Cognet Corp.'s Software Management Solution Helps Internal Revenue Service Upgrade More Than 100,000 Desktop and Remote Users

Business Wire, March 19, 2001

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 19, 2001

IRS' Common Operating Environment Initiative Employs Customized Tool

To Deliver Range of Software Applications To IRS Employees

Cognet Corp, a rapidly growing developer of software management and distribution technologies for corporate computing environments and government agencies, is applying its award-winning software management solution to the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) Common Operating Environment initiative, a comprehensive technology infrastructure program aimed at standardizing more than 100,000 IRS desktop and portable computers on the Windows(R) NT(R) 4.0 operating platform.

According to Jay Lightfoot, Director of Cognet's Federal Systems Division, the company developed a customized, fully automated solution for capturing and packaging more than 30 software applications and utilities to desktop and mobile computers located at approximately 30 IRS facilities around the country.

"Our profiling technology enables the rapid installation of applications without the need for costly and time-consuming programming, accelerating the deployment time for each IRS location from days to hours," said Lightfoot. "Given the size and complexity of the IRS' standardization program, that translates into some significant time and cost savings, and helps the IRS' IT teams upgrade desktop and remote users without disrupting tax season work schedules."

Toni Zimmerman, Deputy CIO for the IRS, said software management solutions like Cognet's are playing an integral role in the IRS' drive to standardization on the NT(R) platform. "The ability to rapidly and reliably deliver the suite of applications to our employees and locations is critical to the overall success of the COE initiative," noted Zimmerman. "Cognet's solution is helping us provide a more stable and reliable computing environment for our employees, which ultimately reduces frustration and helps them provide better service to U.S. taxpayers."

Lightfoot said that Cognet's customized COE implementation solution, valued at nearly $1 million, includes the deployment of more than 30 productivity applications and utility packages, including Windows(R) Office 2000(R), Adobe(R) Acrobat(R), WinZip(R), security applications and mainframe emulation packages. "To date we've deployed and installed the applications suites to more than 17,000 Tier 3 IRS users at 30 IRS office locations," he added. Lightfoot expects the customized site-by-site deployments to continue throughout the year as the IRS readies each office location for standardization on the NT(R) platform.

Headquartered in Valhalla, NY, Cognet Corp. is a rapidly growing developer of software management and distribution technologies for corporate computing environments and government agencies.

Its flagship product, Cognet 3.5, is a highly customized electronic software management solution that allows network administrators to automatically package, distribute, monitor and maintain software applications for a range of networked desktop, remote and mobile computing devices. For further information on version 3.5, or its hardware and software asset management solution, myITware 4.0, visit Cognet Corp.'s Web site at www.cognet.com or call 914-747-0770.