Market-Leading E-Mail Message Screening and Archiving Software Helps Major Insurance Firm Comply with Industry Regulations

Fairfax, Virginia, September 20, 1999 -- SRA International, Inc. announced today that Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, Fortune Magazine's most admired life insurance company for the past 16 years, has purchased its Assentor e-mail message screening and archiving software.

The firm plans to use Assentor as part of its compliance review process, screening and archiving agent's incoming and outgoing e-mail messages as required by regulatory authorities. A pilot program will be conducted to ensure that the product meets the company's business and regulatory requirements before it is officially rolled out to its field force.

While Northwestern Mutual Life agents primarily sell life insurance, a large percentage of the company's field force is licensed to sell variable products and investment products as well.

The software uses a sophisticated, linguistics-based natural language pattern matching engine and highly refined compliance patterns to identify Internet communication that warrants additional review by compliance supervisors. The product is currently targeted to the securities industry. However, over the next few months, SRA will be working closely with Northwestern Mutual to develop additional support to address the specific needs of the insurance industry. SRA's hope is that once this support is available, insurance firms of all sizes and types will be able to apply this technology to the compliance review process just as securities firms have been over the past few years. This will allow more companies to fully take advantage of the many benefits of e-mail technology for communicating with clients while at the same time protecting the interests of the company, its field force and most importantly, the company's current and potential policyholders.

Assentor flags messages with potential compliance concerns and forwards them to the firm's compliance reviewer for further scrutiny. Key features of Assentor include the ability to review e-mail in pre- or post configuration, review internal or "corporate" e-mail messages from Microsoft Exchange, and monitor independent agents who are sending e-mail messages via an Internet service provider.

"SRA is pleased to announce Northwestern Mutual as an addition to our growing client base," said Emerson Thompson, SRA Senior Vice President and Managing Director, Financial Services. "The insurance industry, similar to the brokerage industry, is faced with regulatory requirements regarding electronic communications with their clients. We look forward to a close working relationship with Northwestern Mutual."

In a recent analysis of the e-mail compliance tools market¹, TowerGroup named Assentor as the market leader in e-mail compliance technology. Assentor has been purchased by more than 50 clients across the financial services industry including A.G. Edwards; Deutsche Bank North America; Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co.; and Wheat First Union.

About Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company

Headquartered in Milwaukee, WI, Northwestern Mutual Life ranks first among U.S. life insurance companies in terms of individual life insurance in force and total ordinary life insurance dividends paid to policyowners. The company ranks 107th in the Fortune 500 listing of U.S. companies and has assets of more than US$78 billion. Northwestern Mutual markets its products through an exclusive distribution system of 102 general agencies and more than 7,000 agents. The company has always received the highest possible ratings from the four major ratings services. The company's sales force has been consistently named "Best Sales Force" in the life insurance industry in Sales & Marketing Management magazine surveys. For sixteen years the company has been named the "Most Admired" company in the life insurance industry in Fortune magazine's annual survey of corporate reputations, and this year, a Financial Times survey ranked Northwestern among the ten most respected financial companies in the world. For additional information on Northwestern Mutual, please see www.northwesternmutual.com.

About SRA

SRA International, Inc. is an information technology firm that offers consulting and systems integration services, as well as products and business solutions, to clients in business and government. SRA specializes in systems and software engineering, network integration, electronic commerce, knowledge discovery, and business process redesign. The company serves clients in financial services, law, postal services, health care, national defense, and civil government. SRA's staff of more than 1,800 people serves clients from its headquarters in Fairfax, Virginia, and offices across the United States.

SRA's knowledge discovery solutions for the financial services industry include Assentor, an e-mail compliance tool; and Mantas, a market and trading analysis system. Clients include BancBoston Robertson Stephens; First Albany Corporation; McDonald & Company; Ragen MacKenzie; and the National Association of Securities Dealers.

¹ "E-Mail Surveillance -- Seeking Security (and Market Share) in a Wired World" by Edward Kountz, Analyst, TowerGroup, February 1999.