executive team as we continue to develop the next generation of technologies and products to delight our users, customers and partners."
Prior to Ask.com, Luong was VP of Engineering at Octopus Software, which was acquired by Ask.com in 2001. In more than two decades of engineering experience, Luong also previously worked with Microsoft Corporation, where he managed the company's BackOffice/Small Business Server and Hosted Services Division. In this position, Luong was one of the key executives driving Microsoft's "Software as a Service" initiative, the precursor to .NET.
Before Microsoft, Luong worked with Baan/Aurum Software, Borland, Pyramid Technology, Oracle Corporation, and Informix Software, where he was the eighteenth member of the team. He is also the author of the book, "Internationalization, Developing Software for the Global Market," published in 1995.
Personalization Meets Web 2.0
"Zazzle is already a highly scalable Web 2.0 e-commerce service with a well-defined UI and an amazing user experience," says Luong. "I'm excited about the opportunity to bring my expertise to bear for Zazzle's benefit, to work with the brilliant engineers already on the team, and to help make Zazzle an even more compelling application."
Customization is a rapidly growing trend on the Internet and in e-commerce. Zazzle is pioneering some of the most advanced technology solutions to empower users to easily create and share customized products, such as apparel, posters, mugs, custom postage and more. Through a combination of technologies such as AJAX, on-demand dynamic imaging, and proprietary manufacturing systems, Zazzle strives to empower consumers to do things never-before-thought-possible on the web and in commerce at large.
Unleash Your Creativity at Zazzle.com
Want to celebrate Mother's Day, a family reunion, commemorate a significant event, design a t-shirt, or just share your original creations with a wider audience? It's easy to create that perfect product at Zazzle, which is home to hundreds of thousands of customizable images and products, contributed by a community of artists, photographers, designers, and creative consumers worldwide. Zazzle sellers make their unique creations available to the public by setting up a Zazzle store where anyone can browse, comment and connect with others who share their interests. Sellers earn royalties every time their creations are purchased by others.
In addition to the fast growing marketplace of contributed products, Zazzle has one of the largest collections of images from the world's most well-known brands. Zazzle's special collections include over 3,500 authentic images from the Walt Disney Company, as well as historically significant images from The Library of Congress, the California State Library, the Boston Public Library, and the Hoover Institution. One-of-a-kind characters and images are also available on Zazzle from such leading collections as Warner Brothers' Looney Tunes, Lucasfilm's Star Wars, Marvel Comics, Twentieth Century Fox's Family Guy™, Neopets, Build-A-Bear Workshop and MGM's Pink Panther.
Whether it's creating a single custom t-shirt, finding a special collector-quality map, designing your own travel mug, or sharing a fun family reunion photo as a ZazzleStamp, Zazzle provides creative consumers with a compelling and dynamic online experience.
About Zazzle
At Zazzle, anyone can share and celebrate their interests and passions with unique, one-of-a-kind products including apparel, posters, U.S. Postage, greeting cards and more. It's easy, fun, and affordable for all! Zazzle combines on-demand manufacturing, a robust online community, the largest online collection of customizable digital images and unmatched personalization tools to empower consumers to create their products. In addition, individuals can choose to become sellers by sharing their unique creations in Zazzle's public stores. Within these stores, anyone can browse, comment and connect with others who share their interests. Sellers also earn royalties every time their creations are purchased by others. For anyone who wishes to create, wear, display, sell or celebrate their interests, Zazzle provides a compelling interactive marketplace to a worldwide audience. For more information, please visit www.zazzle.com.
