Real-time education over the Internet moved from pipe dream to affordable reality today with the licensing by Oracle Education of 93 new courses developed by NIIT and distributed over the Oracle Learning Architecture (OLA) Online Service. The new courses are scheduled to feature centralized monitoring and reporting capabilities so administrators can manage employee education programs conducted on OLA.

Sixty-two of the new courses will use HTML Web-playable technology for fast, interactive online training over any Web-enabled device without additional back-end implementation. The remaining courses can be downloaded for off-line interactive training, providing a richer interactive multimedia experience for those who do not wish to remain online for the duration of their training.

Launched six months ago, OLA is Oracle's Internet-based education service for information technology (IT) specialists, line managers and non-technical employees who need to learn how to use database management software, desktop productivity programs, application development tools, operating systems, or networking, intranet and Internet software.

"Now, Oracle Education customers can take full advantage of the true functionality of online training through real-time courses over the Internet," said Klaus Andersen, vice president, Oracle Education. "By providing just-in-time reports to the management desktop, the OLA server-based central administration function enables managers to measure training outcomes, customize employee learning tracks and respond more rapidly to improve company-wide learning." He continued, "In NIIT we see a partner who has the vision, technology and experience required to help establish and strengthen the Content Objects open standards that form the basis of OLA."

C.N. Madhusudan, president and COO of NIIT (USA), Inc. said, "This relationship significantly strengthens NIIT's relationship with Oracle Corp. and reaffirms NIIT's commitment towards creating world class training solutions."

The new titles, based on the self-directed tutorial methodology, will provide training in: Internet/intranets, Oracle technologies, Network Computers, programming languages and network operating systems.

Pricing and Availability

The NIIT titles are scheduled to be available over OLA worldwide in August 1997 and range in cost from US$187 to US$225.

About NIIT

Established in 1981, NIIT is a global Training and Consulting organization with operations in over 17 countries across the world addressing business lines including Computer-Based Training, Instructor Led Classroom Training, and Software Consulting Services. For more information on NIIT, call Sapnesh Lalla at 770-551-9494, ext. 6014, or visit the NIIT Web site at (URL) http://www.niitusa.com. NIIT NetVarsity is accessible at (URL) http://www.niitnetvarsity.com.

About Oracle

Oracle Corporation (Nasdaq: ORCL) is the world's leading supplier of software for information management, and the world's second largest software company. With annual revenues of $5.7 billion, the company offers its database, tools and application products along with related consulting, education and support services, in more than 140 countries around the world.