Great Hill Partners

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11.14.2000
Great Hill Partners Commits $50 Million In Equity Funding To KSolutions, Inc.

CEO Cranford Founded KPMG Consulting's Knowledge Management Practice

BOSTON (Nov. 14, 2000) - Great Hill Equity Partners L.P. today announced an equity commitment of $50 million to KSolutions, Inc., to create the first nationwide consulting firm that will help companies identify, capture, share and apply critical - but often elusive - knowledge about customers, markets and operations.

Great Hill Partners and CEO Steve Cranford co-founded the company. With the investment, KSolutions will rapidly expand its services and is targeting strategic acquisitions.

Cranford is recognized as one of the industry's leading experts on designing and implementing successful knowledge management solutions for some of the world's largest financial institutions, retailers, manufacturers and distributors. Cranford was most recently the founder of KPMG Consulting's Knowledge Management Solutions practice and was the global leader of its data warehousing and business intelligence practices.

"KSolutions has a running start on solving the number-one problem companies face today: How do you use the information and technology you already have, to get the information that will drive value, sales and customer satisfaction?" said Matt Vettel, a partner at Great Hill Partners, who will join KSolutions' board. "Steve's track record, knowledge and proven ability to create successful solutions are unmatched."

The KM market, with its roots in enterprise transformation, business process redesign, cultural change management, strategic business planning, and performance monitoring is projected by Dataquest to grow to $5.3 billion this year alone, and continue at a 60 percent growth rate in subsequent years. With this market potential in its sights, KSolutions will focus on its core competencies in world-class service delivery, while developing knowledge-based applications in the areas of workforce management, customer relationship management, supply chain management, financial management and eLearning.

Because Fortune 500 companies need these solutions so urgently, KSolutions employs an iterative approach to design and implementation, allowing them to deploy functionally rich applications quickly and effectively, ensuring these strategic initiatives deliver tangible, near-term results from the outset.

"Great Hill Partners is known for its commitment to entrepreneurs," said Cranford. "As a strategic partner, it brings important assets: deep industry knowledge, extensive resources and the operational guidance that shapes long-term success."

KSolutions has approximately 50 employees and is headquartered in Annapolis, Maryland with a technology competency center in Dallas.

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About Great Hill Partners
Great Hill Partners is a leading Boston-based investment firm that provides equity financing and strategic guidance to data communications, IT infrastructure, telecommunications, media, information, education and business service companies. Recent investments include K-Solutions, ManagedStorage International (MSI), ManagedOps.com, Dame Broadcasting, Edge Connections, High-Tech Institute, SmartMail, DURO Communications and Horizon Telecom International. The firm has over $1 billion in capital under management from institutional investors including leading commercial and investment banks, state and corporate pension funds, university endowments and private trusts. For more information, visit www.greathillpartners.com.

About KSolutions
KSolutions, Inc. delivers quality information integration services across key vertical markets in North America. Our professional staff is equipped with years of in depth industry expertise coupled with "Big 5" consulting delivery capability. Our experience allows us to remain flexible and agile, and gives us the insight to tailor our solutions to our customers' needs. KSolutions is a full-service provider with expertise in business critical areas ranging from business assessment and strategy to implementation and measurement. KSolutions approaches client opportunities collaboratively, partnering with best-in-class technology vendors to deliver end-to-end solutions -- creating our own Value Network of Partners (V-Net). KSolutions couples its business consulting experience with technology acumen in the areas of data warehousing, business intelligence, enterprise application integration, and knowledge management, giving us the edge needed to develop and execute across people, process, strategy and technology. For more information visit www.ksolutionsinc.com.