Top Industry Analyst Firm Lists Plateau Among E-Learning Market Leaders

Magic Quadrant' for Learning Management Systems Lists Plateau as a Leader in both Vision and Execution

ARLINGTON, Va. February 11, 2002 Plateau Systems, a provider of enterprise-class software that manages learning and knowledge processes for organizations, today announced it is one of a select few Learning Management System (LMS) vendors listed as a leader in Gartner's 2002 e-Learning LMS Magic Quadrant.*

Gartner Inc., an influential technology research and advisory firm based in Stamford, Conn., listed Plateau in the best-in-class Leaders category based on completeness of vision and ability to execute. Only six of more than 60 Learning Management System vendors were listed in the leader quadrant.

Gartner's listing of Plateau as a leader comes on the heels of customer surveys conducted by Brandon-hall.com and US News & World Report - which ranked Plateau highest in customer satisfaction among enterprise-class LMS companies. Plateau's customers now include Global 500 organizations in all major industries, government customers such as the U.S. Air Force, and one of the largest nonprofit associations in the world. The Plateau 4 Learning Management System (LMS) is the only enterprise-class LMS built on open, J2EE/EJB architecture considered the leading architecture for enterprise applications.

"Enterprises are beginning to realize that an LMS is more than just the administrative part of an e-Learning deployment, according to the Gartner report. It can and should be considered the critical application for employee, partner and customer knowledge transfer.

Plateau has now been rated among the best by both the analysts who evaluate e-Learning systems and the customers who use them, said Plateau Chairman and CEO Paul Sparta. This is another strong affirmation of our efforts to build an enterprise-class application that is easily implemented and integrated with any corporate-wide or divisional software application. We are confident the Plateau 4 Learning Management System has no peer on the market.

Gartner helps more than 11,000 clients use technology to drive business growth. Gartner's Magic Quadrant positions vendors in a variety of markets based on their vision, viability and ability to execute. Companies listed as leaders are currently performing well, have a clear vision of market direction and are actively building competencies to sustain their leadership position.

In the last 18 months, Plateau has built an international sales team, strengthened its professional services organization and engineered the Plateau 4 LMS. This Java-based application is scalable and easy to customize. It allows programmers to rapidly integrate Plateau 4 LMS with other enterprise applications such as HR systems, CRM systems and large-scale enterprise resource planners (ERP). In an industry where e-Learning vendors seek to prove they can build the next true cornerstone application, Plateau 4 is the only LMS on the market designed to enable such a shift.

About Plateau: Plateau's enterprise-class software manages all of an organization's learning and knowledge on one scalable platform. Plateau 4 Learning Management System (LMS) is built on Web-based J2EE/EJB architecture, and is the engine behind the largest e-Learning initiatives in the corporate, non-profit and government markets. Plateau 4 LMS automates the management and delivery of online and classroom learning, organizational knowledge and competencies for clients including the American Red Cross, Motorola, Union Pacific and the U.S. Air Force. Plateau is listed as a leader in LMS evaluations from Gartner Inc. and META Group. The company is headquartered in Arlington, VA. For more information, please visit www.plateau.com.

* The 2002 e-Learning LMS Magic Quadrant: Who Survives? Research Note M-15-2450

Note: Gartner's permission to quote its Magic Quadrant research should not be deemed to be an endorsement of any company or product depicted in the quadrant. The Magic Quadrant is Gartner's opinion and is an analytical representation of a marketplace at and for a specific time period. It measures vendors against Gartner-defined criteria for a marketplace. The positioning of vendors within a Magic Quadrant is based on the complex interplay of many factors. Gartner does not advise enterprises to select only those firms in the Leaders segment. In some situations, firms in the Visionary, Challenger, or Niche Player segments may be the right match for an enterprise's requirements. Well-informed vendor selection decisions should rely on more than a Magic Quadrant. Gartner research is intended to be one of many information sources and the reader should not rely solely on the Magic Quadrant for decision-making. Gartner expressly disclaims all warranties, express or implied of fitness of this research for a particular purpose.

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