FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

C-TREC and Houston Community College Southwest Announce New Partnership
Local Organizations to Establish the HCC C-TREC Information Technology Academy

Houston (Feb. 22, 2007) – Houston Community College Southwest and C-TREC, a division of Blue Lance, Inc., announced today a new partnership to form the HCC C-TREC Information Technology Academy. As part of an exclusive agreement, this new Information Technology (I.T.) Academy will offer computer technology training designed to produce the highly skilled technology workers the city will need for its recently announced wireless initiative.

“ Education is the cornerstone of Houston. Without it we cannot attract new business, command higher wages or compete in a global economy,” said Winston Dahse, interim president HCC Southwest. “The new Information Technology Academy will allow us to provide fast-track training to prepare Houstonians for higher-paying, high-tech jobs throughout the city. Students enrolling in the Academy will receive HCC Continuing Education (CEU) credit.”

HCC and C-TREC will roll out the initial phase of the IT Academy in three steps. The first step, beginning immediately, will include all classes dedicated to wireless training. The second, beginning in summer 2007, will consist of network security, Cisco Career Certifications and Voice Over IP Telephony courses. In the fall of 2007 Microsoft Systems Engineer, Microsoft Office Suite, Novell, CompTIA and Red Hat Linux courses will be added. As new technology continues to develop, the IT Academy will expand its offerings. The classes will include a combination of theory, lectures, labs and hands-on training.

“C-TREC has trained more than 50,000 people in the past 15 years, and this partnership agreement is a natural extension of our expertise and enables us to combine our resources and provide better education a larger audience of Houstonians,” said C-TREC Executive Vice President, Chuck Shomper.

The HCC C-TREC Information Technology Academy was developed in response to Houston’s wireless initiative. The first phase of classes, specifically, will educate students in the technology needed as Houston and its surrounding communities transition into a “wireless world.”

“ We have been working diligently to make Houston a technologically advanced, dynamic region with the infrastructure for deploying and integrating products and services that produce life-enhancing experiences for the general population,” said the Greater Houston Partnership’s Technology Infrastructure Committee Chairman and Blue Lance CEO, Umesh Verma. “This new partnership will educate the new mobile workforce that will be created by Houston’s wireless initiative.”

About C-TREC

A Division of Blue Lance, Inc., C-TREC is Houston's largest and longest running, privately owned computer training facility.  It offers high-quality, instructor-led computer courses in state-of-the-art classrooms, with education towards certifications from Microsoft, Novell, CompTia, CISCO, Mile2 and several others. A Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, C-TREC’s instructors have educated more than 50,000 professionals, and its commitment to quality consistently earns it the rating of “top technical education center in the market.”

About Houston Community College Southwest

Houston Community College Southwest, the largest of six regional colleges comprising the Houston Community College System, offers academic, workforce and continuing education programs utilizing the most current curricula in state-of-the-art facilities. Recognized as the Center for Excellence in Information Technology at HCCS, Southwest College has operated the HCC Cisco Academy since March 2000, and has partnered with Planet 3 Wireless, Inc. for the past three years.

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For More Information Contact:

Wendy Wall
Tomasini W2K
(713) 408-7217
wcommunication@earthlink.net

Curtis Doolan
Houston Community College Southwest
(713) 718-7765
curtis.doolan@hccs.edu