17 Mar 2009 07:00
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."
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For further information, please contact:
| Amteus plc Len Sanderson, CEO | Tel: 01653 618016 www.amteus.com |
| John East & Partners Limited John East/Simon Clements | Tel: 020 7628 2200 |
| Rawlings Financial PR Ltd Catriona Valentine | Tel: 01653 618016 |
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