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South Dakota Governor Declares Today
"Advancing Students in Technology Day"

New Grants Enable Dakota State University To Educate Students With Latest eBusiness Technology

Madison, S.D.-September 28, 2000-Board of Regents Director, Dr. Robert Perry, today at Dakota State University (DSU) declared September 28, 2000 "Advancing Students in Technology Day" in South Dakota per a proclamation from South Dakota Governor William Janklow.  The proclamation was made to recognize two grants that will have a substantial impact on learning at DSU. 

PeopleSoft (Nasdaq:  PSFT) announced its grant to DSU of $1.5 million in software and training materials through the PeopleSoft On Campus program.  Simultaneously, Sun Microsystems announced a grant of  $82,195 to provide the hardware that will support the new PeopleSoft software.  The grants will enable Dakota State University to remain on the cutting edge of technology by providing its students with some of the most comprehensive eBusiness software available. 

DSU has been granted PeopleSoft software licenses and training materials with a total commercial value of over $1.5 million.  The grant includes PeopleSoft's commercial, Human Resource Management (HRM) and Financial, Distribution and Management (FDM) enterprise software.  Additionally, as a PeopleSoft On Campus participant, Dakota State University will receive faculty and technical support training.

Sun Microsystems made a significant collaborative grant of hardware and training.  Sun's collaborative contribution includes a multiprocessor server, storage, tape back-up systems and software, operating system and desktop workstations required to make this a "state of the art" laboratory. Sun will also provide unlimited Sun product and OS training for two DSU staff members for a 12 month period.

"The combination of Sun Microsystems's hardware and operating system, Solaris, and PeopleSoft's software will provide the students and faculty of DSU same tools to learn and teach as those used by industry," commented Dwight Hinkel, CEO of Applied Engineering, Inc, the Sun Campus Representative for the Dakotas and Minnesota.

"Dakota State University has a commitment to educate our students in the latest technologies and applications so they have the tools to be successful as they meet the tough demands of a technology driven economy," said Dakota State University President Dr. Jerald Tunheim.  "Through the PeopleSoft On Campus and Sun Microsystems grants, our students will master a leading eBusiness and enterprise management system and will carry this expertise into the marketplace."  

For the past three years Dakota State University has been recognized as one of the most wired universities by Yahoo Internet Life!, while moving to be the 9th most wired university in its division in 2000.  A computer technology infrastructure that is second to none has been implemented in multiple university disciplines and is an integral part of the DSU culture.  Students attending DSU attain a mastery of computer technology and a tremendous career advantage upon graduation. 

"PeopleSoft is committed to ensuring that students not only learn about technology, but that they gain valuable hands-on experience using industry-leading technology.  By partnering with Dakota State University, PeopleSoft is able to have an active role in providing students a competitive edge in the job market while ensuring that our customers, in all industries, have a ready pool of graduates knowledgeable about eBusiness applications," says Mark Conway, academic programs director for PeopleSoft education and government.  

PeopleSoft On Campus is a comprehensive industry-academic partnership that supports the integration of PeopleSoft into the curriculum of colleges and universities.  Its goal is to impact the shortage of IT professionals by increasing the pipeline of graduates knowledgeable about today's eBusiness applications. Designed in collaboration with PeopleSoft's Academic Advisory Council, the program provides students with real world, enterprise management tools and experience.  PeopleSoft On Campus offers faculty training and curriculum resources, and provides the participating institutions an "academic use" grant of commercial, enterprise-class, eBusiness software.  Through its collaborations with colleges and universities, PeopleSoft is investing in the development of the next generation of IT professionals.  Currently, 15 colleges and universities in North America participate in PeopleSoft On Campus, at the conclusion of the 2000 academic year over 5,000 students will have taken courses built around PeopleSoft technologies.

About Dakota State University

Since 1984 Dakota State University's mission has been to develop computer and technically oriented programs in information systems, business, teacher education and health information.  In the last four years enrollment at DSU has risen over 50 percent, while maintaining a 100 percent placement ratio of graduates from flagship degree programs.  With an extensive technology infrastructure that allows each degree program to be completely immersed in computer technology, DSU provides a superior education to prepare students to meet the demands of a technology-driven economy. 

About PeopleSoft

PeopleSoft (Nasdaq: PSFT) is a world-leading provider of eBusiness applications that enable people -- customers, employees, and suppliers--to power the internet.  PeopleSoft's pure internet Customer Relationship Management, Supply Chain Management, and Enterprise Management solutions provide the industry's most open and flexible e-commerce platform.  PeopleSoft employs more than 7,000 people worldwide, including 2,400 eBusiness consultants.  More than 4,500 organizations in 107 countries run on PeopleSoft eBusiness applications.

About Sun Microsytems

Sun Microsystems Computer Company, headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., is a world leader in the design, manufacture and sale of network computing systems and is a division of Sun Microsystems, Inc. Recognized for quality and innovation, the company's SPARCstationTM desktops and multiprocessing servers each hold the No.1 UNIX® market share position. These systems are used primarily by businesses, educational institutions and governments worldwide for technical, commercial, industrial and software development  applications. 

Beyond the higher performance, scalability and excellent price/performance ratio of the Ultra Enterprise line, these systems give PeopleSoft customers the added benefits of enhanced reliability and availability features, such as predictive failure analysis, "hot swappable" components that can be changed with no system downtime, automatic recovery and fault resiliency, redundant hot plug disk storage and 7x24 mission-critical service.

Reaffirming its dominance in the networked data center, Sun Microsystems, Inc. on January 14, 2000 reported a record performance result on PeopleSoft Payroll 7.5, the world's most widely used human resources payroll application. The Sun Enterprise[tm] 10000 (a.k.a. Starfire[tm]) server processed an astounding 437,000 paychecks per hour--the fastest performance result of any platform--almost doubling the performance of the previous published benchmark on PeopleSoft. On the same benchmark, the mid-range powerhouse Sun Enterprise[tm] 6500 server succeeded in matching mainframe throughput by processing 256,000 paychecks per hour.

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