COGNICASE Acquires United System Solutions, a Full Service IT Consultancy and Developer of Award Winning CRM Product.

Business Editors

MONTREAL--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 26, 2001

COGNICASE Inc. (Nasdaq:COGI)(TSE:COG.), a leading e-business services provider specializing in secure and scalable real time transactional solutions, today announced the acquisition of privately-held United System Solutions (USS) a full service information technology consultancy and developer of the award winning software product, Maximizer Enterprise for Notes.

Maximizer Enterprise for Notes is a leading Customer Relationship Management product (CRM) which runs on IBM's Domino platform and can be accessed by either Notes or browser clients. United System Solutions is based in Toronto, Canada.

This transaction will allow COGNICASE to continue building its IT consulting services presence in the Toronto market by leveraging United's long standing relationships with clients in the financial, insurance and professional services sectors. From a product perspective, COGNICASE will offer United System Solutions' award winning CRM product and expertise as an extension to its e-commerce suite of offerings.

Maximizer Enterprise for Notes will be integrated with the COGNICASE Watch4me suite of applications to allow enterprises the opportunity to enhance their customer management through a fully integrated, browser based application. Maximizer Enterprise for Notes, coupled with United's CRM deployment services, will extend COGNICASE' reach beyond its leading position in the web marketplace into the important CRM space, thereby strategically positioning COGNICASE to participate in the important and rapidly expanding CRM market.

The worldwide CRM services market continues to be one of the fastest growing IT and business services markets. IDC expects the total CRM services market to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 29% in the 1999-2004 timeframe. Source: IDC, 2000 ("Worldwide CRM Services Market Forecast and Analysis, 1999-2004").

"This transaction is about leveraging CRM expertise into our network of customers and to broaden the portfolio of services we offer our clients. CRM is the natural extension of e-commerce.

It allows the solution provider to extend into the day to day customer relationship of our clients, to further our understanding of their business and in turn their technology requirements," declared Mr. Ronald Brisebois, COGNICASE's President and Chief Executive Officer. "This acquisition is another example of COGNICASE' stated goal of broadening its services practice with a suite of leading edge web based solutions that will be of value to its customer base," added Mr. Brisebois.

"We are very pleased to be joining forces with COGNICASE. We believe their vision, strategy, size and broad geographic presence will greatly facilitate our mutual objective of rapidly expanding the use of our award winning CRM product throughout the world," said David Poulson, CEO, United System Solutions. "On the consulting side, United System Solutions is an established and highly respected provider of a broad range of information technology and award winning education services to many of Ontario's largest organizations. We look forward to playing an important role in rapidly expanding the consulting services presence of COGNICASE in the Toronto market and now have the opportunity to better serve our clients with offices in the many geographies served by COGNICASE worldwide," Mr. Poulson added.

About COGNICASE

COGNICASE (TSE: "COG", Nasdaq: "COGI") is an innovative company specializing in the development and integration of real time transactional solutions. Relying on its results-driven approach, its software and technology and its international Internet engineering and hosting center, COGNICASE offers secure and scalable solutions that contribute to its customers' economic success in the age of the new economy. The Company is active in several countries, including Canada, the United States, France, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands and Australia.

About United System Solutions

Founded in 1987, United System Solutions is a leading provider of IT Consulting Services, Education services and the developer of the award winning CRM product, Maximizer Enterprise for Notes.

For 14 years, United's professional consulting services group has successfully provided strategy, project and infrastructure services to a full spectrum of Ontario's leading organizations, including financial services, insurance services, professional services, healthcare, real estate management and government.

Since 1993 United's education group has provided award winning technical education services around IBM and Microsoft technologies. Our education service offerings include classroom based instructor led, customized off site and distance learning.

United's CRM product division has enabled United System Solutions to become the CRM solutions provider of choice for more than 200 organizations throughout the world. Maximizer Enterprise for Notes was winner of the prestigious "Best in Showcase" award at Lotusphere 2001. It is a native Domino CRM product and is optimized for use by either the Lotus Notes client software or through a browser for organizations that have not implemented Notes. ME4N can be deployed in all Domino compatible architectures, including NT, S390, AS/400, Sun Solaris, Unix and Linux.