Cap Gemini Ernst and Young Honored as 2003 Global Services Partner of the Year By Microsoft

Consulting and Integration Leader Is Turning Microsoft Technology Innovation Into Tangible Business Value For The Enterprise Customer

Cap Gemini Ernst & Young (CGE&Y) today announced that it has been recognized by Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) as a co-winner of the 2003 Microsoft Global Services Partner of the Year Special Recognition Award. The award was announced at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference 2003 in New Orleans last night. The award is given to the partner that has demonstrated leadership and has been the most valuable global services partner in delivering Microsoft solutions to mutual customers in the past year. CGE&Y is pleased to join Hewlett-Packard as this year's co-winner.

CGE&Y grew its worldwide Microsoft alliance revenues in fiscal year 2002 by over 30% from the previous year's goal. This was accomplished by developing a strong ISV ecosystem, co-developing innovative solutions, building a strong technical community, increasing training center readiness, and providing effective knowledge transfer on a global level. In parallel, CGE&Y jointly implemented Microsoft technology-based solutions to clients around the globe. For example, in Sweden, with BT Industries, CGE&Y implemented a Field Service Mobility Solution using Microsoft Windows Mobile software for Pocket PC's to BT Industries 1,200 field service engineers. In Canada, CGE&Y and Microsoft helped St. Mary's Cement plan, design, and implement three critical applications to run the business, and build a completely new Microsoft based infrastructure to support them. In the, Netherlands, with Hereema Marine Contractors, CGE&Y built a new server and workstation environment using Microsoft technologies. In India, CGE&Y developed an Office solution that connects the company's information users to enterprise applications data, using a familiar and uniform user interface.

CGE&Y has over 40 Certified Partner locations worldwide and has achieved Microsoft Gold Certified for e-commerce, collaborative solutions, and business intelligence and enterprise systems that requires completing significant customer deployments that have been independently verified by Microsoft.

"Our relationship with Cap Gemini Ernst & Young has evolved in profound ways over the past five years, and particularly in the last year as our organizations have forged stronger ties in every area," said Sanjay Parthasarathy, corporate vice president of Microsoft's Platform Strategy & Partner Group. "With a shared vision and aligned resources worldwide, together we can deliver what customers want -- solutions that create value and reduce costs. Microsoft is very pleased to honor CGE&Y as Global Services Partner of the Year for 2003."

"We are honored to receive this distinction from Microsoft and to be a co-recipient with a world-class organization like HP," said Chell Smith, Global Director of Technology Services, CGE&Y. "This award not only recognizes the incredibly successful partnership that CGE&Y and Microsoft have cultivated, but is a testament to the employees that support our client initiatives. Without their hard work and dedication, this award would not be possible."

With a strong focus on healthcare, manufacturing, retail, and oil & gas, Cap Gemini Ernst & Young announced 18 Microsoft solutions last year, including a suite of Mobility solutions using the .NET Compact Framework and Windows CE .NET, a SAP VALUEUpgrade solution, migrating SAP R/3 onto a Microsoft platform and a set of Extended Retail Solutions with Intel and Cisco Systems, basically an open system architected on the Microsoft platform. In addition CGE&Y has developed several solutions using the new Office System 2003, including a Clinical Portal healthcare solution, Corporate Accountability, Electronic Document Records Management, and Office-as-a-SMART-client.

"2003 was an extremely successful year for the CGE&Y Microsoft Global Alliance," said Deanne Handron, Cap Gemini Ernst & Young - Global Alliance Executive. "Despite a challenging market, we exceeded sales goals and gained several significant client wins worldwide - all while continuing to deliver incredible value to alliance customers."

About the Cap Gemini Ernst & Young / Microsoft Alliance
A global alliance partner since 1997, CGE&Y has invested in developing integrated solutions that take advantage of the latest Microsoft enterprise technologies, including Windows Server 2003, Office System 2003, the .NET software such as BizTalk Server and SQL Server and Visual Studio .NET. CGE&Y has developed a wide range of reusable components, frameworks and solutions that support: IT infrastructure, Application Infrastructure and Information Worker Productivity.

About the Cap Gemini Ernst & Young Group
The Cap Gemini Ernst & Young Group is one of the world's largest providers of Consulting, Technology and Outsourcing Services. The company helps businesses implement growth strategies and leverage technology. The organisation employs approximately 50,000 people worldwide and reported 2002 global revenues of 7.047 billion euros. More information is available at www.cgey.com .