VSI Inks Deal for Lotus to Become Primary North American Distributor of Mentor™ for Lotus Notes

Agreement strengthens Mentor's position as leading learning and support tool for Lotus Notes among major American corporations.

Norwalk, CT, February 14, 2000 —VSI Communications Group announced today that it has entered an agreement with Lotus Development Corporation that will establish Lotus as the primary North American distributor of VSI's award-winning support and communications tool, Mentor™ for Lotus Notes. Under the agreement, Lotus gains the rights to market the application to large enterprise accounts in North America. VSI retains the rights to market the application, as well as the company's full suite of Mentor™ learning and support applications, to markets of up to 3,000 seats.

"Lotus has been and continues to be a long-term supporter of Mentor for Lotus Notes because of its effectiveness in spurring productivity and providing just-in-time learning support to employees seeking to master Lotus Notes," says Dan Gallo, president and CEO of VSI, the Norwalk, CT, content development company that created Mentor and markets it worldwide. "This agreement further solidifies our working relationship with Lotus as well as Mentor's position as the learning and support tool of choice for corporations eager to benefit from the enterprise-wide power and potential of Notes." The terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Mentor currently has more than 1.3 million seats licensed to such major corporations as DuPont, American Express Company, Colgate-Palmolive, Duke Energy, Transamerica, Goodyear Tire and Rubber and scores of others. "Lotus Professional Services is committed to giving our customers the very best solutions across our total product portfolio," says Peter Lelliott, vice president of Lotus Professional Service. "Our partnership with VSI is a natural extension of that mission. Mentor for Lotus Notes R5 is a must-have tool for any large corporate user of Notes/Domino interested in improving end-user education and lowering ongoing support costs."

Delivered to the desktop via the Internet, CD-ROM, or local network, Mentor fundamentally reworks the learning process by empowering users to choose only the training or answers they need, the instant they need them. Mentor serves as an virtual trainer and a expert resource employees can turn to when they have a specific question about using technology. Key to Mentor's effectiveness are its multimedia training modules. Instruction is delivered in real time, in 30-to 90-second demos, that allow users to learn on the fly, as they are using the technology, working and producing for their organization.

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