£1.7m Contract for Community Learning Network

RM PLC
27 June 2000


RM plc ANNOUNCES £1.7 MILLION CONTRACT TO PROVIDE 100 MBIT/S COMMUNITY
LEARNING NETWORK IN ROTHERHAM

RM plc, the leading supplier of information and communications technology
(ICT) software and services to UK education, has been selected to provide the
country's first City Learning Centre. RM will provide a managed learning
network service, across 17 schools, as the core of Rotherham Local Education
Authority's City Learning Centre (CLC) project.  As part of the £1.7m
contract RM will also provide Living Library, the Group's premium on-line
content service and PC hardware.

City Learning Centres are part of the Department for Education and
Employment's flagship Excellence in Cities programme to provide enhanced
learning opportunities in disadvantaged inner city areas.  The Rotherham CLC
will provide a range of online learning resources, delivered through 17
learning centres across the Borough.  The learning centres are based in
comprehensive schools and the CLC is intended to support learning for all
members of the local community from pre-school to post-16.  RM has been
selected to provide the network because of its ability to provide a
combination of technical expertise, educational design and full service
management.

The Rotherham CLC network comprises a 100 mbit/s switched backbone
infrastructure serving local area networks in each of the learning centres.
At the heart of the network is a WAN centre providing network control and a
range of educational applications and content services.  The
telecommunications, which are being specified and managed by RM, will be
provided by Telewest.

Commenting on the contract Richard Girling, Chief Executive of RM plc, said,
'The government's CLC programme sets out to capture the potential of ICT to
revolutionise learning in inner city communities and to address the digital
divide.  I'm delighted that RM's unique mix of education understanding and
technical expertise has allowed us to win, what we believe is, the first CLC
contract.  We believe that, in partnership with Rotherham LEA, we can make a
real contribution to education in the Rotherham area.'

Enquiries:

Mike Greig             RM plc             01235 826000

Andrew Fenwick         Brunswick          020 7404 5959
Katie Hall

Notes to Editors

1. RM plc is the leading supplier of ICT resources to UK education, providing
educational software, services and systems to primary schools, secondary
schools, colleges and universities.

2. Living Library is an online educational reference resource combining
information from a wide range of respected third parties, including the
Oxford University Press, World Book, Helicon, English Heritage National
Monuments Record, Hodder & Stoughton and many others. Living Library is
suitable for both primary and secondary pupils, for teachers and for 'life
long learners' and is actively used by some 30% of UK schools and colleges.

3. The City Learning Centre programme is part of the government's Excellence
in Cities (EiC) initiative.