October 2002, London, England - Hornbill Systems Limited, an innovative provider of IT support and service management systems, has announced details of the agreements entered into with CHEST, the Combined Higher Education Software Team.

Following negotiations Hornbill have agreed a preferential pricing structure for CHEST members for Support-Works Helpdesk Professional and PC-Audit software. The purpose of the pricing is to appraise the support services requirements of CHEST members and is available until 31st August 2003.

Hornbill Systems is considered to be the UK's fastest growing IT Helpdesk vendor and recent growth can in part be attributed to the success it has enjoyed within the educational sector. Examples of some of our customers are the University of Exeter, Bedford College, City of Sunderland College and the Institute of Education.

Said Lee Davis, helpdesk software project manager, IT Services, University of Exeter. "The quality of Hornbill's support from the beginning of our evaluation, through to everyday use has been excellent. Hornbill is always quick to respond, usually with an instant answer to queries. The Hornbill team really believes they are producing the best helpdesk software on the market and their dedication and commitment reflects that."

Patrick Bolger, Sales Director at Hornbill, commented. "We are delighted to provide CHEST with this pricing structure as it builds upon the value already enjoyed by our customers. CHEST and Hornbill hope the offers will prove successful and the sites that take advantage will quickly reap the benefits of improved IT support services."

About CHEST
Set up in 1988 CHEST, the Combined Higher Education Software Team, acts as a focal point for the supply of software, data, information, training materials and other IT related products to the Higher and Further Education sectors. It is a not-for-profit organisation within, and part of, UK Higher Education, with its headquarters at the University of Bath. Although CHEST is now substantially self funding, it is strongly supported by the Department for Education and Employment through the joint committee of its funding councils. It is advised by the CHEST Policy Group.

CHEST's serves both Higher Education (post 18 graduate level) and Further Education (post 16 non-degree level) institutions in the UK, UK research councils and the Republic of Ireland. CHEST agreements, where CHEST focuses most of its energies, are formal contracts between CHEST and the suppliers of IT products. These agreements are usually for up to 5 years and almost all are for site licences, where the staff and students of the institution may use the products covered at no charge other than a single, fixed annual fee. CHEST also establishes many other arrangements as well. At the basic level it agrees educational discount prices for more than a thousand products, and publishes these in the form of the on-line CHEST Directory. More information can be found at: http://www.chest.ac.uk/.