WATCHDOG CORPORATION ANNOUNCES MERGER WITH DATAVIEW

Merger set to service 1800 New Zealand schools and dominate shift to cloud computing in education sector

Watchdog Corporation Ltd (Watchdog), the largest provider of Internet safety and connectivity services to schools in New Zealand, announced today that it has completed the acquisition of Dataview Ltd, a privately held company which provides hosted Internet services to the education market, for an undisclosed sum.

“Cloud computing is increasingly delivering benefits to our schools, in terms of reduced costs, operational efficiency gains and better educational outcomes,” says Rohan Meuli, Managing Director of Watchdog, “with this merger we are uniquely placed to help schools move their computing online.”

1800 schools use the services of the combined entity, making it the biggest player in the New Zealand education market, says Mr Meuli. “Not only can we bring economies of scale to bear, but we also have a broad range of skills, experience and products to offer.”

Mr Meuli says expanding Watchdog’s existing export base, currently focused on Australia, Malaysia, United Kingdom, Papua New Guinea and Mauritius, is another important goal of the merged entity.

The combined company will be based in Orewa, Auckland and will provide a comprehensive range of cloud computing services to the education market in New Zealand.

About Watchdog

Watchdog has been a leading provider of Internet safety and connectivity services to schools since 1999, much if its work done under contract to the New Zealand Ministry of Education.

In recent years, it has widened its range of services to include Google Apps, single sign-on, online backup and video-conferencing services while it has also established itself a leading player in the country’s rollout of fibre to schools.

The privately owned company also has a subsidiary providing similar services to customers in Australia, Malaysia, United Kingdom, Papua New Guinea and Mauritius.

About Dataview

Since 2003 Dataview has been developing and supporting Learning Management Systems (LMS) and associated Managed Learning Environment services for schools, from preschool through to secondary schools.

These services include the KnowledgeNET and Moodle LMS as well as the ParentPortal and WebSYNC services which connects to the a school’s Student Management System, allowing manageable access and engagement with the whole learning community.

Dataview focus is not only on product development but also providing support services to schools so that implementation and on-going use are successful in all cases.