Corel Caps Banner Year for Channel Programs, Taps Best Software Executive as New Vice President of Channel Sales.

OTTAWA -- Corel Grows VAR Channel Sales by 20 Percent; Adds Over 3,000 New Partners in 2004; Chad Hoke Joins Executive Team Extending Company's Reach into SMB Market 

Capping a comeback year that saw sales through its VAR channel increase by 20 percent, Corel today announced that it has named former Best Software executive Chad Hoke as its new vice president of channel sales. Hoke joins Corel from Best Software's Small Business Division where he served as vice president of sales managing a portfolio that included Act!(R), the best selling contact management software, and Peachtree(R) Accounting software for small-to-medium sized businesses.

As Corel's new channel chief, Hoke will lead a program that saw tremendous growth in 2004, as the company recruited over 3,000 new partners in just over twelve months. Corel will build on that momentum through 2005 with a full roster of targeted campaigns and programs including new product bundles, special incentives and rebates, customized training, along with special events and Webinars to address specific market segments. In addition, the company's revamped partner portal, www.corelconnected.com, will continue to provide partners with 24x7 access to the sales and marketing tools they need to successfully sell Corel's solutions.

"I'm excited by the opportunities that lie ahead for Corel and its partners in 2005," said Hoke. "My goal is to build stronger relationships with our existing partners while continuing to attract new partners to Corel. To that end, we're examining the results of our 2004 programs so that we continue to deliver strong margins while providing the support and expert advice that our partners expect and deserve. We'll also be investing to develop more of the tools and resources our partners need to be successful servicing their client base, whether they be small-to-medium sized businesses, government agencies or educational institutions. Finally, we want to bring more, high-quality sales opportunities to the channel so that we can help our partners close even more Corel business over the coming fiscal year."

In the midst of an impressive business turnaround, Corel has restored growth to all of its major product lines, achieved record levels of profitability and most recently, completed the acquisition of Jasc Software and its Paint Shop family of products. Corel now offers the Paint Shop family including Paint Shop(TM) Pro(R), Paint Shop(TM) Pro(R) Studio and Paint Shop(TM) Photo Album(TM) as part of its volume price lists. This represents an important new opportunity for solution providers who, by partnering with Corel, can capitalize on the explosion in digital photography and the growing demand for affordable, powerful and easy-to-use image-editing software.

Looking ahead to 2005, Corel will continue to drive sales through its channel partners whether they're serving large enterprises, small-to-medium sized businesses or value-conscious consumers. In addition, the company will work closely with companies like Intel, AMD and others to provide system builders with full-featured software alternatives that allow them to better serve their SMB client base while keeping more money in their pockets.

"Corel's channel partners have played a key role in supporting Corel's turnaround over the past year," said Amish Mehta, Corel's chief executive officer. "In 2005, we will reward that loyalty by offering partners more incentives, education and support to help them build their businesses. I'm very pleased to have Chad on board to lead Corel's channel charge as we work on building stronger relationships with our current partners while continuously expanding Corel's global distribution network."

About Corel

Corel Corporation provides innovative software solutions that help millions of value-conscious businesses and consumers in over 75 countries improve their productivity. The Company is renowned for its powerful software portfolio that combines innovative photo editing  and graphics creation, vector-illustration and technical-graphics applications along with office and personal productivity solutions. Corel's flagship products include the CorelDRAW(R) Graphics Suite, the WordPerfect(R) Office Suite, the Corel Painter Natural-Media(R) painting and illustration software and the Paint Shop Family of digital photography and image-editing software.

Corel was acquired by San Francisco-based Vector Capital in August 2003, and since that time, has achieved record levels of profitability and growth across all product lines. Founded in 1985, Corel is headquartered in Ottawa, Canada. For more information, please visit www.corel.com.

(C) 2004 Corel Corporation. All rights reserved. Corel, WordPerfect, CorelDRAW, Painter, Natural-Media, Jasc, Paint Shop Pro, Paint Shop Pro Studio, Paint Shop Photo Album and the Corel logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Corel Corporation. All other trademarks, product, font or company names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.