Technology Solutions Provider Stone Group to Present Education Sector IT Research at BETT 2010

Education sector IT specialist will launch results of research just completed in December into IT usage across schools and colleges in UK on first day of BETT 2010

STONE, England, January 4 - Stone Group www.stonegroup.co.uk- the technology solutions
provider (www.stonegroup.co.uk/about-us.aspx) to the education and
public sector has this week completed a market research study into the use of
IT within education. The results of the research by the
education sector IT specialist (
www.stonegroup.co.uk/about-us/why-stone.aspx) will be presented as a
white paper - pre-order a copy at
www.stonegroup.co.uk/white-paper-survey.aspx - at BETT 2010
(www.stonegroup.co.uk/news–events/news/stone-at-bett-2010.aspx) - the
world's largest educational technology event which runs from 13 - 16 January
2010 at Olympia, London.

The research has sampled the opinions of IT decision-makers in UK
schools, academies and colleges, and examines the education sector's concerns
surrounding issues such as IT budgeting and strategy, purchase decision
influencers and the barriers to delivery of satisfactory levels of IT uptake
within education. The research will also gauge the industry's current
position in the debates on IT outsourcing, managed services, IT security and
the importance of IT recycling.

James Bird, CEO of Stone Group, comments, "At present there is a great
deal being discussed about how the education sector will react to the current
challenging economic environment and how it will impact budgets and service
delivery in 2010. We have employed Redshift Research to conduct this study in
order to better understand the likely effect of the economic conditions and
the attitudes of the IT decision-makers in this sector."

Bird continues, "We believe that this research is likely to highlight
that the education sector is increasingly exploring IT outsourcing
opportunities to bolster their service provisions to students, and to find
reliable, policy-driven and cost-effective solutions. Come and join us on
13th Jan at BETT 2010 and we will share the results of the survey."

Bird concludes, "As a technology solutions provider, we are developing
our software and services offerings specifically for the education
marketplace. Professional services, managed services and outsourced IT
services appear to be gathering a great deal of interest from schools and
LAs. All such services allow them to focus on their core skills of teaching
and managing schools and classrooms. We think it is likely that the research
will show the IT and business process outsourcing markets has grown and will
continue to grow in the coming year. At Stone Group we are committed to being
at the forefront of this growth curve."

Stone Group will also be launching a series of new hardware and software
products at BETT 2010 - full details will be available on stand H39 on 13
January 2010.

About Stone Group

The Stone Group is the UK's largest privately owned hardware
manufacturer a technology solutions provider, specialising in the supply and
support of ICT and audio-visual solutions to schools, colleges, universities,
local government, the emergency services, the NHS and MoD.

As a long-established UK hardware manufacturer, Stone
Computers and Compusys have built up enviable reputations for their superior
after-sales service as well as the stability and reliability of their
desktops, laptops and servers, earning the confidence of their customers.

Having acquired Rock in May 2008, the Stone Group now sells
direct to consumers and offers high-end business and gaming notebooks to all
sectors.

The Stone Group has also significantly extended its services
portfolio to include fully managed outsourced solutions, IT security,
software applications and recycling.

As well as being awarded all major educational and public
sector frameworks, the Stone Group has well-established relationships with
leading manufacturers. Strong partnerships with Intel, Microsoft, LG, Seagate
and Samsung ensure that all of its customers can be confident in the quality
of the technology and receive the most competitive pricing structure.

Stone was recently ranked 21st in The Sunday Times Buyout
Track 100 league table 2009 of Britain's top 100 private equity-backed
companies with the fastest growing profits.

    For more information please contact:

    Dionne Barlow
    Stone Group
    Tel: +44-(0)1785-812-100
    Fax: +44-(0)1785-817-225
    Email: Dionne.barlow@stonegroup.co.uk

    Tegan Boaler / Will Gardiner
    The itpr Partnership
    Tel: +44-(0)1932-578-800
    Fax: +44-(0)1932-578-801
    Email: teganb@itpr.co.uk

For more information please contact: Dionne Barlow, Stone Group, Tel: +44-(0)1785-812-100, Fax: +44-(0)1785-817-225, Email: Dionne.barlow at stonegroup.co.uk. Tegan Boaler / Will Gardiner, The itpr Partnership, Tel: +44-(0)1932-578-800, Fax: +44-(0)1932-578-801, Email: teganb at itpr.co.uk