AGREEMENT WITH E-LEARNING FOUNDATION

 

TIDMAUS 
 
 
Amteus PLC 
17 March 2009 
 
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For release at 07.00 hours 
 
                    17 March 2009 
 
 
 
 
AMTEUS PLC 
(Amteus" or the "Company") 
 
 
AGREEMENT WITH E-LEARNING FOUNDATION 
 
 
Amteus, the digital educational networking and media business, is pleased to 
announce that the e-Learning Foundation, a charitable organisation focused on 
increasing IT access for children (the "e-LF") has signed a Memorandum of 
Understanding ("MOU") with the Company's reseller partner to roll-out imJack, 
the secure Web 2.0 communication and collaboration platform. The product will be 
provided, free of charge, to all e-LF affiliated schools under the Company's 
business sponsorship model which was launched at BETT, the world's largest 
educational technology event, in January 2009. 
 
The Company anticipates the imJack product will be rolled out to all 312 e-LF 
affiliated schools by the end of 2009: 
 
  *  creating an estimated 312,000 new user licences across the community, which 
  will enable participating schools to connect teachers, pupils and parents; and 
 
 
 
  *  providing users with Web 2.0 toolkits, which enable VOIP, IM and group video 
  conferencing, as well as news feeds, file sharing capability and links to 
  interactive whiteboard and polling capability. 
 
 
The imJack team will work with the e-LF to achieve higher levels of access to 
information and communications technology ("ICT") for pupils, parents and 
teachers within affiliated schools.  Schools in different geographical areas 
will also be linked through the platform, enabling the sharing of electronic 
resources between sites, live collaboration online, communication and sharing of 
lesson plans. 
 
 
In the coming weeks and months, the Company will be encouraging all the e-LF 
schools to "GetActive" on the platform, using registrations, file sharing and 
regular polls.  imJack is also supporting the Foundation's Spring Conference in 
May 2009, entitled "Preparing for Home Access", which will be attended by head 
teachers, senior school management, bursars, business managers, ICT managers, 
educational suppliers and local authorities. 
 
 
imJack's business model is to raise funding through sponsorship, via 
partnerships with both public and private sector organisations, enabling the 
product to be provided free of charge to participating schools.  Prior to the 
agreement with the e-LF, imJack had already secured 500,000 registered users 
following its commercial launch in November 2008. The imJack commercial team is 
confident that it will be able to match the interests of sponsors with those of 
schools and students, in supporting education and bringing state-of-the-art 
digital communications technology to any school that requires it. 
 
 
Len Sanderson, CEO of Amteus, said:  "The MOU with the e-Learning Foundation 
will enable a further 312,000 users, including teachers, learners and their 
families, to use the imJack platform.We are very proud to be associated with the 
Foundation in its aim to ensure that every child in the UK, whatever their start 
in life, has access to technology for learning at home." 
...Ends... 
 
 
For further information, please contact: 
 
 
+------------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ 
| Amteus plc                         |                 Tel: [phone] | 
| Len Sanderson, CEO                 |                    www.amteus.com | 
|                                    |                                   | 
+------------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ 
| John East & Partners Limited       |                Tel: [phone] | 
| John East/Simon Clements           |                                   | 
|                                    |                                   | 
+------------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ 
| Rawlings Financial PR Ltd          |                 Tel: [phone] | 
| Catriona Valentine                 |                                   | 
+------------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ 
 
 
About imJack 
 
 
imJack enables teachers and parents to communicate with and guide students, 
while removing the many dangers of using unregulated public sites. It operates 
on a secure system by separating a defined user network from general internet 
traffic and by using SSL encryption technology to maintain privacy and security 
for all users. 
 
 
Students can upload and download homework, share ideas and chat to their friends 
through messaging or video conferencing, which is an integral part of the 
system.  imJack is centrally administered, so the school alone decides who can 
and cannot be part of the network. 
 
 
imJack automatically logs and creates a permanent record of communication 
between the parties on the system.  This is only accessible by the administrator 
for safety, security and legal reasons.  imJack also allows truly live 
interactive collaborative working with features including real-time drawing 
exchange, video conferencing and document management.  In this way, teachers and 
pupils can exchange documents and sketches, while maintaining a video conference 
link. 
 
 
imJack software is offered as a software package hosted on open source 
technology.Additional modules include an interactive calendar, real time surveys 
and polls, as well as educational content, tutorials, news aggregation and 
explanatory journalism, etc. 
 
 
The Company now has strategic alliances through its reseller partner with the 
Specialist Schools and Academies Trust ("SSAT"), Leading Edge Partnership 
Programme ("LEPP") and the e-Learning Foundation, the only national charity 
dedicated to ensuring that every child in the UK has home access to technology 
for their studies. 
 
 
The Amteus business model provides imJack free to schools, colleges and 
universities and aims to generate income from both sponsorship and digital news. 
 This income is shared with those schools, colleges and universities, providing 
them with an additional contribution on top of their funding from the private 
sector. 
  About the e-Learning Foundation 
The e-Learning Foundation was launched in 2001 with an aim to significantly 
increase access to ICT for education, and specifically to ensure that every 
child in the UK should have home access to technology for learning when and 
where they want to learn. 
The Foundation, a registered charity, aims to bridge the digital divide and 
ensure that all children, irrespective of their background, can have access to 
technology for learning especially at home, working in partnership with schools, 
parents and businesses. 
www.e-learningfoundation.com 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
This information is provided by RNS 
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange 
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