Datatel Counted Among Top Finalists for the 2008 Microsoft Partner of the Year Award in Information Worker Solutions, Portals, and Collaboration

Business Wire, June 16, 2008

FAIRFAX, Va. -- Today, Datatel, Inc. announced it has been selected as a finalist for the Microsoft Partner of the Year Award in Information Worker Solutions, Portals, and Collaboration. Datatel, a software and professional services company focused on higher education, is a Gold Certified Partner enrolled in the Microsoft Partner Program.

The Datatel ActiveCampus([R]) Portal solution, selected as an award finalist and built on Microsoft SharePoint technology, is a powerful enterprise work environment and collaboration system that enables institutions to enhance communications and bridge everyday challenges. Users share a common environment within which they can cooperate more freely and effectively so productivity soars, the campus community becomes more connected, and the institution thrives.

"The Datatel ActiveCampus Portal makes it much easier for our students, faculty, and staff to interact and collaborate. Across our entire campus, Simpson College has realized greater productivity, improved communications, and higher levels of user satisfaction," said Kelley Bradder, vice president of Information Services at Simpson College.

"We are delighted to be named as a finalist for Microsoft's award," said John Speer, Datatel president and CEO. "Datatel and Microsoft share a proud heritage of innovation in the higher education market, and our collaboration on the ActiveCampus Portal is another important milestone in delivering the strategic academic enterprise for our clients. We look forward to many future opportunities to transform the way people work and learn."

Awards will be presented in a number of categories, with winners chosen from a pool of more than 2,000 entrants worldwide. The Information Worker Solutions, Portals, and Collaboration Partner of the Year Award recognizes exceptional partners that have excelled in offering breakthrough Microsoft Office system solutions. The winning partner's technology and marketing offerings have increased its customers' employee productivity and assisted them in connecting with their business partners and customers. The winning partner's innovative thinking has helped to solve a technical challenge or helped to address its customers' business needs and empower their people, and has had a unique and positive impact on customers' business pain points.

"Partners are critical to delivering rich business solutions and innovative excellence to customers," said Allison Watson, corporate vice president, Worldwide Partner Group, Microsoft. "Congratulations to the 2008 Partner Award winners who have each demonstrated innovation beyond measure and an unswerving commitment to delivering the highest levels of customer satisfaction. We look forward to these partners continuing to raise the bar in the design and deployment of customer solutions built on Microsoft technologies."

The Microsoft Partner Program Awards recognize Microsoft partners that have developed and delivered exceptional Microsoft-based solutions over the past year.

About Datatel, Inc.

Datatel provides colleges and universities fully-integrated administrative software systems and professional services that help them manage business processes and enhance the technology end-user experience across campus. Serving five million students at more than 750 institutions throughout North America and overseas, Datatel has exclusively focused on higher education for 29 years. Datatel is headquartered in Fairfax, VA. For more information, visit http://www.datatel.com.

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