Wyse, Comat and ICICI Bank Develop Blueprint for Bridging the Digital Divide in India

Private Consortium Brings Critical Educational, Financial and Social Services to Rural Areas

San Jose, CA – 2005/06/16 - Wyse Technology, the global leader in network-centric computing, Comat Technologies, Ltd, a leading e-governance company based in Bangalore, and ICICI Bank, the largest private bank in India, are jointly announcing an initiative to deliver electronic access to vital educational, financial and social services in select rural areas in the state of Karnataka, India. The official kick-off of the project to deploy these "Rural Business Centers" (RBCs) will be on June 16, 2005. It marks the first step in an evolved approach to deliver the benefits of connectivity and information access to remote and rural areas, combating the inefficiencies of historically paper-based transaction and record-keeping systems. In the mission to bridge the 'Digital Divide', this initiative - which leverages the proven benefits of thin-client architecture - represents a significant breakthrough, delivering critical services to rural citizens in real-time.

"Comat is pleased to be working with its partners to bring a broad range of services to rural India," said Mr. Sriram Raghavan, President of Comat Technologies. "This is the first time these communities will be able to access and interact with leading private enterprises, such as ICICI Bank, and other service providers in the insurance and education sector. We look forward to helping more companies join the RBC network to bring additional services to rural communities. Comat's goal in this partnership is to improve access for rural citizens to services that will help them to develop and strengthen their economic position, educational status and access to healthcare. We're excited with this pilot deployment, and we fully intend to bring similar solutions to more communities around the nation."

"With this pilot deployment in Karnataka, we are empowering rural citizens with reliable access to government, as well as private sector services, including public records, social services and banking," stated Mr. John Kish, President and CEO of global thin client computing vendor Wyse Technology. "Wyse's secure, robust devices are ideally suited for the project; by combining our thin client technology with the experience and resources of our valued regional partners, we can deliver unparalleled information access to citizens in remote areas, offering services that have been traditionally inefficient and time-consuming. We see this as the 'rural services' blueprint for populations in developing nations everywhere." Wyse has additionally shown its commitment to India with the establishment of Wyse Technology India, which has a 24,000 square foot, state-of-the-art facility serving dual purposes as both a global research and engineering center, and as the domestic headquarters for sales of the company's thin client computing products.

Collaborating with Wyse Technology and Comat are ICICI Bank, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and other global organizations. The goal of this public-private partnership is to bring access to social, educational and financial services directly to rural communities across the nation, in a secure, simple, and reliable manner. With this model, any individual will be able to manage finances in a personal bank account, purchase insurance, obtain government forms, or take vocational education classes.

Mr. Nachiket Mor, Executive Director, ICICI Bank commented, "Technology is in our DNA and in our view Internet based channels are key to the delivery of financial services in rural India. ICICI Bank has over 2,000 rural Internet kiosks across India and we plan to increase this number significantly to cater to people at all levels of economic development. We are happy to be working with our partners to bring a variety of secure banking services to people in Karnataka."

Mr. Andi Dervishi of the Global Information and Communication Technologies of the World Bank Group said: "The World Bank Group is constantly looking for innovative approaches to finance in a sustainable fashion the narrowing of the digital gap between nations, social strata, as well as, urban and rural populations. IFC is keen in identifying and financing such commercially attractive opportunities, and then leveraging the experience and the partnerships to replicate, where possible, the generated success."

About Comat Technologies, Ltd.

Comat Technologies is an IT business solutions company that serves government, healthcare and legal support services industries. The company specializes in e-governance projects that are guided by sustainable principles that adhere to the triple bottom line. Through its partners in business and government, Comat is committed to pursuing its mission to enhance the quality of life of rural citizens around the world by offering them IT-based financial, educational and improved healthcare options. Founded in 1993, Comat is a private company with consistent strong financial results. The firm has one of the lowest attrition rates in the industry. Comat is headquartered in Bangalore, with offices worldwide. For more information, visit the Comat Technologies website at: http://www.comat.com.

About ICICI Bank ICICI

Bank is India's second-largest bank with total assets of about Rs.1,67,659 crore ($39 Billion) at March 31, 2005 and profit after tax of Rs. 2,005 crore ($466 Million) for the year ended March 31, 2005. ICICI Bank has a network of about 560 branches and extension counters and over 1,900 ATMs. ICICI Bank offers a wide range of banking products and financial services to corporate and retail customers through a variety of delivery channels and through its specialized subsidiaries and affiliates in the areas of investment banking, life and non-life insurance, venture capital and asset management. For more information, visit the ICICI Bank website at: http://www.icicibank.com/

关于Wyse Technology

WYSE创建于美国硅谷，是全球最知名的智能网络计算解决方案供应商之一。连续8年蝉联全球智能网络应用终端市场占有率第一，占全球市场份额的38％。WYSE提供的硬件、软件和服务为用户提供了可中央控制的系统来协调运算资源、应用软件资源、储存资源以提高性能，在确保系统安全、可靠、灵活的同时，降低了总体拥有成本，并且将IT部门从不必要的支持和维护工作中解放出来，大大提高了生产力。多年来，WYSE深受全球众多知名商业及公共机构的信赖，主要应用智能网络应用终端的产业包括金融、电信、广播传媒、零售、运输、政府、医疗、国防、旅游、能源、教育等行业，WYSE的客户主要是行业领先的全球化公司，财富全球排名前100名中有超过四成已经成为WYSE的客户。

从2005年初起，WYSE开始大规模发展针对新一代网络计算终端的软件和系统开发。并在中国和印度大力投资技术研究与开发中心，加速新产品开发和推出结合本地客户要求的客户化解决方案。

WYSE的全球总部位于美国硅谷，分支机构遍布世界各地。亚太区总部设在中国北京海淀区融科资讯中心大厦，下辖六个分公司，分别位于中国台湾、日本东京、韩国首尔、印度班加罗尔、澳大利亚悉尼和新加坡。