Financial Watch:

Government Agency Purchases $1.2M (CD) Nucleus License

Sand Technology Inc announced that a major North American Government Agency has ordered $1.2 million (CD) of software and services as the initial portion of an Enterprise License Agreement for Sand's Nucleus Analytic ServerT.

The Agency chose Sand's Nucleus Analytic ServerT after initial license purchases which demonstrated incredibly speedy implementation and very rapid responses to complex analyses. Moreover, the Nucleus Analytic ServerT works with the Agency's existing information infrastructure, increasing the payback from its previous IT investments.

About Sand Technology

Sand Technology helps organizations transform data into knowledge. Sand's Nucleus Analytic ServerT provides next-generation functionality, delivers business value quickly, and provides a rapid return on investment. Sand solutions support a wide range of applications, including CRM, Web Analytics, Research, ERP, Supply Chain Management, Business Intelligence, Data Marts and Data Warehouses. Sand Technology has offices in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Central Europe. For more information, contact Sand at 514-939-3477 or visit its Web site at www.sand.com.

Contact Hellena Smejda, WordsWorth International, 815-736-9902, hellena.smejda@sand.com.

Systems Xcellence - $1.2M ASP Services Contract

Systems Xcellence Inc, a leading provider of healthcare information technology solutions throughout the pharmaceutical supply chain, announced a three-year US$1.2 million agreement to provide Application Service Provider (ASP) services to a number of Arizona-based pharmacies owned by a top healthcare organization.

Under terms of the agreement, the healthcare organization will utilize SXC's RxEXPRESS pharmacy workflow product on an ASP basis out of SXC's Lombard, IL processing centre. The users will be deployed across 17 clinical pharmacies in Arizona, accounting for approximately two million annual pharmacy claims. The contract, which also consists of implementation, communications and ongoing consulting services, is annually renewable after the initial three-year term. Implementation of the contract is currently underway and is scheduled for completion in the Company's fiscal second quarter.

"We are very pleased to have been selected by one of the top healthcare companies in the U.S., a company that will significantly enhance our growing list of blue-chip clients," said SXC President & CEO Gordon Glenn. "Our ability to offer transaction management software solutions to the healthcare industry on both an ASP or software license basis gives us a significant competitive advantage as well as providing greater revenue visibility for the Company. Beyond meeting our own objectives, ASP solutions also address a significant need in the marketplace. Many companies want the benefits of proven software solutions without having to maintain the software locally on their own systems."

RxEXPRESS is a fully integrated system, targeting independent as well as large pharmacy chains. RxEXPRESS facilitates the ability of pharmacies to manage various workflow tasks, from inventory management, to drug dispensing, billing and payment, claims management and corporate headquarters interfacing.

"RxEXPRESS is recognized as a premier solution supporting the efficient and cost-effective delivery of healthcare benefit services at a retail pharmacy level," continued Mr. Glenn. "Our experience as a provider of ASP solutions in a retail environment was a key factor in our client's decision-making process. Our software provides the security, reliability and flexibility that is needed to meet a high volume of retail transactions."

About Systems Xcellence Inc

Systems Xcellence (SXC) is headquartered in Milton, Ontario with offices and processing centres in Lombard, Illinois, Scottsdale, Arizona and Victoria, British Columbia. SXC is a leading provider of healthcare information technology solutions and services to the healthcare benefits management industry. The company's product offerings and solutions combine a wide range of software applications, application service provider (ASP) processing services and professional services, designed for many of the largest organizations in the pharmaceutical supply chain, such as pharmacy benefit managers, managed care organizations, retail pharmacy chains and other healthcare intermediaries.

The Company's products offer its customers comprehensive pharmacy benefits management, claims switching and processing, drug dispensing, data warehousing and analysis, and rebate contract management systems. SXC delivers these solutions to its customers as software products bundled with systems implementation and consulting services, or on an ASP basis from its data centres in Scottsdale, Arizona and Lombard, Illinois. SXC can be found on the Internet at www.sxc.com.

Stonebridge Named VERITAS Elite Partner

Stonebridge Technologies, a provider of business and technology integration services, announced that it has been named a VERITAS Elite Partner by storage software leader VERITAS Software Corporation.

Stonebridge is one of a select number of systems integrators to reach Elite Partner status in the VERITAS Partner Program. Stonebridge was selected based on its substantial investment in sales, product and technical training in VERITAS products. As a VERITAS Elite Partner, Stonebridge's infrastructure specialists will benefit from advanced training, enhanced technical and online support, product certification and sales tools.

"VERITAS technology is central to our end-to-end client solutions, and we are extremely pleased to be recognized as a VERITAS Elite Partner," said Stonebridge CEO James Ivy. "The key reason for our relationship's success is that Stonebridge and VERITAS share a common customer-centric vision for managing mission-critical data at the enterprise level -- and that vision helps us create solutions that directly address the client's most essential business issues."

Stonebridge, which specializes in business intelligence, enterprise integration and infrastructure services, offers organizations a single source for their complete infrastructure needs, from system design through implementation. Stonebridge provides tailored infrastructure solutions that address core business computing issues, including high availability, disaster recovery, system backup, storage and security. In addition to VERITAS, Stonebridge's key infrastructure partners are Sun Microsystems, Oracle Corporation and Hitachi Data Systems.

About Stonebridge Technologies

Stonebridge Technologies, a provider of business and technology integration services, helps companies achieve a higher level of operational excellence through more effective integration of data, technology, processes and people. Stonebridge's solutions include data warehousing/business intelligence, enterprise application integration, custom application development, packaged-solutions implementation and high-end infrastructure design and implementation. More information about Stonebridge is available at www.sbti.com and by telephone at 800-776-9755.

Contact Stonebridge Technologies, Craig Dees, 972-455-7271, craig.dees@sbti.com.