The OFFICE™ & The Learning Station Product Reviews A partial listing

Fortune Magazine- Was first to spot the The OFFICE™, electro-entopic computer armoire as a better idea. As early as 1995 the magazine devoted nearly a full page to The OFFICE™, singling it out as a "Product To Watch".

".....About the size of a closet when its doors are shut, The Office opens up to nearly 31 square feet of space. The ready-wired unit has an adjustable platform for PC keyboard and mouse, a pull-out desk that doubles as a drafting table, and a wall phone and a port for TV and VCR--readying you for whatever route to the home the info highway finally takes. It also comes with an ergonomic chair and its own cooling, lighting, and noise-control systems--not to mention the built-in lift and roll mechanism so you can move The Office around the house...."

The OFFICE™-- Featured LIVE on the NBC TODAY SHOW

Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel

Every once in a while, someone comes out with a product so good that it deserves a standing ovation. The uncontested winner at [A.S.I.D.] Design Spectrum was The OFFICE™, a high-tech workspace in a box that looks like an armoire. We've seen many pieces of furniture designed to hide computer equipment at the International Home Furnishings Market in High Point, N.C., but none equals this one...This is the perfect solution for small ..living spaces where a guest bedroom often doubles as an office...it's a smarter idea than hiring a carpenter to do built-ins. This is a mobile investment"

Southern Living Magazine features Pop-Up TV™ from Summerland - September 2000 issue

"We build our [Summerlift] lifts into everything we manufacture---from armoires to lecterns".

The Mining Company names The OFFICE™ Small Business Tool of the Week May 19, 1998

The OFFICE™ is a series of complete work stations to meet all of your office needs. They are designed according to the principles of electro-entopic ergonomics (meaning ergonomically correct placement of electronic and mechanical components within the unit as well as functional task areas) and practicality. They are fully wired, fully mobile, and the chair even closes up inside......accessories ..include an ergonomic task chair, APC Back-UPS, a speaker-phone and jack, a calendar, tape dispenser and even a bud vase...... [and] a unique monitor lift device to free up workspace when not in use. The OFFICE™ may be the way to go. Who is The Mining Company? NBC has a minority stake as well as content partnerships in the parent of The Mining Company

Womans Day Magazine - Decorating Ideas: Home Office - Summer 1998 featured The OFFICE

Working at Home - From the Editors of SUCCESS Magazine
Full article online

The Future Is Now - Welcome to the "armoire office." It's comfortable, high-tech. And when you're done for the day, you can put it away......you need an office that works as hard as you do. Now that's possible even if you don't dedicate an entire room to the purpose...the most innovative units for home business" "WORKING AT HOME canvassed furniture makers around the country for the most innovative units for home businesses. Two stars [emerged]: A Glide-Away Unit - With a work and storage space designed for efficienty, the CEO model of The OFFICE™ includes a full size ergonomic chair that disappears...when work is done".

Complete Article Online Working At Home is the new magazine that celebrates the independence that comes from meshing home, family and work. Each issue covers the practical issues of running a business, reviews the latest technology and profiles people who achieved their dreams. Lush photographs take you inside some magnificent homes to illustrate the many appeals of the working-at-home lifestyle. Subscribe

Furniture Style from Vance Publishing

"The OFFICE™, from The Summerland Group is a self-contained, full-service work module that opens to reveal the complete workings of a home office and closes when work is done"

Gadget Guru Andy Pargh
"...a clever new product...... The OFFICE™ conceals an entire home-office setup inside an armoire...best of all, when you close the doors the contents (including the chair) are concealed and out of harm's way.."

"Shopping On The Internet" by L.A. Times Columnist Jaclyn Easton
(At bookstores everywhere) Excerpts from her review of The OFFICE on pages 77/78:

"What impresses me most about this concept is the care that has gone into the design and construction of The OFFICE™... an extraordinary achievement in furniture, efficiency, and technology ... everything you need in an office... especially well suited for heavy computer users... beautifully designed... the highest quality, most durable unit possible..."

Haut Decor International Magazine

"The OFFICE™ is...a sophisticated new computer appliance..secure, attractive, non-intrusive, professional...It can be relocated to the employee's home and is even wheelchair accessible"

APC Currents Magazine

"...The OFFICE™ has all the necessities for safe, efficient computing, including of course, an APC Back-UPS..as well as a separate surge protector for the fax and modem".

Information Week

". ..Everything you need in an office, to go..The OFFICE™"

The Monday Morning Quarterback News and Views of The Contract Furniture Industry

"The OFFICE™, a work-at-home solution [by Summerland], clearly showed that innovation can come from anywhere"

Telecommuting Review THE Authoritative Source of Telecommuting Information and Analysis Since 1984

"...Much more than a new piece of furniture ... When they designed The OFFICE™, they set out to replicate someone's entire office furnishings down to the very last detail, and it seems they succeeded".
---Gil Gordon

Home Office Computing (twice)

“...More Than Meets the Eye...multifunctional pieces that convert easily and blend seamlessly with residential furniture ..The OFFICE™ ..which at first glance looks like a...double door armoire...expands to 31 square feet of work space when fully open. The OFFICE™ is also fully wired for productivity with a lighting system, a wall phone, and ports for a TV and VCR. To top it off, you get an ergonomic chair [that closes up inside] when you’re not using it"

---

" ...the way people work has changed. Computers have all but replaced typewriters. The study of Ergonomics, (the relationship between man and his working environment, with special reference to anatomical, physiological, and psychological factors; human engineering), has changed the way we look at human physiology within the workplace. What has been largely overlooked in the equation, however, is the pressing need for today’s workplace to also be Electro-entopic - (from the Greek-entopos meaning: in its correct place). The term Electro-entopic, describes ergonomically correct placement within the workspace, of electric, electronic, and mechanical components, as well as functional task areas. .....Summerland's product, The OFFICE™, was awarded International Grand Prize in Home Office competition at NeoCon, the World's Trade Fair for Interior Design, Facilities Management & Communications. The OFFICE™ and their newest line, The Learning Station™, a wide variety of mobile, height-adjustable desks which convert to computer workstations at the touch of a switch, can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.the-office.com"

Computer Currents

"The OFFICE™ is the chameleon of the home office. Opening when needed and disappearing when closed"

Income Opportunities Magazine

“...Users who like a spacious working environment will find themselves right at home....The OFFICE™ requires a single, 110-volt outlet and one telephone jack for full operation. It comes in a variety of sizes, and prices....”

We are proud to announce that the "National Institute of Business Management" has recommended The OFFICE to their subscribers. "N.I.B.M. - Research Recommendations - Business Briefing" Volume 46 # 28--" The OFFICE™, an ergonomic wonder..."

InternetLife--Ziff Davis Publishing

"...check out The OFFICE™, the Electro-entopic Satellite OffiCenter, a self-contained work-space.." [featured in the "Better Ideas Pavilion" of Home Office Mall, on the World Wide Web]

Dallas Morning News

"..a clever new product, aptly named "The OFFICE™"..conceals an entire home-office setup inside an armoire"

  Interiors Magazine

" Grand Prize went to The OFFICE™, a patent-pending self-contained unit designed and engineered by the Summerland Group. .. The [NeoCon] jury applauded the product's compact scale and the fact that it could be used in guest rooms and dining rooms...a home office that is practical, attractive, non-intrusive, computer-oriented, ergonomically responsible, user-friendly, rugged, and mobile". Read Article: Page One, Page Two

Chicago Tribune

The OFFICE™, designed by The Summerland Group.. won the grand prize in the home office award category. Facility planners, the professionals who choose office furnishings, are..trying both to humanize and to make offices more flexible, as workers acknowledge their need for pleasant and adaptable surroundings that adjust as staff, work and technology change--sometimes quite rapidly...[The OFFICE™] includes all essential components, wires and cables to get work done by phone, computer, fax or modem"

Furniture/TodayThe Weekly Business Newspaper of the Furniture Industry

"The OFFICE™ an armoire designed by [Summerland] won grand prize in the Home Office Awards at last week's NeoCon. Brayton International's Migration group of seating and tables won a gold award, and Haworth's Correspondent office on wheels won a silver award".

Cahners - Wood and Wood Products

"..In Texas, a rapidly growing store fixture manufacturer kicked up its heels at the chance to jump into the furniture industry's hottest market, the home office, [as one of the licensed manufacturers of] The OFFICE™, the fully equipped, self-contained workspace in a cabinet that wowed judges at NeoCon'96 World's Trade Fair."

The Virtual Office Survival Handbookby Alice Bredin

"The Summerland Group designs The OFFICE™, entire offices that are ergonomically oriented"

The St.Petersburg Times

"Open the doors on a home office in an armoire. The OFFICE™ includes just about everything.."

Computer & Entertainment Retailing The Newspaper for Canadian Retailers of Technology Products

"Retailers must accommodate a distinct market segment, as home and work merge. Home-business users will be an important market for some time to come. The vast majority of retail furniture and office furniture salesmen who are still using carbon paper--and wouldn't know a computer from a doorstop--are actually trying to sell you computer furniture. This is no passing fad guys. [Summerland] makes home-office furniture.. that looks like wooden armoires when they are closed..but upen them up and a complete office space is revealed. There are millions of us who have work to do and...the product we're looking at, (The OFFICE™ ) makes real sense from both a work as well as an ergonomic perspective".

Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinal

"When Cynthia von Kittendorf-Gurin and her husband, Robert Gurin, PhD were traveling in Europe during his stint as an engineering executive with a Swiss firm, the two would end up in rented homes or hotel rooms that made no accommodations for traveling executives and their work, or computer needs. They found themselves balancing printers atop televisions or sharing meals on the dining-rooms tables with their computers, said Cynthia. And the occasional workstation in their temporary homes --most likely a dropdown table akin to a Murphy bed--would not accommodate all their hardware needs. "It just got to be absurd", she said. "No one manufactued anything that made the slightest bit of sense. No one thought anything through. It was something we needed ourselves". So the couple who now run The Summerland Group created The OFFICE™, a functional and compact workstation".

Interior Design Show Daily

"Looks like an Armoire, Feels like an Office. The office of the future..The OFFICE™ combines furniture, fixtures and accessories into the ideal working environment"

Florida Keys Magazine

"The OFFICE™..a solution for working at home when living space is limited..an armoire that closes to hide a chair and equipment when not in use"

THE LEARNING STATION™

Dallas Morning News - August 4, 1998 Children's Computer Furniture article features the new educational furniture from The OFFICE™ - The Learning Station™

Home Office Computing magazine a third time.....in February of 1999, HOC featured The Learning Station on the cover, and in a two-page photo-spread entitled "The Disappearing Office" Click on image to see featured photos

Practical Home Office Solutions A great new book by Marilyn Zelinsky [letter] "..I'm personally thrilled...I'm so happy .. judges picked The OFFICE™ as [NeoCon -The World's Trade Fair ] grand prize winner!" Marilyn Zelinsky, Senior Editor - Interiors Magazine

Get the book

NeoCon® '99 World's Trade Fair for Interior Design & Facilities Management. Innovations Awards - GRAND PRIZE The BUILDINGS Show™, at The Merchandise Mart, Chicago, with more than 800 show exhibitors of facilities products and services, (NeoCon, New Hospitality, BPIA Marketplace, Decorex™ USA, and Technocom™), was sponsored by BUILDINGS magazine, and managed by Merchandise Mart Properties, Inc. Buildings Innovations Awards 1999 - Showcase Innovative Solutions "The more than 30,000 facilities managers and design professionals attending NeoCon®99 World's Trade Fair, The Merchandise Mart, Chicago, are witnessing the latest innovations in solutions-oriented products, services, and technology for commercial buildings. In its fourth year, the Innovations Awards Competition, presented by Buildings and Buildings INTERIORS magazines, sponsors of the Buildings Show™ at NeoCon World's Trade Fair, features products and services that SOLVE today's facilities challenges. Categories in this year's competition include Computer Solutions, Environmental Solutions, Product Performance, Workplace Aesthetics, Workplace Flexibility, and Workplace Performance. And the winners are... Computer Solutions The Learning Station™ Pull up a chair to jot a few notes or use a laptop. Touch a switch and the table height adjusts. Pull the desktop forward to adjust for leg room comfort. Touch a switch to elevate a concealed computer/peripheral compartment and keyboard tray. The Learning Station is a wired, mobile, convertible, lift-equipped unit that can go anywhere and be anything a user needs it to be. .. The Learning Station™ by The Summerland Group.." Press Release issued by Buildings and Buildings INTERIORS magazines 07/08/99 Other winners: Workplace Flexibility Solutions- Contrada (power/communications distribution) by Trendway Environmental Solutions- Artoleum (biodegradable floorcovering) by Forbo Industries Workplace Aesthetics Solutions - Brushstrokes (affordable artwork) by Atelier Americas Inc. Workplace Productivity Solutions-Leap Seating (adjustable chairs) by Steelcase, Inc. Product Performance- Duraprene Technical Wallcovering (eco-friendly, rugged) by Bluemthal.

SUMMERLIFT™

WOODWEB - the information resource for the Woodworking Industry features Summerlift™, the lift mechanisms used in The OFFICE™ ( from Summerland's OEM product offerings)

The OFFICE™ was featured on.. the NBC TODAY Show, featured twice on special Home Office segments of the TV show Your New House, (still running in syndication) and many more.

The Sunday Times - (Singapore)

"The OFFICE™ is.....a comprehensive home-office system..... a self-contained unit which doesn't take up much space at home....[it] can be locked up so your pet dog or curious toddler does not tear your valuable report to shreds.... compact yet as efficient as a conventional office.

Japan-American News-- featured The OFFICE™ in two separate issues, spawning multiple additional articles in Japan.

The OFFICE™ was awarded 4 stars for excellence in a prominant 1996 Japanese publication. The book profiles technologically superior products which are currently available throughout the world .

Jetro Sensor - Japanese language publication feature article on The OFFICE™