Cambridge, March 11th 2009

Cambridge Open Systems (COS) today announced that the company will be taking over the day-to-day running, management and future development of the VOICE service.

COS will offer all VOICE clients a much improved level of service, including regular software and system upgrades, improved support services, and simpler administration, as well as access to user groups and input into future development roadmaps.

The VOICE community will join over 3,000 community based sites already using COS's dotCommunity technology, and together clients will benefit from shared experience and development ideas.

“We've sought to find a commercial partner for VOICE that is committed to working with users to ensure that the service is self-sustainable and able to grow" said Peter Blair from CLG.  "We are confident that COS, with its excellent technical skills, is the right choice for the future of VOICE in helping to deliver an online solution fit for communities to take forward their online participation.”

COS commented: “We are really excited to be managing this service as we see great potential for developments and improvements which can be made. We would like to take this opportunity to assure all existing VOICE clients that we will work with them to ensure a smooth transition.”

The first phase of the transition will be to upgrade all clients to the latest version of the software to establish a common platform for ongoing development. COS will be in touch with all VOICE clients personally to provide more details.