Commonwealth, OpenText launch Web initiative at CHOGM 2011

Issued by Global Research Partners for Open Text
Johannesburg, 24 Oct 2011

The Commonwealth Secretariat and OpenText today announced plans to introduce Commonwealth Connects, an innovative social media portal, at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) 2011, being held in Perth, Australia, from 28 to 30 October.

Commonwealth and OpenText announced an agreement to develop Commonwealth Connects back in May to create a unique, global system designed to connect people, organisations and governments across the Commonwealth. Commonwealth Connects is a cloud-based, social platform developed through contributions of Commonwealth countries, including Canada, India, Australia and Singapore, and is based on OpenText technology.

Commonwealth's decision to create Commonwealth Connects offers a powerful Web platform and a single digital future for a community of countries that are diverse and span six continents.

“There are a whole range of important applications for Commonwealth Connects, including helping youth groups or government officials from across the Commonwealth collaborate; playing a role in election monitoring; or helping to fuel economic growth through digital business enablement,” commented Commonwealth Secretary General, Kamalesh Sharma.

“Commonwealth Connects is an innovative platform that sets the Commonwealth apart from other inter-governmental organisations,” added Tom Jenkins, Executive Chairman and Chief Strategy Officer at OpenText. “No other organisation has tried to use technology to help unite this many people - two billion around the world. Commonwealth is off to an excellent start, and we're excited to see Commonwealth Connects introduced this year at CHOGM 2011.”

OpenText, a leader in providing content management, social collaboration and digital media software to national, regional and local governments around the world, has extensive experience in helping government organisations develop digital strategies to serve key stakeholders, including citizens. OpenText provides the social collaboration platform for the G-20 meetings, multiple national governments and Canada 3.0, which is dedicated to defining a digital strategy for Canada.

In addition to working together to create Commonwealth Connects, Open Text and the Commonwealth are working together to help speed technology adoption in member countries of the Commonwealth by jointly supporting the development of effective national strategies for information and communication technology (ICT) adoption and use.

For further information, please contact Rob Shaw: tel: +27 83 626-3811, fax: +27 86 646-4178, e-mail: rshaw@opentext.com.

OpenText

OpenText, a global ECM leader, helps organisations manage and gain the true value of their business content. OpenText brings two decades of expertise supporting 100 million users in 114 countries. Working with its customers and partners, it brings together leading content experts to help organisations capture and preserve corporate memory, increase brand equity, automate processes, mitigate risk, manage compliance and improve competitiveness. For more information, visit www.opentext.com.

Certain statements in this press release may contain words considered forward-looking statements or information under applicable securities laws. These statements are based on OpenText's current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections about the operating environment, economies and markets in which the company operates. These statements are subject to important assumptions, risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict, and the actual outcome may be materially different. OpenText's assumptions, although considered reasonable by the company at the date of this press release, may prove to be inaccurate and, consequently, its actual results could differ materially from the expectations set out herein. For additional information with respect to risks and other factors that could occur, see OpenText's Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and other securities filings with the SEC and other securities regulators. Unless otherwise required by applicable securities laws, OpenText disclaims any intention or obligations to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

In southern Africa, OpenText's business partners are Business Connexion, Datacentrix, eTechnologies, iFuture Consulting, NokusaEI and SAP Africa; and, its customer base includes organisations from across both the private and public sectors such as ABSA, Anglo Platinum, BMW, Department of Environmental Affairs, Department of Tourism, Distell, Engen, Exxaro Resources, Mittal Steel, Nedbank, Office of the President, Provincial Government of the Western Cape, SABMiller, Sasol, Standard Bank, Telkom SA and Toyota.

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