17 June 2008

Jade Software Corporation (Jade) announced today that it has signed an agreement with its Indian partner CMC Limited (CMC) that will see CMC selling Jade’s student management system throughout India.

CMC will deploy a customised version of the Jade student management system (SMS) in their education and training centres throughout India. The initial phase will involve 25 authorised training centres in the western region surrounding Mumbai. This will grow to 100 centres by the end of the year with over 50,000 students on the system.

CMC is a publicly listed, leading IT services and solutions company; a subsidiary of TCS Ltd. and part of the prestigious Indian industrial conglomerate TATA Group, which has annual revenue in excess of US$55 billion. CMC has over 4,000 staff, annual revenue in excess of US$275 million with offices all over India as well as in USA, UK, and Dubai.

Jade’s Managing Director Dr. Rod Carr says, “India’s economy is predicted to grow by over 9 percent this year and higher education is an important sector with significant potential. With more than 20,000 universities and colleges in India, there is strong demand for modern student management systems and it is this market that CMC are targeting.

“This deal has the potential to generate export earnings once CMC rolls out the Jade SMS throughout India.”

Jade first developed its SMS in 1999. The current 4.5 version was released in April and 4.6 is due to be released October this year. New Zealand education providers using Jade’s SMS include the University of Canterbury, the University of Waikato, Manukau Institute of Technology, Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology and Otago Polytechnic.

Building on the successful deployment of the system in New Zealand, CMC plans to offer it in India as a turn-key solution and to make it available on a Software as a Service basis for that country’s education providers.

The application will be installed and supported by CMC personnel following training provided by the Jade team in Christchurch. Jade will train a further 25 CMC employees in Mumbai later this year.

Jade’s Chief Information Officer John Ascroft says, “CMC has the capability and relationships to deliver solutions into the Indian market which would not be possible for Jade to do by itself. The partnership enables CMC to access best in class technology that is proven, significantly different and effective leaving Jade to concentrate on developing other markets where it has expertise.”

CMC’s MD & CEO R Ramanan says, "CMC is strongly focussed on the Education and Training market in India and emerging economies. Its strategic partnership with Jade will help address the need for state of the art Student Management and integrated Learning systems in these markets"

Over the past two years Jade has sought to establish strategic relationships with partners to accelerate the rate of use and deployment of JADE technology and applications built in JADE. Last year the company signed a memorandum of understanding with CMC who were interested in applying Jade solutions in both the domestic Indian market as well as in the Asia, the Middle East and North America. The SMS agreement represents the first major deal resulting from the Jade/CMC partnership.

Dr Carr said, “This is one of the most significant engagements with a world class Systems Integrator that Jade has entered into in the last five years; we look forward to a very exciting partnership with CMC.”

ENDS

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ABOUT JADE SOFTWARE CORPORATION

Jade Software Corporation (JSC) is a specialist technology services company with more than 25 years experience in helping organisations quickly respond to business, customer and supplier demands.

We create targeted solutions that enable responsive businesses to rapidly manage specific and complex information requirements. By combining our expertise and agile development methodology, we’ve enabled customers worldwide to deliver business-critical information that provides strategic impact with the reliability and robustness that comes from a mainframe computing heritage.

More than 3,000 organisations across Europe, North America, and Asia Pacific use Jade solutions to manage their specific information requirements. Our customers span multiple sectors, including logistics, shipping, finance and insurance, national security, health, education, human resource management, and enterprise risk assessment.

A privately owned New Zealand based company, Jade has offices in New Zealand, Australia, the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. For more information visit: www.jadeworld.com

ABOUT CMC LIMITED
CMC Limited is a leading IT solutions and services company and a subsidiary of Tata Consultancy Services Limited (TCS Ltd.), one of the world's leading Information Technology consulting, services and business process outsourcing organizations and a part of the Tata Group, India's best-known business conglomerate.
With 18 offices, 150 service locations, 520 non-resident locations and over 4,000 employees worldwide, CMC Ltd. provides a wide spectrum of unique Information Technology solutions and services to a clientele of premier organisations in the government and private sectors.
CMC Americas Inc. is a subsidiary and services clients in the US, while CMC branch offices in the UK and Dubai market the company’s products and services in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
CMC continues to focus on consolidating its dominant position in India, while expanding its reach globally. For more information, visit www.cmcltd.com