Jones Knowledge Donating Jones e-education Course Management Platform Making it Free for the World to Use.

Business Editors & Education/High-Tech Writers

DENVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 29, 2002

Unprecedented Move to Transform the e-learning Industry and

Advance the Global Democratization of Education

Jones Knowledge(TM), Inc., a leader in the development and deployment of online learning solutions, announced today that it is donating its baseline Jones e-education(TM) online course delivery and management platform to the schools and students of the world.

This unprecedented move opens the doors to the source code for this highly acclaimed software, making it freely available to the world's educational institutions for delivering their courses online. This announcement comes at a time when online learning delivery infrastructure costs are on the rise.

"The global democratization of education via the Internet has always been our primary goal," says Glenn R. Jones, chairman and CEO of Jones Knowledge. "The acceleration of this process is being impeded by the confusion over which platform should manage the educational content and the ever-increasing cost of the various platforms available. To overcome these barriers, we have decided to donate the Jones platform to the service of the world's educators and their students. The world needs an operating system for educators that is free in order to optimize the adoption and growth of online education."

For years, Jones e-education has been serving secondary and higher education institutions worldwide in their delivery of online curricula. The software is best known for its ease of use, its highly collaborative and interactive communication tools, and its open architecture for advanced and flexible course design. Jones Knowledge will be offering the source code for its baseline product to serve the internal needs of institutions that are looking for a solid delivery platform or a foundation to build a more sophisticated course delivery tool. Jones Knowledge expects that the code will be globally available before the end of the year. The gift is made for the benefit of public and private schools and universities whether they are operated for profit or not. The goal is to accelerate access to education.

Currently, many Jones Knowledge customers are utilizing a more advanced version of the Jones platform, Jones e-education v. 4.0. As Jones Knowledge phases out of the course delivery platform business in favor of the free-source product, its current intention is to no longer develop, nor accept new contracts for, v. 4.0. Jones Knowledge will continue to support v. 4.0 for existing customers, while assisting them with their transition to either the open source course delivery software or another software platform of their choice. Over the next several months, Jones Knowledge's number one priority will be to ensure the provision of a smooth transition for its existing customers.

"Since the baseline Jones e-education course management software will be readily available as an alternative for educators, we do not feel there is a need to maintain other versions for commercial use, including version 4.0," says Jones. "Jones Knowledge is not donating version 4.0's source code because third party products were integrated into the software and we are prohibited from freely offering it to the open market."

Jones Knowledge will continue to advance its mission of democratizing education through its other business units, including Jones International University(R) (JIU(TM)), Jones e-global library(R), and the Knowledge Store(R). It will also continue to offer online learning consulting services.

"Our gift is to educators and students," continues Jones. "It is made in recognition of the reality that if you are dropped out of the education system, you are also dropped out of the better parts of the economic system. When you are dropped out of the education system, you live in a world without hope. It is this lack of hope that breeds many of the world's conflicts. We feel that our company can make a significant contribution by helping to assure access to quality education for everybody, regardless of who they are or where they are."

About Jones Knowledge(TM), Inc.

Jones Knowledge, Inc. is a leader in the development and deployment of online learning solutions for educational institutions, corporations and individuals. The company's businesses include Jones International University(R), Ltd., the first fully online, accredited university, offering undergraduate and graduate degrees and executive and professional certificate programs; Jones e-global library(R), Inc., a comprehensive suite of online library resources; Knowledge Store(R), Inc., a comprehensive collection of licensable, high-quality education and training content and Jones Knowledge Consulting Services, an e-learning advisory practice. Jones Knowledge is a subsidiary of Jones International(TM), Ltd. To learn more about Jones Knowledge, visit www.jonesknowledge.com.