SAIC INTRODUCES PORTAL FOR U.S. ARMY EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVE SAIC TO HELP SOLDIERS BOOT UP TO NEW EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES WITH ARMYU.COM.

Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) has developed a new education Web portal designed to support the U.S. Army's launch of a major new educational initiative - Army University Access Online. The portal could provide a "virtual campus" for American soldiers as early as January 2001.

If selected by the Army, the SAIC portal (www.armyu.com) can give soldiers the opportunity to earn college degrees and technical and vocational certifications online while serving their country. New recruits or longtime soldiers can earn college degrees during a standard four-year enlistment. The SAIC portal is operational today and demonstrates the online services to be available to soldiers under the U.S. Army program. According to Secretary of the Army Louis Caldera, education and enlistment in the U.S. Army need not be mutually exclusive. "You can learn while you serve," Caldera has stated.

Army University Access Online will provide U.S. soldiers a laptop computer, a connection to the Internet, a printer and easy access to a wide range of courses and degree programs. After the U.S. Army awards the contract, the program will begin at selected installations and will follow soldiers as they move throughout the U.S. Army. The program is expected to roll out to other sites after a year, eventually expanding worldwide.

SAIC, a global leader in information technology integration services, has assembled a world-class team to implement the program. The company has more than 100 academic teammates, and its technical teammates include click2learn.com , a leader in providing online learning solutions that enable enterprises to author, deploy and manage Internet-based training and education.

"This project represents a perfect synergy between SAIC's technical, educational, and military capabilities and those of our strategic teammates," said Duane P. Andrews, SAIC corporate executive vice president. "We bring decades of information technology experience to the table as well as an intimate knowledge of how the U.S. Army works."

The U.S. Army's online initiative has recruiting and retention benefits. The Army University Access Online program underscores the U.S. Army's commitment for soldiers to finish their education and to keep up with the fast pace of military technology. According to Secretary Caldera, the online initiative will produce "the educated and information-age savvy soldiers the U.S. Army will need to succeed in the missions and battlefields of tomorrow."

SAIC is a Fortune 500 company and the nation's largest employee-owned research and engineering firm. We provide information technology, systems integration and eBusiness products and services to commercial and government customers. SAIC engineers and scientists work to solve complex technical problems in telecommunications, national security, health care, transportation, energy, the environment and financial services. More information about SAIC and its subsidiaries can be found at www.saic.com.