PICK SYSTEMS EXPANDS CAPABILITIES BY ACQUIRING

SOFTWARE EDUCATIONAL COMPANY, JUST EDUCATION SERVICES (JES)

Transaction Puts Company in Position to Provide Training on International Level

IRVINE, Calif. (July 20, 2000) - PICK Systems®, a leading developer of multi-user, multidimensional database management system (DBMS) software, announced today that it has acquired Just Educational Services (JES), a software training company which provides a diverse array of training options for the PICK community and beyond. The agreement, which transferred ownership as of July 1, 2000, reiterates the commitment of PICK Systems’ new management team to provide its customers with a more complete, comprehensive, and cost-effective solution for today’s economy.

“We are very excited about offering our customers a premier training initiative that follows PICK’s dedication to offer its clients the best resources available,” said Gil Figueroa, president and CEO of PICK Systems. “JES has a proven methodology and an impressive product line which provides complete training for PICK’s D³ software as well as courses for a multitude of other systems. We are able to offer these educational products immediately for on-site and regional delivery throughout the United States, and soon throughout Europe, Asia and South Africa.”

PICK has assumed responsibility for the management of JES as well as its entire current line of courses. JES established itself in the 1980s as a pioneer in PICK education, offering the first recognized international training organization dedicated exclusively to the PICK market. Following the needs of the industry, JES soon added curriculum for alternative systems, including UniVerse and UniData for Unix, Windows NT and Visual BASIC, wIntegrate and SB+, and its newest courses in jBASE, mv.BASE. Most notably, the company spun off a subsidiary company, LinuxLearning.com, where they succeeded in becoming a certified Linuxcare University training center.

Along with the acquisition, PICK retained JES founder and CEO, Jonathan Sisk, as the company’s new vice president of education and training who brings the knowledge and ability to continue his vision to bring unsurpassed educational resources to companies worldwide. “In the 20 years of JES’ existence, we have remained an independent, unbiased, consistent source of knowledge. We are pleased that this merger will help us maintain that same level of service and commitment to both JES clients as well as PICK’s,” said Sisk. “We look forward to expanding this new education arena at PICK by aggressively looking at opportunities to bring PICK training into universities across the United States which will create a new generation of talent, ready for the PICK job market.”

Founded in 1972, PICK Systems was acquired last March by an investment group led by Figueroa. Since the reorganization, Figueroa and the current executive management have made significant strides in re-establishing the company as the leader in multidimensional database management. In addition to the JES transaction, PICK also announced an agreement in May to purchase the database business component from PICK licensee, GA eXpress (formerly General Automation). That agreement is expected to be final by the end of July.

Including hardware, software and services, the overall PICK marketplace has sales that are estimated to be more than $3 billion, with an installed base approaching four million users, according to Delran N.J.-based market researcher Datapro Information Services Group. More than 4,000 commercial PICK-based applications have been developed, comparable to the number of applications written for Microsoft Corp’s Windows or DOS environments.

About PICK Systems

PICK Systems is the developer of D³®, the firm's latest-generation multi-user, multidimensional database management system. D³ is an open system that supports ODBC, SQL and OSFI standards. D³ runs on a wide spectrum of hardware, including personal computers, midrange systems, and massively-parallel computing systems, and is available for the major varieties of UNIX, including IBM® AIX®, Hewlett-Packard® UX, SCO OpenServer™ and UnixWare® 7, Sun Solaris, and Red Hat Linux and Linux-Mandrake™. The Microsoft® Windows NT® and Windows 95/98 operating environments are fully supported as well. PICK markets its products worldwide through a network of over 800 VARs who offer more than 4,000 Year 2000-compliant, commercially-available applications. The Professional Services division provides PICK’s customers with assistance in all aspects of technology upgrade and project management.

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