Partnership will meet demand for corporate training & support black empowerment

LONG ISLAND, N.Y., and JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, April 18, 2001 - VuePoint, a comprehensive e-learning company with a business-savvy approach, and Infosat, a value-added service provider specializing in the distribution of data via satellite and high-end Web developments, are partnering to bring VuePoint's expertise to South African businesses as well as to disadvantaged communities to support black empowerment.

Via InfoInteractive, Infosat's business television platform, the company will roll out the VuePoint Learning System (VLS) 2.0 product suite on a continental scale to its middle- to top-end corporate and parastatal (state-owned) customer base. This initiative enhances Infosat's multicast-oriented communications offering and will meet fresh demand for content-driven end-to-end enterprise training. In addition, the partnership will link into InfoSat's social awareness role by extending distance-education arms into disadvantaged communities.

"VuePoint's intuitive one-stop-shop technology has Infosat fully equipped to fuse our experience in traditional business television technology with state-of-the-art e-learning software to effect what we predict as a massive transformation in competitive enterprise training, marketing and communications," said Piet van der Merwe, General Manager of InfoInteractive. "This partnership confers significant cost benefits to the cross-section of African businesses of all sizes."

Van der Merwe also said that corporate implementations of VLS 2.0 will fund Infosat's social responsibility drive, specifically channeling the same enhanced platform into infrastructure-poor localities for purposes of distance learning. InfoSat's inside perspective and proven aptitude in handling South African social complexities - in particular, the ability to interpret and respond to the educational layering of various sectors - played a significant role in the company's selection as a conduit for VuePoint's expansion into the African market. Committed to uplifting South African schooling, InfoSat was applauded last year for its direct involvement in providing Internet connectivity and Web-enabled study resources to Myeka High School in a rural district of KwaZulu Natal.

"We thought partnering with Infosat was a great way to help South African businesses take advantage of the many benefits of e-learning as well as better employees' lives by enhancing their skills," said Ara Ohanian, CEO of VuePoint. "And with Infosat, we also have a unique opportunity to promote real improvements in the education of South African children and contribute to a more positive future for them."