AMS APT Boulder1 Commercial Weather Services Association The Commercial Weather Services Association Steven A. Root, CCM President of CWSA President & CEO WeatherBank, Inc.

AMS APT Boulder2 Commercial Weather Services Association America’s Weather Industry 60+ years of innovation AWI is the only private sector producer of weather information, systems and services American business and public are the beneficiaries of AWI innovation and free and open exchange of government data American weather is the best in the World

AMS APT Boulder3 Commercial Weather Services Association Innovation and competition results in more information, better tailored for end-users No cost to the government or the U.S. taxpayer Generates taxes and significant benefits – more than 35 times its total revenue Government competition increases AWI risk, curbing innovation and value America’s Weather Industry

AMS APT Boulder4 Commercial Weather Services Association Understands business, works with business, and is a business itself Government is government, often does not understand business, and does not have the same entrepreneurial interests Commercial Weather Companies must be profitable year in and year out, risking capital, IP, their life’s work America’s Weather Industry

AMS APT Boulder5 Commercial Weather Services Association Thousands of AWI weather innovations that have benefited: -the public through media -every business/industry through value-added services Key to innovation is competition within the AWI Government must recognize it should not compete with the AWI – competition is a private sector function America’s Weather Industry

AMS APT Boulder6 Commercial Weather Services Association Frequency for M&A’s between AWI members has increased IN 2008 Consolidation will continue End users are becoming more sophisticated End users becoming more articulate in defining needs and products they seek End users are expecting solutions from the Enterprise vs. from one sector or another

AMS APT Boulder7 Commercial Weather Services Association The Future America’s Weather Industry is growing Consolidation in AWI will continue Traditional partnerships within Private sector will continue as members seek to mitigate risk Non-traditional partnerships across sectors will be more common Demand for products/services exceed our ability to supply them