The ETX-Mobile Edition will also offer each school, or school district, a library of 200+ on-demand EduTone Connectors that enables the school administrators to configure each device, based on the role of its owner, to automatically access all of the school licensed content and software services through a single sign-on Passport. The EduTone Connector catalog is the most extensive educational ecosystem on the market today and includes most of the premise-based school-centric enterprise applications such as their Active Directory™ LDAP, Moodle™ LMS, Microsoft’s SharePoint™ Portal, various Student Information Systems, Learning Management Systems, and Library Information Systems, in addition to cloud-hosted school-centric applications such Google Apps for Education™, Microsoft Live.Edu™, the Global Grid for Learning™, and many more.

“The ruggedized Intel classmate PC -based ET Persona devices powered by the ETX-Mobile Edition and featuring Intel’s robust educational tools are game changers for educational organizations that are ready to personalize their education delivery model” said Robert Iskander, CEO of EduTone. “We are truly excited to leverage Intel’s proven technology, tools and market leadership in providing solutions that will improve student learning outcomes around the world”, he continued. “We are very excited to have EduTone as a partner adopting Intel® Learning Series solutions” said Dr. Wayne Grant, Director of Research and Planning for the Education Market Platforms Group at Intel Corporation.. “EduTone’s award-winning Xchange Platform will accelerate the adoption of the Intel Learning Series family of products and will enable educators provide a direct path to 21st century learning”.

Intel® Learning Series brings together a strong ecosystem of PC manufacturers, operating system vendors, education service providers, content and software providers to deliver a complete, end-to-end education solution. It offers marketing tools, training, online exposure and a forum for its members to share resources and find common opportunities. More than 500 members in 70 countries are developing applications, peripherals and services optimized for the Learning Series. For more information, visit www.intellearningseries.com.

About EduTone Corporation

EduTone provides the sustainable technology schools need in order to deliver the 21st century teaching and learning environments their stakeholders require. Installed in thousands of schools around the world, the EduTone XchangeTM is a 2011 CODiE “Best K-12 Solution” award winning, Web 3.0 Platform-as-a-Service technology that enables on-demand, one-to-one services delivery in the Education Enterprise. EduTone is a DBA of VIP Tone Inc., a privately held corporation headquartered in Alameda, California. For more information, visit www.EduTone.com.

PR Contact:
Yanni Kalajakis
+1 866 901-8663 x9019
yanni@edutone.com

Alameda, CA – Dec. 29th, 2011

The prestigious acknowledgement is given annually to K to12 education services and products that support educational innovation in and out of the classroom. The winners were selected by the editors of District Administration magazine from hundreds of nominations submitted by their subscribers, including school superintendents and district-level directors in districts across the United States. Winning products were determined by the quantity of nominations received per product, as well as an evaluation of product quality based upon readers’ nominations and explanations. “We are honored to be recognized by our school customers and end-users,” said Robert Iskander, CEO of EduTone, “This is the second major recognition of the EduTone Xchange this year, following the three CODiE Awards we won in May.”

About EduTone: EduTone provides schools with the sustainable technology infrastructure necessary to create the teaching and learning environments parents and students require. Installed in thousands of schools around the world, the EduTone Xchange™ is a 2011 CODiE “Best K-12 Education Solution” award-winning, Web 3.0 Platform-as-a-Service technology that enables on-demand; one-to-one services delivery in the Education Enterprise.

EduTone is a DBA of VIP Tone Inc., a privately held corporation headquartered in Alameda, California. For more information, go to: http://www.EduTone.com.

About District Administration: District Administration is a monthly publication covering all of the important topics faced in today’s K12 school systems. With a circulation of more than 73,000, District Administration reaches top decision-makers in virtually every school district across the country.
Subscribers are district-level leaders in K12 education, including superintendents, assistant superintendents, curriculum directors, business officers, IT directors and federal funds administrators. For more information visithttp://www.districtadministration.com.

Press Contact:
Yanni Kalajsakis
EduTone
866-901-8663
Yanni@viptone.com

“This partnership expands our sales and support resources in the state of California,” said Robert Iskander, CEO of EduTone. “GigaKOM’s phenomenal track record and 100% focus on K-12 education was the deciding factor in their selection as our strategic partner that will directly serve and support all of our existing customers in California.  We will continue to innovate the capabilities of our cloud-based EduTone Xchange(TM) award-winning Platform but will rely on our partners to implement it for our clients.”

“The synergies between EduTone and GigaKOM are compelling,” said Andrej Komatina, Founder & CEO of GigaKOM. “This will immediately expand our existing technical resources and clients in Northern California, and will enhance our K-12 education solution portfolio with EduTone’s products. We are very excited about this strategic acquisition and partnership!”

GigaKOM will immediately serve all of EduTone’s existing accounts in Northern California and will transition all of the EduTone Systems Integration resources to be part of its expanding sales and technical support team. Under this Agreement, the two companies will jointly pursue new opportunities in the California K-12 education market.

 About EduTone: EduTone provides schools with the sustainable technology infrastructure necessary to create the teaching and learning environments parents and students require. Installed in thousands of schools around the world, the EduTone Xchange™ is a 2011 CODiE “Best K-12 Education Solution” award-winning, Web 3.0 Platform-as-a-Service technology that enables on-demand; one-to-one services delivery in the Education Enterprise.

EduTone is a DBA of VIP Tone Inc., a privately held corporation headquartered in Alameda, California. For more information, go to: http://www.EduTone.com.

About GigaKOM:  GigaKOM is a full service technology solutions provider. Its vision is to improve the stability of each and every network it service. GigaKOM has partnered with the industry’s best network and system manufacturers to provide its customers with cost effective, superior products and services. GigaKOM has created solutions ranging from desktops to complete networks that ensure access to the vast array of services that are available to improve business efficiency.

GigaKOM Inc., a privately held corporation headquartered in San Diego, California.  For more information, go to: http://www.GigaKOM.com.

Press Contacts:

Yanni Kalajsakis
EduTone
866-901-8663
Yanni@viptone.com 

Keith Harrison
GigaKOM
858-769-5412
KeithHarrison@gigakom.com

Let’s take the technological changes as an example. We see a combination of three major trends—cloud computing, social media, and mobility—converging any organization’s IT infrastructure into a more affordable and democratic one, transforming the way most Small to Mid-Size Enterprises (SMEs) invest in their corporate automation and communications tools.

Many IT companies now talk about the “consumerization of the enterprise,” which simply means that the employees and customers, who are consumers of gadgets and tools, are now running the show and bringing their own mobile devices to work, where they also use their personalized software services, such as professional social media, email, and IP telephony. They are demanding their employers let them choose which devices to purchase for their day-to-day usage and, what’s more, to be able to access their corporate resources through these devices.

Most corporate CIOs have recently decided to give up on dictating which access devices or ISPs to mandate for corporate IT. Instead, they now offer a secure mobile portal allowing their staff to BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) to work. This adds a different kind of burden on the IT support staff, forcing them to support multiple operating systems and to ensure that corporate security is not jeopardized in any way.

Additionally, as these SMEs start using more affordable cloud-based software applications, such as Google Apps and Salesforce.com, they become more open minded about open platform policies because their SaaS vendors are investing in porting, testing, and supporting their own products, making sure they run well on any access device. This shift in corporate IT strategy and culture is irreversible. And it is now impacting education, as IT directors in schools and districts follow these trends and learn from their peers in other industries.

In addition to embracing this new technological trend, schools also feel pressured to do more with less, sometimes being forced to cut their budgets by as much as 25%. For schools, it represents a choice between continuing to conduct their operations as usual without changing their habits, increasing class sizes, laying off teachers and closing down school sites, or innovating by leveraging technology to increase organizational efficiencies to do more with less.

Teachers are also being asked to do a lot more with a lot less: embrace new curriculum standards, capture student performance data, individualize instruction, support larger class sizes, and even accept a cut in pay.

Traditional K-12 public schools are starting to disintegrate and be replaced by more innovative charter schools, virtual schools, and even flex academies. There are now many different choices for parents to choose from for their kids, and they are all still considered public education.

So what gives? Is there an end in sight? Should we just give up on the traditional public school system and let it disintegrate? Is this a good thing for our nation and for our kids? The answer is absolutely NO. Traditional schools are starting to think “outside the box” and are starting to innovate in many ways by reaching out to their biggest allies—the parents.

Parents play a significant role in supporting our schools. Studies show a direct correlation between student performance and parent involvement and also between school quality and Parent Teacher Association (PTA) activities. When parents step up and volunteer to support the schools through various means, including financial support and fund-raising, the schools are then able to make up for their shortfall in government funding. Smart schools are starting to invest in professional expertise and services that would harness the power of the parents in their community.

Students, teachers, and parents are considered “consumers” within the school “enterprise.” As the shift in spending on school-centric resources starts falling on the parents’ shoulders, it is expected that the parents (i.e., consumers) will start to choose (or dictate), rather than the school staff, which products, brands, and suppliers are most suitable for the schools. In some cases, the schools will make a “wish list” of supplies needed and expect the parents to buy these supplies (from specific suppliers) and donate them to the schools or teachers.

Some argue that the Business-to-Consumer (B2C) model in education is more efficient—and more lucrative to pursue—compared with the traditional Business-to-Enterprise (B2E) model. Obviously this model is only possible for a limited set of “consumable” products and services that could be easily procured by parents. Supplemental textbooks are easily replaced by online digital media; personal computers by netbooks, tablets, and smartphones; productivity software by free web-based tools; and after-school on-site tutoring programs by online tutoring.

All of these products and services could be easily “consumerized,” and schools could start allowing parents to co-fund the students’ access devices or allow a BYOD model. Vendors and suppliers are starting to offer academic discounts on their products and services directly to parents and redirect their marketing programs to target consumers. Apple shifted their education strategy 100% toward a consumer model five years ago, and look at them now. They have doubled or tripled their market share in education since then.

So is this “consumerization of the school enterprise” a good thing for our schools? Should parents continue to fund schools? Should schools continue to allow parents to make buying decisions? Should we all give up on the B2E model in education? Only time will tell. However, I personally believe that the school holds a lot of weight in influencing consumer behavior and buying patterns within any community. So if a school recommends a certain digital content provider or a certain type of access device, or if the school leverages its buying power to negotiate a school-centric volume discount that the parents could take advantage of, then the parents will follow the school’s advice. Also if the school asks the parents to purchase its consumer products from a certain school-affinity program that benefits the schools, then not just the parents but also the whole community at large will follow the school’s plea and call to action and will buy products through such a program.

Schools hold a lot of weight, and the school brand is still a very valuable brand. So it is not all single-sided influence, but rather the education enterprise influences consumer behavior while the consumers co-fund the education enterprise.

In summary, schools and consumers are both joined at the hip. As school budgets continue to shrink, schools will increasingly reach out to parents to fund new categories of essential school resources, including mobile access devices, digital media, and online test preparation and tutoring services.

About Robert Iskander

Father of four children, ranging from 2 to 22 years old, Robert Iskander is a very passionate technology visionary. He founded VIP Tone in April 2000 to realize his vision of “connecting all the dots” in K-12 education and delivering an “on-demand” web services infrastructure for schools all over the world. Prior to VIP Tone, Robert spent 13 years at Sun Microsystems, where he held various leadership roles in sales and market development. He started the Middle East operations for Sun Microsystems in 1992 and led the organization for four years, then moved back to the U.S. to direct the worldwide market development for the education vertical market. Mr. Iskander has a total of 25 years of experience in the technology industry.

Mr. Iskander holds degrees with honors in biomedical engineering and computer science from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).  He can be reached at robert@VIPTONE.com.

EduTone will integrate K12complete’s online School Storefronts with its award-winning EduTone Xchange™ Platform. The consolidated solutions will enable EduTone’s customers to streamline online payment processing and fund raising activities and to offer a broad range of school-related products and services to local communities.

The acquisition of K12complete is the second acquisition for EduTone in 2011. In July, EduTone acquired Global Grid for Learning, Ltd. from Cambridge University Press to become EduTone’s digital content marketplace for education. EduTone also recently launched the ET Persona, an affordable school-centric tablet that has been received with rave customer reviews. These acquisitions and the ET Persona product line demonstrate EduTone’s continued commitment to be the preferred ecosystem integration platform for schools and education service providers worldwide.

“Both public and private schools today are grossly underfunded,” said Robert Iskander, CEO of EduTone. “As the role of technology infrastructure in schools comes to the forefront, we are pleased to be able to provide our partners and customers with robust and cost effective solutions. Combining K12complete’s online storefronts with EduTone’s secure cloud computing services and affordable mobile devices, such as the ET Persona, will help schools become more efficient, enhance their technology infrastructure and address current budgetary shortfalls.”

“The synergies between EduTone and K12complete are compelling,” said Adam Thorpe, Co-Founder of K12complete. “This acquisition will facilitate a rapid rollout of K12complete’s payment processing and e-Commerce platform and will drive EdPay to be the market leader in electronic payment, e-Commerce and fundraising solutions for schools. K12complete is excited to be joining forces with such a great organization and an energetic team.”

Notes to Editors:

To request interviews, or for further information, please contact:

EduTone: Yanni Kalajakis | yanni@edutone.com | +1 866 901-8663 x9019

About EduTone: EduTone provides schools with the sustainable technology infrastructure necessary to create the teaching and learning environments parents and students require. Installed in thousands of schools around the world, the EduTone Xchange™ is a 2011 CODiE “Best K-12 Education Solution” award-winning, Web 3.0 Platform-as-a-Service technology that enables on-demand, one-to-one services delivery in the Education Enterprise.

EduTone is a DBA of VIP Tone Inc., a privately held corporation headquartered in Alameda, California. For more information, go to: http://www.EduTone.com

About K12Complete: K12complete provides transformational e-Commerce solutions to public and private schools nationwide. K12complete’s innovative online storefront enables schools to eliminate inefficient cash and check transactions, to simplify revenue management, and to increase community participation in fundraising efforts. K12complete also partners with leading educational software providers and payment processors to enable a fully integrated, dynamic and easily managed payment processing and e-Commerce solution.

Headquartered in Los Angeles, CA, K12complete was founded in 2010 by a team of dedicated individuals trying to improve the way schools manage funds. For more information, go to: http://www.k12complete.com

EduTone intends to keep GGfL as a wholly-owned subsidiary, and to integrate its products and services with the award-winning EduTone Xchange Platform, enhancing its collection of third-party licensed digital education content, creating global and regional content marketplaces, to be marketed to schools through distribution partners globally.

GGfL will also represent EduTone in Europe, Middle East and Africa, complementing EduTone’s current presence in the United States and Australia.

The coming together of these two organisations will create a unique force in the education market,” said Robert Iskander, CEO of EduTone. “As the role of technology in schools continues to increase, we are pleased to be able to provide our partners and customers with one of the most comprehensive digital educational content collections in the world backed up by a first class integration platform. The passion displayed by both companies to create breakthrough, innovative services that meet the needs of schools is what will continue to drive our product suite forward and fuel our continued growth.

Stephen Bourne, Chief Executive of Cambridge University Press, said: “The Press is proud to have pioneered Global Grid for Learning and we believe that EduTone has the ideal technology base and management focus to accelerate and strengthen its presence in school markets around the world.”

Julian Mobbs will continue to serve as Managing Director of GGfL with Robert Iskander becoming the newly appointed Chairman.

Notes to Editors:

To request interviews, or for further information, please contact:
EduTone: Yanni Kalajakis
Tel: +1 866 901-8663 x9019
Email: yanni@edutone.com

Cambridge University Press: Hannah Gregory, Public Relations Manager
Tel: +44 (0)1223 325544
Email: hgregory@cambridge.org

Global Grid for Learning: Jason Skelton
Tel: +44 (0)1223 325823
Email: jskelton@cambridge.org

About EduTone 
EduTone provides the sustainable technology infrastructure schools need in order to deliver the 21st century teaching and learning environments their stakeholders require. Installed in thousands of schools around the world, the EduTone XchangeTM is a 2011 CODiE “Best K-12 Solution” award winning, Web 3.0 Platform-as-a-Service technology that enables on-demand, one-to-one services delivery in the Education Enterprise.

EduTone is a DBA of VIP Tone Inc., a privately held corporation headquartered in Alameda, California.  For more information, go to: www.EduTone.com

About Global Grid for Learning
Global Grid for Learning (GGfL) aims to connect teachers and students at all stages in education to single sources of digital multimedia content from multiple providers. Its mission is to become the leading digital content broker and supply network for education markets worldwide.

GGfL services provide a safe and reliable way for teachers and students to search, stream and download high quality and copyright-cleared learning resources from trusted content providers. Our growing library of over one million digital multimedia resources makes it easier for teachers to engage, motivate and inspire media savvy students.

Available online and through commonly used learning platforms, portals, and commonly used educational software, GGfL ensures teachers and students have seamless access to the digital content they need, when they need it for anywhere, anytime teaching and learning.

Global Grid for Learning is a wholly owned subsidiary of EduTone. For further information, go to:www.globalgridforlearning.com

About Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press is the publishing business of the University of Cambridge. Dedicated to excellence, its purpose is to further the University’s objective of advancing knowledge, education, learning, and research.

Cambridge University Press publishes materials for Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) and International Baccalaureate materials, as well as for a number of national educational systems. It distributes books and electronic educational products to nearly every country in the world and has offices in 39 countries. For further information, go to: www.cambridge.org

The ET Persona tablets will be marketed in North America initially through an innovative and affordable subscription-based pricing that bundles the cost of the device with third-party applications, content and integration services. The ETX-Mobile Edition features role-based provisioning and Single Sign-On capabilities that empower schools to customize services delivery to each unique end-user’s personal mobile device.

Featuring a Web 2.0 Community and Marketplace, the ETX-Mobile Edition will automate the on-demand provisioning of a freemium subscription-based offering, called My EduTone Bundle™, that includes a suite of innovative education-specific third-party applications and online digital content such as Learn360’s™ video streaming resources, Cambridge University Press’s Global Grid for Learning™, Inspiration Software’s newly released Webspiration Classroom™, JDL Horizon’s EduVision™ on-demand video, Big Universe’s™ Reading and Writing Platform, eTap™, Desmos’™ online tutoring and interactive whiteboard, uBoost’s™ online reward system, and many others that will be added to the Bundle in the near future. In addition to the pre-packaged suite of third-party applications, the ETX-Mobile Edition will also offer each school, or school district, a library of 175+ on-demand EduTone Connectors that allows them to integrate and provision their own premise-based enterprise applications such as their Active Directory™ LDAP, Moodle™ LMS, Microsoft’s SharePoint™ Portal, various Student Information Systems, Learning Management Systems, Library Information Systems, or cloud-hosted enterprise applications such Google Apps for Education™, Microsoft Live.Edu™, Pearson Places™, Discovery Education™, Encyclopedia Britannica™, and many more.

“Our ET Persona tablets powered by ETX-Mobile Edition are game changers for education organizations that are ready to personalize their education delivery model” said Robert Iskander, CEO of EduTone Corporation. “Public or private, traditional or Charter, brick-and-mortar or virtual, elementary, secondary or higher education – all schools are in need of an affordable, mobile, manageable, versatile, secure, and integratable one-to-one technology infrastructure solution,” he continued, “ and with an annual contract-based pricing starting at $20 per month per student, we have a complete solution right now, ready for back to school in the Fall of 2011.”

The ET Persona tablets are available now in limited quantities for qualified customers and partners through EduTone’s Early Access Program (EAP).  General availability is expected in the fall of 2011.  To inquire about EduTone’s EAP or obtain additional information on EduTone and its products please visit us at www.edutone.com or call us at +1 866 901-8663 x9000.

About EduTone Corporation:
EduTone Corporation provides the sustainable technology schools need in order to deliver the 21st century teaching and learning environments their stakeholders require. Installed in thousands of schools around the world, the EduTone XchangeTM is a 2011 CODiE “Best K-12 Solution” award winning, Web 3.0 Platform-as-a-Service technology that enables on-demand, one-to-one services delivery in the Education Enterprise.  EduTone Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of VIP Tone Inc., a privately held corporation headquartered in Alameda, California.  For more information, visit www.EduTone.com.

PR Contact:
Yanni Kalajakis +1 866 901-8663 x9019 or email at yanni@edutone.com

San Francisco, CA (May 24, 2011) – EduTone Corporation, a wholly owned Subsidiary of VIP Tone, is honored to be recognized by SIIA with 3 prestigious CODiE Awards for Best K12 Enterprise Solution, Best Education Administration Solution and Best K12 Solution.

The Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA), the principal trade association for the software and digital content industries, announced the winners of the 2011 CODiE Awards in the education technology industry yesterday. During a special awards reception and dinner, in conjunction with the organization’s eighth annual Ed Tech Industry Summit, 30 winners were recognized for products and services developed specifically for the K-20 market.

The 425 nominated products and services were first reviewed by third-party judges, whose evaluations determined the 113 finalists. SIIA members then reviewed these finalists and voted to select the winners. The CODiE Awards, originally called the Excellence in Software Awards, were established in 1986 by the Software Publishers Association (SPA), now SIIA, so pioneers of the then-nascent software industry could evaluate and honor each other’s work. Since being established in 1986, the CODiE Awards program has showcased the software and information industry’s finest products and services and to honor excellence in corporate achievement.

“The large amount of growth seen in nominations across numerous education technology categories reflects companies’ commitment to providing innovative, robust solutions that help to increase student achievement and more broadly, the education industry as a whole,” noted SIIA President Ken Wasch. “On behalf of SIIA, I’m proud to congratulate EduTone Corporation and look forward to watching the education technology industry continue to evolve,” Wasch continued.

This is a great validation for the importance of school-centric application integration, identity management and ubiquitous access to online applications”, said Robert Iskander Founder & CEO of EduTone Corporation, “the EduTone Xchange™ has the most extensive K12 education ecosystem on the market today, integrating more than 200 applications into a single services delivery platform. We are so honored and pleased to win these 3 major CODiE Awards, specially the most coveted Best K12 Education Solution category.

For more information about the CODiE Awards, visit http://www.siia.net/codies/2011/.

The solutions offered in the NAMTC DMP span a wide spectrum of services: on-line interactive children’s books reading, writing and collaboration tools from Big Universe (www.biguniverse.com), interactive and versatile curriculum delivery tools from Educational Tools (www.educationaltools.org), comprehensive, multi-media curriculum, used as interactive ibooks,  for supplemental education and  independent studies from eTAP (www.etap.org), Web 2.0 tools to enable teachers to transform on-line learning from School Town (www.schooltown.net), a next generation education resource planning solution from School MATRIX(www.viptone.com), an online learning community built on a coaching platform that includes  communication, content, Web 2.0, and publishing tools all in one place from eCoach (www.my-ecoach.com), a powerful tool for schools to collect and recover revenue from My Payment Network(www.schoolpaynetwork.com), an online teacher community, We The Teachers  for collaboration, communication and sharing (www.wetheteachers.com), automated access to Curriki (www.curriki.org), a community that communicates, shares and collaborates on free and open source curricula and simplified and school controlled access to Google Apps, several Web applications with similar functionality to traditional office suites (www.google.com) . All application and content providers in the NAMTC DMP offer a freemium model where users can try applications and content before they buy. NAMTC and EduTone expect over 100 new application and content providers to join the Digital marketplace in the next few months.

This innovative Digital Marketplace will benefit both NAMTC’s ESA members and Corporate Partners. The solutions in its Digital Marketplace offer NAMTC’s members significant savings and automated distribution while the EduTone Xchange Platform offers role-based provisioning and Single Sign-On, enabling ESAs to customize services delivery to each end-user. NAMTC’s Corporate Partners benefit from access to thousands of potential users and a low cost, highly efficient distribution and support model.

“Utilizing the EduTone Xchange within the NAMTC Digital Marketplace will enable us to quickly, easily and safely deliver on-demand web-based services to our members,” said Betty Gorsegner Ehlinger, Executive Director of NAMTC, “The launch of the Digital Marketplace is further evidence of our continued efforts to bring value to our members by offering innovative applications and content at greatly reduce costs while allowing our members to offer validated, state of the art services to their school districts that improve teaching and learning outcomes.”

“We are very excited to partner with NAMTC to create this Digital Marketplace and we are confident that the quality of the solutions offered through the DMP coupled with our EduTone Xchange Platform will deliver innovative services and significant cost savings to NAMTC’s members,” said Robert Iskander, CEO of EduTone Corporation, “our technology will seamlessly integrate with each ESA’s or school district’s existing infrastructure, offering their teachers and students a significantly enhanced educational environment to run existing and newly purchased applications from the NAMTC DMP, without any increase in IT costs or administrative resources.”

About NAMTC

The National Association of Media & Technology Centers (NAMTC) is an organization committed to promoting leadership among its membership through networking, advocacy, and support activities that will enhance the equitable access to media, technology, and information services to educational communities. Membership is open to regional, K-12, and higher education media technology centers, as well as commercial technology and media vendors. For more information, visit www.NAMTC.org.

Contacts:

NAMTC: Betty Gorsegner Ehlinger (319) 654-0608 or email at bettyge@namtc.org
EduTone: Yanni Kalajakis (925) 413-6216 or email at yanni@edutone.com

The CODiE Awards was established in 1986 to celebrate outstanding achievement and vision in the software, digital information and education technology industries. VIP Tone is among the 600 companies who submitted entries for consideration in the 71 categories of products and services to be considered, making the selection of its products that much more impressive when considering its competition from its peers – some of whom have been in the industries for decades.

The EduTone Xchange connects all the dots for an education organization by enabling Single Sign-On to enterprise applications, while automating the role-based provisioning of applications to end-users. This automation is managed through a simple user interface, making it easy for people to adminster and manage tools that are embedded within a secure, low-cost appliance known as the EduTone Gateway. The end-user interface, a web widget known as the EduTone Passport , is also very intuitive, attractive and is easily embedded into any Enterprise Portal like Microsoft SharePoint, uPortal and LifeRay.

“This is the twenty‐fifth year we have recognized excellence in the software, education and information industries through the CODiE Awards program,” noted Ken Wasch, President of SIIA. “In this economic climate, companies are doing even more to innovate. VIP Tone has demonstrated a commitment to innovation and quality that is reflected in their selection as a finalist for the CODiE Awards. I am pleased and proud to have them listed among the candidates, and I wish them the best in the final round of voting.”

The final award winners in each category will be announced at the Awards Gala in San Francisco on May xx 2010 at the conclusion of the SIIA Annual Conference.

“We are honored to be a CODiE finalist for two consecutive years” said Robert Iskander, founder & CEO of VIP Tone. “Being nominated again is a great validation for the EduTone Xchange Platform, which we have spent more than eight years and millions of dollars to research and develop. We have numerous product enhancements planned that we anticipate will continue to please current and prospective customers. We look forward to the day when a ubiquitous infrastructure such as the EduTone Xchange is deployed at schools worldwide, thereby saving schools money while simultaneously enabling seamless and secure access to school services via multiple devices including mobile phones.”

For further information on the EduTone Xchange, or for a complete listing of the EduTone Xchange Partners, visit the EduTone website at www.edutone.com.

EduTone: Yanni Kalajakis (925) 413-6216 or email at yanni@edutone.com