Plateau Systems Named To Inc. 500 List Of Fastest Growing Private Companies In America

Company Ranks #248 on Strength of 146% Annual Revenue Growth

Arlington, Va. • October 20, 2004 - Plateau Systems, a leading provider of enterprise software that manages learning and knowledge readiness, today announced that it has been named to Inc. Magazine's ranking of the fastest growing, privately held companies in America. For its 23rd annual list, Inc. evaluated applicants' net sales between 2000 and 2003 and ranked companies according to averaged year-over-year sales growth. During the specified period, Plateau's revenues grew 587%, and the company also posted a profit – a trend that has continued for the past 7 quarters.

"From General Electric to FedEx to Motorola, Plateau Systems' client list reads like the Who's Who of corporate America," pronounced the write-up in the Inc. 500 edition of Inc. Magazine. Plateau ranked #28 among IT Services companies.

"Being named to the Inc. 500 list of fastest growing companies is obviously a significant honor," said Paul Sparta, chairman and CEO of Plateau Systems. "We are very proud of our consistent execution, exemplified by our strong revenue growth and profitability."

Founded in 1996, and fueled by a single round of funding in 2001, Plateau has built an impressive roster of clients across more than a dozen industry verticals, including financial services, pharmaceutical, energy, telecommunications and manufacturing. Organizations renowned for training, including General Electric and the American Red Cross, use Plateau's Learning Management System to manage, track and deploy learning events for hundreds of thousands of global employees.

"The best thing you can say about this year's crop of Inc. 500 entrepreneurs is that they didn't buy into the hype," said Inc. editor-in-chief John Koten. "When people were practically giving away funding in the late 1990s, these companies didn't overextend, and when everyone hit the panic button a few years later, they stayed calm and seized opportunity."

For Plateau, the Inc. 500 honor is the latest in a string of awards. In 2004 alone, Plateau was honored nearly a dozen times, including being named the 11th fastest growing company in the Washington, DC area, by the Washington Business Journal, and the 6th fastest growing company in Virginia by the Virginia Chamber of Commerce. Furthermore, this past June, Plateau CEO Paul Sparta was named the Virginia Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year 2004 for the Software & Technology Award category. Finally, market research firms such as Gartner Inc. and META Group consistently rank Plateau as a "leader" in its industry.

About Plateau: Plateau is the leading provider of enterprise software that manages learning and organizational readiness. Plateau 4 Learning Management System (LMS) is built on Web-based J2EE architecture, and is the engine behind the largest LMS initiatives in the corporate, non-profit and government markets. Plateau's software is being used to manage learning and improve human performance at organizations including the American Red Cross, General Electric, the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Air Force. Plateau is listed as a leader in LMS evaluations from Gartner Inc. and META Group.

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