Microsoft recognises IVIS Group as Certified Partner Award Finalist

Worldwide Innovation using Microsoft Technologies

27 June 2001 - IVIS Group today announced it has been recognised by Microsoft Corporation as the finalist for Western Europe in the E-Commerce Solution of the Year category, in this year's Microsoft Certified Partner Awards. Now in its fourth year, the awards attracted nearly 800 entries and cover twelve different categories with one finalist for each continent now officially nominated as "best of breed" for their region.

IVIS Group was selected because of its innovative use of Microsoft's latest technologies which offer clear benefits to customers. "It was an honour for us to receive so many amazing business applications of our products," said Ian Rogoff, vice president, Worldwide Partner Group at Microsoft, "but IVIS Group clearly stood out among the many high-quality entries we received." Qusai Sarraf, CEO of IVIS Group explains: "IVIS Group pioneered the business use of XML in designing and developing Tesco.com, which is now the world's largest on-line grocery store. This award is in recognition of IVIS Group's innovation and solid performance in delivering the robust, scalable infrastructure which has enabled Tesco.com to handle all-time record volumes of E-Commerce transactions, expand its product offerings and roll out its E-Commerce model internationally, including this week's announcement of Tesco's entry into the US market. Our technology and infrastructure design has stood up to the rapid growth of Tesco's E-business. With this Microsoft nomination, our work is recognised as the best of breed in E-Commerce in Western Europe." Award Finalists will be honoured at Microsoft's Fusion 2001 partner event in Anaheim, California, USA (July 13-16). The worldwide winner in each of the twelve award categories will be announced July 15th during an Opening Keynote Session by Ian Rogoff, Vice President, Worldwide Partner Group at Microsoft.

About the Microsoft Certified Partner Program
To help partners build successful Microsoft-based businesses, Microsoft offers its Certified Partners a variety of resources including training, technical support, early access to Microsoft products and peer-networking opportunities that allow a variety of partners to come together and provide end-to-end customer solutions. All Microsoft Certified Partners maintain a staff of Microsoft Certified Professionals or have certified products which have been tested compatible with Microsoft's Windows platform.

About IVIS Group www.ivisgroup.com
IVIS Group, formed in May 1994, has been involved in some of the most successful and challenging eBusiness solutions in the world. The company designs and delivers mission-critical business solutions using leading-edge technologies and open standards. It is a member of the international standards consortia, W3C and OASIS. Ivis works throughout the enterprise to deliver better service to customers, empower employees and improve the effectiveness and cost performance of the supply chain. Ivis has been at the forefront of creating web services and business webs for its clients.