Akibia IT Support Services Named Authorized Sun Education Center; IT Infrastructure Management Firm Recognized for Its State-of-the-Art Education Services.

Business/Technology Editors

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 5, 2002

Akibia IT Support Services, a leading worldwide provider of customized and integrated infrastructure management solutions, has been named Sun's Authorized Sun Education Center (ASEC) for South Central Texas.

"We are excited to expand our relationship with Sun Microsystems," said Tom Willson, Akibia CEO, "and we are pleased that our long-standing commitment to quality education has been recognized by Sun."

Akibia currently offers Solaris system administration, Sun hardware maintenance and Java programming courses at the Austin facility. All instructors at Akibia's newest state-of-the-art facility in Austin are Sun-certified.

"Students who come to Akibia for education walk away with a deep understanding of the subject matter, and more importantly, how to apply that knowledge outside of the classroom," said Chris Buzzy, Director of Education Services at Akibia. "Rather than just teach the material needed to pass a test, we train our students with real-world scenarios designed to help them perform their jobs better on a daily basis."

Akibia has earned a reputation for superior education since its founding as a systems maintenance firm in 1988. During its first few years of incorporation, the company developed its internal education group to train its own professional field engineers on how to service and support hardware and software products for its customers.

Akibia provides a wide variety of course offerings, including Sun and Hewlett-Packard hardware and software support, as well as Storage Area Networking (SAN) courses, through its open-enrollment classes and custom course development. Akibia's courses can be delivered at a customer's site or at one of Akibia's Education Centers located throughout the United States and Europe.

"We feel students who come to Akibia for their education needs will be impressed by the expertise of our veteran instructors, who have decades of real industry experience between them, so they know the material first-hand," said Buzzy. "In addition, our methodology sets our services apart from others, in that it emphasizes practical learning through hands-on training, with strictly limited class sizes and comprehensive testing after each module to ensure absolute mastery of the subject matter."

In addition to providing open-enrollment classes, Akibia specializes in developing custom education solutions. Akibia trains technical engineers, sales support staff and new-hires on both proprietary and third-party products for business leaders such as Dell Computer Corporation, IBM Corporation and NCR Corporation.

Students interested in the ASEC courses may learn more by calling [phone] or visiting the web at www.akibia.com/AustinSunEd.

About Akibia IT Support Services

Akibia IT Support Services provides customized and integrated infrastructure management services for UNIX and Windows environments. From systems maintenance and proactive monitoring to desktop management, IT education and infrastructure consulting, Akibia helps Fortune 1000 companies better leverage information technology in their day-to-day business processes. Akibia partners with its customers, combining people, processes and infrastructure, to deliver cost-effective solutions, specifically designed to meet each customer's individual needs. Founded as Polaris Service in 1988, Akibia is headquartered in Massachusetts and has offices located throughout the United States and Europe. For more information, please call [phone] or visit www.akibia.com.

Akibia is a service mark of Akibia, Inc. Solaris and Sun Microsystems are a trademark and registered trademark, respectively, of Sun Microsystems, Inc. All trademarks and registered marks herein are the property of their respective owners.