Bersin & Associates Research Shows SumTotal to be LMS Market Share Leader

Mountain View, Calif. – January 18, 2006 – SumTotal™ Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: SUMT), the largest provider of learning and business performance technologies and services, announced that a recently released report from learning research firm Bersin & Associate shows SumTotal as the market share leader in total revenue, learning management system (LMS) license revenue and customer count. SumTotal’s share of LMS market revenue, at 20 percent, is approximately 45 percent greater than the market’s next leading vendor, and nearly 200 percent greater than the market’s third-ranked vendor. As for LMS license revenue, SumTotal, with 16 percent of the market, is nearly 80 percent larger than its nearest competitor, and twice as large as the third-ranked competitor. The 145-page report also notes that SumTotal’s approximately 1,500 customers give it the largest customer base among all vendors profiled.

“While the LMS market is still fragmented and expanding rapidly, SumTotal is the definitive market leader in revenue and market share in North America,” said Josh Bersin, president and founder of Bersin & Associates.

SumTotal has a broad range of offerings that span the mid-market to the global enterprise, including the most widely deployed LCMS and tools suite. SumTotal’s market presence places it in the far right of Bersin & Associate’s Market Maps™, which position LMS vendors by ability to scale, market presence and other dimensions.

“While the LMS market is still split among a number of vendors, we are pleased that Bersin & Associate’s research points to a market share leader: SumTotal,” said Kevin Oakes, president of SumTotal. “We are one of the few companies in the market that has proven capabilities to handle enterprise-wide, global implementations of 100,000 learners or more, and we have one of the most comprehensive, yet configurable, systems on the market.”

Added Oakes, “Whether investing in our market-leading suite or our communities of practice, our commitment to our customers remains our focus. We know our market-leading position is the result of this continued investment in our customers’ success, and we aim to deliver on that every day.”

According to the Bersin report, the research findings highlight “the LMS market from multiple perspectives such as market size by segment, market growth, penetration rate by segment, and vendor market share by revenue and license revenue. The report also details key technology trends and features, implementation best practices, benchmark costs of implementation and support; the role of e-learning suites and LCMS solutions, and the growing role of performance and talent management.”

The Bersin & Associates’ report is available at www.bersin.com/lms.

About SumTotal Systems, Inc.

SumTotal Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: SUMT) is the largest provider of learning and business performance technologies and services. SumTotal deploys mission-critical solutions that align learning with organizational and business goals to generate significant bottom-line results. With more than 17 million users worldwide, SumTotal has helped accelerate performance and profits for more than 1,500 of the world’s best-known companies and government agencies including Accenture, Aetna, Cendant, DaimlerChrysler, Delta Air Lines, Harley-Davidson, Microsoft, Novartis, PNC Bank, U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Bancorp, United Airlines, Vodafone, Wachovia and Wyeth. SumTotal has offices throughout the United States, in London, Paris, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Hyderabad, India. For more information about SumTotal's products and services, visit www.sumtotalsystems.com.

Safe Harbor Statement/ Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements. These statements represent SumTotal Systems’ expectations or beliefs concerning future events and include statements, among others, regarding SumTotal Systems’ product SumTotal TotalLMS 7.0. These statements are not historical facts or guarantees of future performance or events and are based on current expectations, estimates, beliefs, assumptions, goals and objectives, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to be materially different from the results expressed or implied by these statements. Do not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements in this press release. Additional factors that could cause actual results to differ include, but are not limited to (i) unknown errors or bugs in SumTotal TotalLMS 7.0; (ii) the inability to fix in a timely fashion unanticipated bugs, errors or defects that materially impact the functionality or usability of SumTotal TotalLMS 7.0, or unanticipated problems in customer upgrades to SumTotal 7.0 from prior SumTotal products (iii) unexpected shipment problems or delays of SumTotal TotalLMS 7.0; (iv) customers or partners delaying purchasing or upgrade decisions until there is widespread market acceptance of SumTotal TotalLMS 7.0; (v) the acceptance of SumTotal TotalLMS 7.0 and future product offerings; (vi) the ability to successfully implement SumTotal Systems’ solutions; (vii) the ability to successfully address technological developments and standards; (viii) the ability to successfully manage growth, significant current and expected additional competition, and the need to continue to expand product distribution and services offerings; and (ix) other events and other important factors disclosed previously and from time to time in SumTotal Systems' filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the annual report for fiscal year 2004 on Form 10-K and its quarterly reports for the first, second and third quarter of fiscal year 2005 on Form 10-Q filed August 1, 2005, August 9, 2005, and November 9, 2005, respectively.