KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa., Feb. 2, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- Neoware Systems (Nasdaq:NWRE), the leading supplier of award-winning software, services and thin client appliances, today announced that one of the largest and fastest growing school districts in Canada, the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board, which serves 88,000 students and 134 schools, has standardized on Neoware thin client appliances as part of the server-based computing infrastructure in their secondary schools. Implementing Neoware's products has vastly improved student access to technology and reduced the downtime associated with personal computers shared by thousands of students. At the same time, the deployment has saved the School District dramatically in technical support costs by eliminating desktop management issues and the many challenges associated with computer viruses. Additional benefits include the ability to quickly provide access to current applications to all users who are accessing these resources from the Neoware appliances.
"Before we started using Neoware thin client appliances, administering PCs was a costly, time consuming challenge that resulted in many of our computers being temporarily unavailable to students because of accidental or intentional damage," said John Steele, CIO for the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board. "Thin client appliances have changed all that. Neoware's secure technology combined with our own security allows us to lock down the desktop, so that students cannot make changes or otherwise knowingly or unknowingly corrupt desktop software applications. By enabling us to administer these devices from a central location, we now can upgrade applications quickly and make changes for all users without sending techs into the field."
For instance, Steele says that the implementation of Neoware's thin client appliances has greatly accelerated technology deployment throughout the secondary schools in the District. In fact, the thin client appliances are set up in about four minutes with little in-field technical support. At the same time, the server-based security that is applied to each user account ensures that students can focus on learning rather than having to deal with technical glitches associated with problematic workstations.
In fact, the program has gone so well that the School District plans to accelerate the rate at which it replaces its PCs with Neoware thin client appliances. "The benefits have been enormous on many fronts," said Steele. "When our PCs were infected by a recent virus, our thin client appliances were unaffected, which allowed learning to continue, and prevented costly maintenance by our technical staff. Our recent upgrade from Microsoft Office 2000 to Office XP would have been extremely challenging to implement with PCs-too costly and time consuming to install computer by computer. With Neoware thin clients appliances, the entire upgrade took a matter of hours, instead of weeks or months, as the software only had to be installed on our application servers."
A big part of that centralized management capability is due to Neoware's ezRemote Manager software, which Steele calls, "an exemplary remote management tool that drives productivity." Steele says that some classrooms in the District's secondary schools have not had a technician in them since the School District began using Neoware thin client appliances. For these classrooms, any required technical administration has been done on servers, not the desktop. The School District also has plans to deploy Neoware thin client appliances in the administrative areas in the schools and the central Board Offices.
"Education is one of the most demanding computing environments because of the enormous number of users, each with individual skill levels and demands," said Michael Kantrowitz, Chairman and CEO of Neoware Systems. "Neoware's ability to increase security for students, improve desktop management for school officials, and provide a lower cost alternative that puts more dollars into learning and less into infrastructure, makes thin client appliances a smart choice for school districts throughout North America and the world."
The Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board purchased Neoware's thin client appliances through IBM, which sells Neoware products as part of a strategic sales and marketing alliance between the two companies. IBM customers can purchase Neoware products from IBM directly or from IBM Business Partners, gaining the benefits of Neoware's products at the same time that they purchase other IBM hardware, software and services.
About Neoware
Neoware provides software, services, and solutions to enable Appliance Computing, a proven Internet-based computing architecture targeted at business customers that is designed to be simpler and easier than traditional PC-based computing. Neoware's software and management tools power and manage a new generation of smart computing appliances that utilize the benefits of open, industry-standard technologies to create new alternatives to personal computers used in business and a wide variety of proprietary business devices.
Neoware's products are designed to run local applications for specific vertical markets, plus allow access across a network to multi-user Windows servers, Linux servers, mainframes, minicomputers, and the Internet. Computing appliances that run and are managed by Neoware's software offer the cost benefits of industry-standard hardware and software, easier installation, and have lower up-front, maintenance, and administrative costs than proprietary or PC-based alternatives.
More information about Neoware can be found on the Web at http://www.neoware.com or via email at invest@neoware.com. Neoware is based in King of Prussia, PA.
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements regarding: Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board's plans to continue to deploy our thin client appliances; our position as the leading supplier of software, products, services and solutions for the Appliance Computing market; and the benefits of our software-focused business model allowing customers to lower ongoing costs of ownership. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those predicted in any such forward-looking statement include Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board's continuing acceptance of our thin client products, pricing pressures, rapid technological changes in the industry, growth of the Appliance Computing market, increased competition, our ability to attract and retain qualified personnel, adverse changes in general economic conditions in the U.S. and internationally and political and economic uncertainties associated with current world events. These and other risks are detailed from time to time in Neoware's periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including, but not limited to, its report on Form 10-K for its fiscal year ended June 30, 2003 and Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2003.
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