Group West Systems Ltd. to Provide System Support Services and IBM AS/400 Managed Operations to BC Rail

Business Wire, July 13, 1999

BURNABY, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 13, 1999--

Group West(TSE:GPW.) Group West Systems Ltd. is pleased to announce that it has signed a formal agreement with BC Rail to provide application support, enhancement and maintenance services for BC Rail's RMS billing application. RMS is a mission critical system that processes all of the orders and invoices for the railway and is crucial to BC Rail's business.

Group West was instrumental in the implementation of this system and has been providing application support services to BC Rail for the past 2 years. Under the new agreement, Group West will also be providing IBM AS/400 operational systems management. All of these support services will be provided on a 7 days a week, 24 hours a day basis. The details and monetary value of this agreement are confidential.

BC Rail is Canada's fourth largest railway operating exclusively in British Columbia with interline connections to all rail-served points in North America. British Columbia Railway Company is a commercial crown corporation, wholly-owned by the Province of British Columbia and is listed 45th in the BC Business Top 100 private, public and crown corporations. Group West was ranked 97th in the BC Business listing of BC's Top 100 public companies.

Ray Medway, Vice President of Marketing and Sales, stated, "Group West has an excellent working relationship with BC Rail and we are enthusiastic about our opportunity to partner with BC Rail to continue to provide the quality and level of service that have become the hallmark of Group West."

Founded in 1976, Group West is in the business of supplying computer technology products and services to commercial organizations and government agencies located primarily in North America. The Company currently employs over 140 professionals in Canada and the United States to deliver these products and services to its customer base. The Company engages in three major areas of business: midrange outsourcing, system integration services, and electronic commerce business applications.