Inspiration Software, Inc. Named One of Oregon's Fastest Growing Companies for the Third Year in Deloitte & Touche's "Fast 50 Program"

Business Wire, Oct 9, 2002

Business/Technology Editors, Education Writers

PORTLAND, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 9, 2002

Educational Software Company Ranked Number 11

Inspiration Software(R), Inc. has been named to Deloitte & Touche's "Technology Fast 50" Program for Oregon, a ranking of the 50 fastest growing technology companies in the area, for the third consecutive year. Rankings are based on the percentage of growth in fiscal year revenues from 1999-2001. This year, Inspiration's rank leaped to 11 from 25 in 2001.

With 147 percent revenue growth over the past three years, Inspiration Software is the state's leading publisher of educational software and the market leader in software for visual learning and thinking. Founded in 1982 with a focus on business software products, Inspiration Software is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. In 1987, Inspiration began to focus on brainstorming, thinking, and organizing tools. The first version of Inspiration, the premier tool to develop ideas and organize thinking, was released in 1988 and in 1996, the company began to develop Inspiration for use in K-12 schools.

"Inspiration Software has grown as a company because of our commitment to developing products that offer students of all ages tools for building critical thinking skills," said Mona Westhaver, president and co-founder, Inspiration Software. "Ranking in the Oregon Technology Fast 50 for the third year in a row demonstrates that we are achieving this goal because creative educators everywhere are using Inspiration products to support learning in all areas of the curriculum."

To qualify for the Oregon Fast 50, companies must have had operating revenues of at least $50,000 in 1999 and $1,000,000 in 2001, must be a public or private company headquartered in Oregon, and be a "technology company," which is defined as a company that owns proprietary technology which contributes to a significant portion of the company's operating revenues or devotes a high percentage of effort to research and development of technology.

Winners of the 20 regional Technology Fast 50 programs in the U.S. and Canada are automatically entered in the Deloitte & Touche Technology Fast 500 program, which ranks North America's top 500 fastest growing technology companies. For more information on the Deloitte & Touche Fast 50 or Fast 500 programs, visit www.fast50.com.

About Inspiration Software, Inc.

Celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2002, Inspiration Software(R), Inc. (www.inspiration.com) is recognized as the leader in visual thinking and learning. The company develops and publishes innovative software tools that inspire learners of all ages to brainstorm, organize, plan and create. With more than 10 million users worldwide, the company's award-winning software is revolutionizing visual learning in education--inspiring students to develop strong thinking and organizational skills and improve their academic performance. Founded by Donald Helfgott and Mona Westhaver, the company's mission is to support improvements in education and make a positive difference in student's lives by providing software tools that help students learn to think.

About Deloitte & Touche

Deloitte & Touche, one of the nation's leading professional services firms, provides assurance and advisory, tax, and management consulting services through nearly 30,000 people in more than 100 U.S. cities. The firm is dedicated to helping its clients and its people excel. Known as an employer of choice for innovative human resources programs, Deloitte & Touche has been recognized as one of the "100 Best Companies to Work for in America" by Fortune magazine for five consecutive years. Deloitte & Touche refers to Deloitte & Touche LLP and related entities. Deloitte & Touche is the U.S. national practice of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. Deloitte Touche Tohmatus is a Swiss Verein, and each of its national practices is a separate and independent legal entity. For more information, please visit Deloitte & Touche's website at www.deloitte.com/us. For more information on the Technology Fast 50 and Fast 500 programs, please visit www.fast50.com.