Akibia's IT Support Services Division Reports Strong Growth in FY2001.

Business/Technology Editors

WESTBOROUGH, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 21, 2001

Leading IT Support Services Firm Continues 12-Year History of

Profitable Growth; Hires 158 New Employees and Opens New Offices

Akibia, Inc.'s IT Support Services (ITSS) division, a leading provider of mission-critical support services and the largest division of Akibia, today announced that its revenue for fiscal year 2001 (ending March 31, 2001) grew 35 percent over the previous year to $66 million. The growth is attributed to increased business from the firm's existing customer base as well as its acquisition of 38 new customers.

During this last fiscal year, Akibia ITSS hired 158 new employees, expanded its presence into new offices in Dallas, Chicago, New Jersey and the Netherlands and successfully completed its move into its new 86,000-square-foot headquarters in Westborough, Massachusetts. The division also added a Professional Services organization, which will focus on the growing demand for systems and database administration for complex UNIX and NT environments.

Akibia's IT Support Services division helps Fortune 1000 companies in technology, financial services, consumer goods and higher education maximize the performance of their IT environments. The company provides infrastructure support including maintenance and technical support for hardware and software, operational support including systems administration and Oracle and MS/SQL database administration and world-class education programs. Akibia ITSS has become the industry's leading independent provider of IT support services focused exclusively on supporting mission-critical UNIX and NT environments. Akibia provides global 24 x 7 support from three technical support centers in Massachusetts, California and the Netherlands.

"We've found that our focus on mission-critical UNIX and NT support services has been key to our success," said Tom Willson, Akibia CEO. "It has enabled us to be the best at what we do, generating customer loyalty and referenceability that's second to none. We work closely with our customers to truly understand their business and their needs so that together we build a solution that not only keeps their systems up and running, but is optimized for their unique business needs and approach for IT support."

The company also attributes its success to its Think Like a Customer(SM) service philosophy and its Service Partner(SM) approach to delivery. Akibia teams with each customer to design a unique program that leverages its existing investment in IT assets and associated business processes. This Service Partner approach eliminates resource duplication and waste because Akibia resources are integrated with the customer's, providing exactly what is needed, where and when it is needed.

With over 12 years of experience and profitable growth since its founding in 1988, and with 75 percent of its revenue coming from recurring contracts, Akibia has consistently proven that customers can rely on its expert support of mission-critical environments.

Privately held Akibia Inc., the corporate parent of Akibia Consulting and Akibia ITSS, also has seen record growth of 56% during the last fiscal year, with a revenue run-rate of nearly $100 million. Akibia, Inc. plans to continue its aggressive growth in FY2002 through the development and expansion of new offices in North America and Europe.

About Akibia

Akibia IT Support Services, a division of Akibia Inc., is the leading worldwide provider of technology support services for mission-critical UNIX and NT environments. Akibia delivers tailored infrastructure management solutions that ensure the absolute availability of our customers' technology environments. Our customers include Cisco Systems, Inc., Bell & Howell, Bose Corporation and AT&T Corp. For more information, call 508-621-5100 or visit the Akibia website at www.akibia.com.