StreamServe CEO Declares That the Ukraine is the New Hub for Low Cost, High Quality Enterprise Software Development; Technology Industry Veteran Chris Stone Says India Has Been Supplanted by Eastern Europe as the Best Destination for Software Outsourcing

Business Wire, March 1, 2006

BURLINGTON, Mass. -- Chris Stone, president and CEO of StreamServe(R) Inc., says in his new blog that there are a lot of people who consider India to be the colossus of enterprise software outsourcing.

Please don't count him as one of them.

Mr. Stone founded the Object Management Group (OMG) -- the forerunner of the open source software movement - and served as vice chairman, office of the CEO at Novell. He currently runs Enterprise Document Presentment leader StreamServe, and knows a thing or two about outsourcing.

Mr. Stone's complete blog can be found at, http://blogs.streamserve.com/chris/.> Editors: To speak with Mr. Stone call Brenda Nashawaty of CHEN PR, 781-672-3113 or email bnashawaty@chenpr.com.

When Mr. Stone served at Novell, he had 350 engineers working for him in India, and experienced 35 percent attrition, 25 percent increase in salaries, no loyalty, and poor project management, which led to poorly written products.

Mr. Stone acknowledges that anywhere from half to two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies outsource to India. According to Forrester Research, the amount of work done there for U.S. companies could more than double in 18 months. While the Indian market has matured, challenges remain including cultural issues, unrealistic service-level expectations, expensive transitional costs and expensive, labor-intensive relationship management.

By contrast, the Ukraine literally has rocket scientists looking for work. The Ukraine graduates over 7,000 software engineering students per year. Ukrainians have achieved world class results in computing: online testing service BrainBench ranks them fourth worldwide for the number of certified IT professionals (after the U.S., India and Russia.)

Like other developing countries, the Ukraine has issues in ascending to the WTO, particularly around IP rights. Since the breakup of the Soviet Union, the Ukraine has had a brain drain and population drop. This is stabilizing with the new government and as western companies look for cheaper labor.

The Ukraine's pluses far outweigh the minuses:

--The monthly salary for a software engineer ranges from $450 to $600. A manager can make up to $1,000 per month. In India developer salaries average $30,000.

--Ukraine has great proximity to western culture and demands. Its time zone is 1 hours from Central Europe and 7 from the U.S. East Coast. Even Indian firms are setting up practices in the Ukraine for easier access to Western Europe.

--The R&D infrastructure in the Ukraine is significant. Considering all that, the Ukraine is a no-brainer for the elusive low-cost labor chaser.

Does the Ukraine have what it takes to be a premier software development location? Although their project management skills are weak and are typically run by Germans, Mr. Stone believes that its people, proximity, culture, brilliance, beauty, and great beer make the Ukraine a terrific alternative to the Indian juggernaut.

About StreamServe

StreamServe Enterprise Document Presentment (EDP) software enables more than 4,400 of the world's leading companies to communicate effectively with their customers, partners and suppliers through the automated creation and presentment of documents in any format and channel. Customers include leading global companies such as Bayer, BMW, CLP Power Hong Kong, Circuit City and DaimlerChrysler Bank. StreamServe is headquartered in Burlington, MA and has 15 offices worldwide.

StreamServe(R), the StreamServe logo, StreamServe EDP, and" How Does Your Company Present itself?" are all trademarks of StreamServe Inc. Some software products marketed by StreamServe Inc. and its distributors contain proprietary software components of other software vendors. Other marks are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. (C)StreamServe Inc. 2006