February 2, 2000

DeSai Systems Awarded Outsourcing Contract by Atena, Inc.

WEST HARTFORD, CT - DeSai Systems, West Hartford (CT), has been awarded a contract by Aetna, Inc., to redefine and accelerate the learning processes used by Aetna employees. The agreement calls for DeSai to create a business-driven learning environment that supports knowledge development for some 4000 information technology professionals and the more than 30,000 others who make up Aetna's employee community.

DeSai, a leading provider of corporate education and outsourcing services, will employ its exclusive Enterprise Learning Automation (ELA) solution to establish a virtual college for its Fortune 100 client. The employee-centric approach will enable Aetna's diverse work force to take on responsibility for business-related learning and career self-management.

By initiating this aggressive, automated learning program, Aetna has taken an initial step toward building a total knowledge-enabled corporate learning culture. The ELA solution is designed to leverage corporate technology architecture and support recruitment and retention of key skills. It creates a continuous, life-long organizational learning environment structured to improve employee knowledge and competencies at all levels and to significantly increase corporate productivity and organizational strength.

The corporate university solution, delivered in multiple formats - including instructor-led, the Internet and corporate intranets, and self-directed - is intended to close proficiency gaps and increase job-related knowledge by meticulously matching learning to employee job roles and needs. DeSai's extensive library of courses, which currently exceeds seven hundred, will expand as additional corporate sectors are integrated into the learning program.

Aetna employees will work with their supervisors to identify learning opportunities.