Technology company Geo-net Solutions, which is based in Darlington, has agreed a deal with one of the North-East's leading marketing and design agencies, which will use its new software.

Charles Hollywood Advertising, also based in Darlington, is the first commercial agency to sign a partnership agreement for the new Geo-Xpres web publishing software, which changes the way websites are designed and built.

Geo-Xpres is a website publishing and content management system designed for media agencies and other non-technical businesses to make it easier to build sites.

Charles Hollywood, which has clients including Sainsbury's and PayPoint, will use the software in all of its website projects.

The launch of the product was held at the Aston Workshop, in Chester-le-Street, County Durham, among several of the classic cars.

Antony Lewis, director of Geo-net, said: "Launching a product as specific as new software can be tricky.

"Therefore, we wanted to stand out from the crowd and offer clients the chance to experience something different.

"There is a certain amount of obvious synergy between Geo-Xpres and Aston Martin - both are synonymous with speed and the most skilled craftsmanship."

Terry Kneeshaw, managing director of Charles Hollywood, said: "Our clients are now demanding increasingly sophisticated web applications as well as total compliance with new guidelines.

"We required a system which would remove the inconsistencies of hand-coding HTML and the resulting risk of unknowingly producing non-compliant pages for our clients.

"There are only a couple of systems on the market with the same feature-set, quality control and flexibility, but Geo-Xpres was both quicker and more cost-effective than the competition."