ARIS Corp. acquires Clarity Inc

Business Wire, Jan 5, 1995

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 5, 1995--ARIS Corp., a client/server consulting and training company with offices in Washington, Oregon, California and Colorado, announced today it has acquired Bellevue-based Clarity Inc., a nationally recognized information systems training provider.

The acquisition of Clarity, effective Jan. 1, 1995, makes ARIS one of the country's largest and most comprehensive training resources available to large corporate and government information technology (IT) departments for both Oracle and Microsoft training.

Paul Song, president of ARIS, says, "We've made this acquisition to broaden our training capabilities which complement our consulting services. Our strength in Oracle-based products, combined with Clarity's well-known expertise in high-end Microsoft training, make us a strong option for IT professionals."

Specific training offered by the ARIS Education Division will include systems development methodology, Oracle database and development tools, Oracle financial and manufacturing applications, Microsoft Windows NT, Windows 95, SQL Server 95, OLE 2.0, Access, Visual Basic and Visual C .

Clarity, founded by Jeff Gilles in 1992, has rapidly grown to serve the education needs of information technology professionals nationwide. Gilles will become vice president of education for ARIS and be responsible for all national training operations.

In anticipation of increased demand for training, ARIS is investing heavily in its infrastructure -- including new facilities, administrative support and computer equipment. The first step is a new 5,500-square-foot education facility housing three training centers in Bellevue, Wash., which opened in mid-December. ARIS also opened a training facility in Beaverton, Ore., in November and expanded its training facilities in Tukwila, Wash. The Clarity name will be used along with the ARIS name during the transition period, but will eventually be dropped.

"We are going to do everything possible to ensure that both ARIS and Clarity customers do not face any disruption in their training during this transition," Song says. "Instead, they will benefit from our combined strengths and resources. Our broader curriculum, increased instructor resources and additional state-of-the-art facilities will enhance the students' learning experience."

ARIS, founded in 1990 by Song, has grown by 70 to 110 percent each year since its inception. In 1994, ARIS had revenues of $7 million and the company employed more than 70 people in Washington, Oregon, California and Colorado. With the purchase of Clarity and additional growth, ARIS expects to increase its revenues by 120 percent to $15 million and employ 130 people by the end of 1995. Among ARIS' clients are Boeing, Microsoft, Tektronix, Weyerhaeuser, Nike, the IRS, the U.S. Navy and Ford Motor Co.

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