Progress ASPEN Member Provides ASP-enabled School Application for Administrators, Teachers, and Parents.

Business/Technology Editors

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

Washington State's Public Schools Benefit from Per-student/Per-year

Pricing for Skyward's Progress-based Application, Out-hosted by

Non-profit IT Co-op WSIPC 

The Progress Company, a business unit of Progress Software Corporation (NASDAQ: PRGS), today announced that ASPEN(sm) (Application Service Provider ENablement) Program member Skyward Inc., has created an ASP version of its school management application that will be implemented among 94 percent of all K-12 public school districts in Washington. Washington's School Information Processing Cooperative (WSIPC), a subscription-based technology cooperative that provides information technology services to nearly all public schools in the state, will oversee the implementation of the application over the next few years. WSIPC expects the new Progress(R)-based application to significantly improve the 50 percent or more per-student savings already enjoyed by its 277 member school districts. Through automated paperwork and Web-enabled record keeping, the application adds further value by freeing teachers and administrators to focus on their primary responsibilities.

Next year, three school districts will pilot Skyward's Progress-based PaC School Management Systems(TM), an integrated student and financial management application now offered through the ASP model. The software suite provides teachers and administrators with an Internet-based system that handles nearly all aspects of public school management, including payroll, budgets, and attendance tracking. With real-time updates on data, the system will even allow parents to interact with teachers over the Web to communicate information on grades, class schedules, and attendance. Teachers on the go will be able to input grades over the Internet using their home computer or even portable wireless devices in the classroom.

In running a non-profit cooperative, Jeff Conklin, chief executive officer at WSIPC, strives to provide its school members with cutting-edge technology at an affordable rate.

Since 1990, WSIPC has used Progress' technology to power the resource planning and management system for Washington's schools. WSIPC's prudent technology investments have helped make it one of the most successful school technology co-ops in the nation, claiming the highest school membership rate of any such venture. When WSIPC decided to update its systems, the co-op's management team wanted to stick with Progress technology, but hoped to find a pre-built, Progress-based packaged application. Progress' ASPEN program paired WSIPC with Skyward, which has focused on the K-12 school market for several years.

"This new system will provide effective and efficient administrative software at significant cost savings for participating school districts and will allow Washington's schools to focus more resources on their core values of educating Washington's students. The sound and stable platform we have become used to, based on Progress technology, will receive a dramatic upgrade with the deployment of the Skyward product suite. This will allow us to be at the cutting-edge with technology for district superintendents, teachers, parents, and even students," said Conklin.

A Progress partner since 1995, Skyward's system recently incorporated WebSpeed(R) Version 3.0 to develop its PaC (Point and Click) Student Records System. Founded in 1980, Skyward sells its administrative solutions to K-12 public and private schools in Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, Michigan, Indiana, South Dakota, Idaho, Kansas, and Texas, and has steadily grown 15 to 20 percent each year.

"Claiming nearly all of the state of Washington's public schools as our new customer is a major achievement for Skyward, which has typically only served the Midwestern states," said Cliff King, president of Skyward. "Through Progress' solid technology and ASPEN's guidance in issues such as flexible, subscription-model pricing, we've been able to significantly expand our geographic reach. Progress' cost-effective, reliable, and scalable technology has successfully supported WSIPC through the years. Our common Progress heritage will only make it even easier for us to implement the Skyward system for WSIPC."

"Progress' ASPEN program is dedicated to helping our ISVs transition their traditional packaged applications to the ASP model," said Bill Trail, director of ASP development. "ISVs, such as Skyward, who can now provide subscription-based pricing, Internet distribution, and remote-access for applications, will find the ASP model offers increased impressive revenue and new customer opportunities."

About WSIPC

In 1967, ten Washington school districts began a cooperative to share software development and hardware costs and provide centralized technological support. An early adopter of what has come to be called the ASP model, the cooperative began providing comprehensive services in the delivery of school administration applications in the 1970's. Today the result of this collaboration is the Washington School Information Processing Cooperative (WSIPC), a unique public agency that provides quality information services at a reasonable cost to the states school districts. Today WSIPC has grown to serve 94% of Washington's school districts with complete information management systems for fiscal, human resources, and student data. WSIPC supplies members with high-quality technological solutions and customer service at a fraction of the cost of commercial vendors. Perhaps most important, WSIPC is the only information service provider that automatically modifies its software to match Washington's unique, mandatory reporting requirements, which change from year to year. Taxpayers are thereby assured that their district's reporting obligations are being met. For more information go to www.wsipc.org.

About Skyward, Inc.

Skyward, Inc., developer of PaC School Management Systems(TM), an integrated student and financial management software system, gives administrators, educators, and families the power of information with a simple "Point and Click." Skyward's integrated solutions and real-time access to data, lets schools spend time on their number one priority...their students. Skyward, Inc., based in Stevens Point, Wis., has provided schools, both public and private, with powerful administrative solutions since 1980. Skyward's 20 years of experience and exclusive concentration in the K-12 community makes them an industry pioneer in the education market. www.skyward.com.

About the ASPEN(sm) Program

The Progress Company's ASPEN(sm) program provides business planning assistance, strategic partnerships, superior technology, and professional services to assist Progress ISVs in rapidly deploying their applications through the ASP model. The ASPEN Program consists of over 200 members that have deployed over 100 Web-enabled applications spanning all vertical markets, and boasting more than 70,000 end-user seats globally. Organizations such as General Mills, Beirsdorf, and Nutricia rely on Progress-based ASP applications for improved profitability and competitive advantage. In 2001, ASPnews.com named Progress to the Global Top 20 ASP infrastructure providers, from the 2000 companies listed in the ASPnews Directory. For more information about the ASPEN Program please visit www.ASPconnections.com.

About the Progress Company

The Progress Company is a global supplier of software technology and services for developing, deploying, integrating, and managing e-business solutions. The company provides a comprehensive suite of products that includes application development tools, application servers, messaging servers, and the industry's most widely-used, lowest-cost-of-ownership embedded database.

The Progress Company's partners include more than 2,000 independent software vendors (ISVs) and application service providers (ASPs) who supply annually over $5 billion in Progress(R)-based applications and related services. Over 40,000 organizations across more than 100 countries-- including 70% of the Fortune 100--rely on Progress-based applications.

The Progress Company, an operating company of Progress Software Corporation (NASDAQ: PRGS), is headquartered in Bedford, Mass., and can be reached at 1-781-280-4000 or on the Web at www.progress.com.

Progress and WebSpeed are registered trademarks of Progress Software Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. ASPEN is a service mark of Progress Software Corporation in the U.S. Any other trademarks and/or service marks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.