Ordinate Corp. and TeleDevelopment Launch Call Center/BPO English Scre

    Business Editors/Technology Writers

    MENLO PARK, Calif. & MANILA, Philippines--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 2, 2005--Ordinate Corp., the world's leading provider of automated spoken language assessments, announced today it is partnering with TeleDevelopment Services Inc. to launch spoken English testing for the call center and business process outsourcing (BPO) industries in the Philippines.
    The Ordinate tests will be bundled with TeleDevelopment's other language training and development services and marketed under the brand name of ProSpeak (Professional Spoken English Assessment Kit). TeleDevelopment teamed up with Daksh, Ambergris Solutions, Sitel and other international call centers to optimize Ordinate's scoring system specifically for the call center and BPO industries.
    Ordinate, a subsidiary of Harcourt Assessment, Inc., is the creator of the Spoken English Test and other spoken language tests, which are fully automated assessments of speaking and listening abilities that take just minutes to complete. Ordinate's tests are administered over the telephone and scored by the company's patented speech recognition technology, which is specifically designed to analyze the speech performance of non-native English speakers. Score reports are provided online, typically within minutes after the test taker has completed the test.
    Call centers and business process outsourcing are booming industries in the Philippines. Workers in these industries must have solid English speaking abilities. However, assessing the language skills of thousands of job applicants can be costly and time consuming. With Ordinate's fully-automated test included in the ProSpeak package, the English ability of job applicants can now be measured in a quick, cost-efficient and standardized way. The Ordinate tests will also help human resource managers optimize language coaching and training.
    Jon Kaplan, president and founder of TeleDevelopment Services states, "Call Centers and BPO companies are creating over 3,000 new jobs per month in the Philippines. In these industries hiring good English speaking communicators is essential. The Ordinate tests are a fabulous tool to help HR managers ensure workers have solid language skills. Bringing the Ordinate test into the Philippines market exemplifies TeleDevelopment's dedication to using the best technology to serve the call center and BPO industry."
    "We are very pleased to be working with TeleDevelopment in the Philippines," commented Larry Preiser, executive vice president of Ordinate Corp. "It is our goal to work together with TeleDevelopment to establish the Ordinate tests as the standard for English speaking proficiency testing in call centers and BPOs throughout the Philippines."

    About TeleDevelopment, Inc.

    TeleDevelopment Services, Inc. (TDS), founded in 1991, is an international training, recruiting and consulting firm specializing in helping companies maximize opportunities in the BPO and contact center industry. TDS provides clients human resource and consulting solutions to optimize their business performance.
    For more information about TeleDevelopment, please visit www.teledevelopment.com/PH or contact TeleDevelopment Services, Inc. at (632) 910-8111 or restebanlar@teledevelopment.com.

    About Ordinate Corp. and Harcourt Assessment, Inc.

    Ordinate Corp., a subsidiary of Harcourt Assessment, Inc., was founded in 1996 to develop advanced language testing systems based on new techniques that use speech recognition to score spoken language proficiency. Ordinate combines recognition of spoken utterances with analysis of the manner of speaking to determine language proficiency and other speaker characteristics. Ordinate's augmented speech analysis technology sets a new standard in language testing for speed, accuracy, cost and convenience. You can visit Ordinate online at www.ordinate.com.
    Harcourt Assessment is a leading provider of high-quality assessment instruments and testing programs used by educators, psychologists, speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists, human resource professionals, admissions and credentialing professionals, and businesses. The company is a unit of Harcourt Education, which is the global education brand of Reed Elsevier Group plc (NYSE:RUK) (NYSE:ENL) -- a world-leading publisher and information provider operating in the science and medical, legal, education and business-to-business industry sectors. Visit Harcourt Assessment online at www.harcourtassessement.com.

--30--CSD/sa*

CONTACT: Ordinate Corp., Menlo Park Jason Engleman, 650-470-3539 or Harcourt Assessment, San Antonio Mark Slitt, 210-339-5399 or TeleDevelopment, Inc., Pasig City, Philippines Jon Kaplan, Bobby Estenbanlar or Neil Villegas, (632) 910-8111

KEYWORD: CALIFORNIA PHILIPPINES INTERNATIONAL ASIA PACIFIC INDUSTRY KEYWORD: PUBLISHING EDUCATION PRODUCT SOURCE: Ordinate Corp.

Copyright Business Wire 2005