FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Karen Higgins
A & E Communications
610-831-5723
khiggins@aandecomm.com

PDS Enhances Application Hosting/Managed Services
Providing Increased Accessibility and Security

Chicago, Ill. and Blue Bell, Pa., October 13, 2004 – (HR Technology Conference & Exposition, Booth #200) – PDS, an award-winning developer of web-based human resource and payroll systems, today announced significant enhancements to its Application Hosting/Managed Services. This upgrade offers new access and security features and noteworthy improvements to the existing technology.

Through its Hosting/Managed Services, PDS provides organizations with complete access to critical employee data, access for managers and employees and comprehensive Human Resource Management Systems (HRMS)/payroll functionality – all without the need for in-house IT support. PDS recognizes that the information in its Vista HRMS is mission critical for its clients. Therefore, the company offers high-level security and robust disaster preparedness features for its Application Hosting/Managed Services, protecting its clients’ data and ensuring business continuity.

PDS has been providing remote access and managed services for its users since 1985, long before the current outsourcing offerings of its competitors. “We were the leader in the industry long before there was an industry,” said Charles Jefferies, PDS’ president and CEO. “Our Application Hosting/Managed Services meet the growing need for companies that don’t want to hire additional IT staff or add to the duties of their existing staff. And, our new enhancements enable them to operate with more flexibility while maintaining the levels of security and disaster preparedness to ensure confidence for business continuity.”

PDS’ Application Hosting/Managed Services offer full-outsourced production from payroll check processing to W-2 and ad-hoc, online check printing. PDS runs these applications on an open standards-based virtual private network, providing fully managed connectivity from branch to branch. PDS configures, manages and maintains its clients’ multi-location systems from its hosting center in Blue Bell, Pa. Through its partnership with Sprint MNS (Managed Network Services), PDS relies on Sprint’s global Network Operation Center Monitoring Service to watch over its clients’ systems and monitor for intrusion detection.

Open standard environments offer multiple benefits in the areas of ease-of-use and flexibility; however, they also can create security concerns for companies. To eradicate these concerns, PDS now offers ultra high security data encryption providing the same level of security as the Department of Defense. Because PDS provides branch-to-branch networking, it is able to ensure that all file transfers and jobmails (email messages) in and out of the Vista system are encrypted, protecting its clients’ mission-critical data.

These days, disaster preparedness is another issue that every organization must address. PDS has partnered with DBSi International, a Bethlehem, Pa.-based class A, fully certified, co-location center, for mirrored site backup and disaster recovery of its Blue Bell hosting center. The Bethlehem facility has been set up to run in full production mode. If the Blue Bell facility loses connectivity, it will seamlessly switch to the DBSi location, ensuring business continuity for all PDS application hosting clients.

Alabama River Pulp (Perdue Hill, Ala.), Assembly & Test Worldwide, Inc. (Dayton, Ohio), FNB Corporation (Hermitage, Pa.), International Multifoods Corporation/Smuckers (Minnetonka, Minn./Orville, Ohio) and Precision Valve Corporation (Yonkers, N.Y.) are a few of PDS’ clients to which it provides operating system, database and application support as well as hardware management at the PDS hosting center.

About PDS
In the software development business for more than 30 years, PDS is a provider of a web-based, feature-rich, completely integrated human resource, benefits administration and payroll software application that enables organizations to focus on more strategic issues and less on administrative HR and payroll activities. PDS offers a full range of professional services to a wide variety of industries in the U.S. and in Canada. Founded in 1974, PDS is a privately-held company headquartered in Blue Bell, Pa. For more information on PDS visit www.pdssoftware.com.

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PDS and the PDS logo are registered trademarks and Vista is a trademark of Personnel Data Systems Inc. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are properties of their respective owners.