CONTACT INFORMATION

Sierra Systems
www.sierrasystems.com

SEATTLE, WA, May 24, 2000 - ConneXt® a Seattle-based developer of billing and customer care solutions for regulated and unregulated energy providers, and Sierra Systems Group Inc., (TSE:SSG) a leading management consulting and systems integration firm, announced today a partnership agreement to pursue joint marketing initiatives and other business ventures related to the deployment of their products and services.

Under the terms of agreement, ConneXt and Sierra Systems will promote a joint service to Regulated and unregulated energy providers for the purchase and implementation of ConneXt's ConsumerLinX™, a customer information system (CIS) developed specifically for the changing energy market. Sierra Systems will provide independent systems integration and implementation services to energy providers.

The agreement is the first for ConneXt since the company successfully installed its flagship product ConsumerLinX at Puget Sound Energy (NYSE:PSD) in April 2000. ConsumerLinX manages customer information and billing for the utility's 910,000 electric customers. An additional 570,000 natural gas accounts will be added to the system later this year. With the success of the Puget Sound Energy installation, ConneXt and Sierra Systems established the alliance to provide value-added services to prospective customers.

"At Sierra Systems, we look for companies that can deliver practical, best-of-breed applications to industry," said Al Ytsma, vice president of Sierra Systems. "With this partnership, ConneXt and Sierra Systems will offer a premier product to energy providers across North America, from the day the software is purchased right through to its installation and implementation."

The utility industry currently faces a multitude of marketplace challenges driven by unprecedented changes in restructuring and deregulation. Customer service tools are essential to a utility's survival in the new energy market and are difficult to achieve without an effective CIS. As a result, many utilities are beginning to implement new systems and processes to Support retail-level competition.

"A CIS needs to be versatile enough to rapidly accommodate growing regulatory requirements and strategic objectives as well as mergers and acquisitions and new retail business strategies," says John Przelenski, ConneXt vice president of sales, marketing and product management. "Utilities without such programs risk losing customers to companies that have successfully integrated an effective CIS.

About ConneXt
ConneXt is a provider of sophisticated, packaged CIS software targeted to utilities. Comprehensive, flexible and scalable, ConneXt billing and customer care solutions allow utilities to thrive in a deregulating energy market. ConneXt brings together seasoned industry professionals, accomplished software engineers and leading independent systems integrators to Deliver effective CIS solutions for utilities. Its flagship product, ConsumerLinX, is a powerful CIS featuring high-volume product billing for residential, commercial and industrial customers. ConsumerLinX is highly configurable and readily adapts to continually changing energy market regulations. Steady growth enables ConneXt to readily meet the changing needs of utilities in the new energy marketplace

About Sierra Systems
Sierra Systems is a leading technology consultancy and systems integrator with over 900 employees in 15 offices in key North American markets. Sierra Systems' reputation for delivering world-scale business solutions has earned over 33 years of service to many of the most respected organizations in the government, financial services, health care, justice, telecommunications and utilities sectors. They know Sierra Systems for practicality, reliability and seamless integration. In today's Internet economy, that integration expertise is in great demand as enterprises everywhere tie their core information systems into Web-based eCommerce and business-to-business applications-and seek success in a wired world.

The Sierra Systems head office is located at 1177 West Hastings Street, Suite 1400, Vancouver, B.C., V6E 2K3. For additional information about Sierra Systems or the location of branch offices in the US and Canada.

# # #