January 2008

Birchman now represents a powerful force within the Asia Pacific market for high-end consulting and solution services. By combining the services of both companies it more than doubles the existing capacity and extends Birchman’s service offerings into new areas.

Niel Schoeman, Birchman’s international chairman, said “It is pleasing to be able to welcome Beacon into the group in support of our global strategy to build broad consulting and solutions capability in our targeted geographies. This allows Birchman to provide improved support for our clients and to develop our business into new geographies. Beacon has an enviable reputation with clients across Australia and will bring substantial new skills into the group”.

Frank Early, founding partner of Birchman Asia Pacific, is now managing director of the combined group. Frank stated “Birchman has already created significant momentum in the Asia Pacific region and we believe Beacon is a great asset with fantastic client relationships across a number of industries. Beacon brings complementary service offerings to the Birchman brand allowing us to offer a broader range of services to our clients. This is a very important initiative for our existing clients and staff and I am looking forward to the future.”

Mark O’Donoghue, the founding managing director of Beacon, will be a director of the new combined group. Mark commented “I am excited about the possibilities that Birchman brings to Beacon’s existing clients and staff. Based on our existing close working relationship, this important move is the obvious next step for Beacon. I have been impressed by Birchman’s ability to leverage their international capability into the local market and I look forward to working with Birchman to achieve our growth plans across the region”. Beacon has been providing high-end powerful custom software solutions to the Australian market since it was founded in 1995. Beacon offers a full complement of services including application support and development, software integration and software architecture consulting. Beacon has built a strong track record for delivery of complex systems with a broad range of private and public sector clients across Australia.

www.beacon.com.au