Acadient and Tata Interactive Systems Announce Strategic Partnership

Marketing and Development Alliance Will Expand Companies' Leadership in the Global Financial Services Marketplace

Press Release on the Yahoo! Web site
February 25, 2004

BOSTON & MUMBAI, India

Acadient, a leading developer and distributor of online education, today announced a strategic partnership with India-based Tata Interactive Systems (TIS), one of the world's largest custom e-learning companies. TIS is a subsidiary of the Tata Group, one of India's largest conglomerates, employing more than 275,000 people and accounting for about two per cent of India's gross domestic product.

This strategic alliance will enable Acadient to expand its leadership in e-learning for U.S. and global financial services companies and their employees. Acadient already possesses the largest digital repository of training in the industry and manages the certification and training programs of thousands of individual learners in the U.S. and abroad. TIS will broaden its efforts in the financial services arena, particularly within the mutual fund, banking and broker/dealer markets, where the demand for online certification and training continues to grow sharply. The two companies will also jointly pursue opportunities for expanding their relationship in new markets.

"Partnering with Tata Interactive Systems is a significant step forward for our company," said Ronald C. Pruett, Jr., chief executive officer, Acadient. "Tata brings expertise in a variety of areas, including instructional design, expert graphics and programming. Their internal quality processes are unsurpassed and, together with our leading brand name content, will provide companies and consumers around the world with the best and most affordable online financial services training available."

"Over the past decade, TIS has worked with two hundred corporate clients and has developed more than 100,000 hours of training and learning content," said Manoj Kutty, senior vice president and head of TIS in North America. "Our clients enjoy the advantage of our experience and the investments we have made in setting up CMM Level 5 and PCMM Level 5 development centers. This translates into innovative and defect-free products delivered on time and within budget, especially important in today's market."

Manoj added, "By partnering with Acadient, we can further increase our presence in the U.S. market. With our knowledge and experience in creating Web-based training materials and Acadient's expertise in the financial industry, we can jointly create product, call centers, regulatory and continuing education, and simulation-based training."