FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 11, 2008
Contact: Douglas Hofstedt, Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County
410-222-2333 . email: dhofstedt@circuitcourt.org

Annapolis, MD (January, 2008) - The Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County, partnering with the Sidus Group, LLC, a national leader in Web and Data services, has announced the redesign of the Circuit Court's website.

"Our website is packed with information for the public, jurors, attorneys, litigants and court employees," says Judge Nancy Davis-Loomis, the Court's Administrative Judge. "It has become such an important part of our day to day operations, that we made the decision to make it even better by improving the navigational tools within the site and also add features to make it more accessible to a variety of people."

The redesigned site translates to nine different languages (English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Japanese, Korean and Chinese) and includes a variety of features for people with visual impairment. It features scalable text; alt tags for all images; height and width for all images; white text on dark backgrounds or dark text on white backgrounds; and all navigation is text.

One of the first tests of the redesigned site came on Dec. 4, 2007, when a delegation of 25 judges and court administrators from Fujian Province, China, visited the Circuit Courthouse to better understand our court system. According to Davis-Loomis, "The court decided to use the translation module of the new website and presented our information to our Chinese guests. To the surprise of the entire audience, us included, the interpreter for the group exclaimed they he could not believe it was a machine translation. Several delegation members noted the website for reference once they returned to China."

Sidus CEO, Mark L. Powell states, states: "This is a very comprehensive site that encompasses ADA compliance, content management, multiple languages, and an effective portal. It will provide a dynamic service to the citizens of Anne Arundel County. The Circuit Court staff was very detailed and organized in their efforts, which greatly assisted in the timely and efficient completion of this critical project."

The Court has added other features it hopes will be of use to those coming before the court. Individuals can view the juror orientation video online and the view the daily docket. Attorneys/parties can reserve audio/visual equipment online and transcripts. The court can conduct surveys through the site. Currently, the court, the Anne Arundel Bar Association and the Sidus Group are working to create an online balloting system which is used to gather input from attorneys regarding judicial candidates who apply when a vacancy exists on the Circuit and District Court benches.

About Sidus Group, LLC
Since 1999, Sidus Group, LLC has been providing data center solutions, Web design and Web marketing, E-commerce and Web consulting for businesses throughout the community, U.S., and the world, in a broad range of industries. With an integrated approach of managed hosting, data center operations, and customized design and marketing solutions, Sidus has designed and implemented thousands of resolutions to execute our clients' business strategies. For more information please visit www.sidusgroup.com or call 410-897-1050 or 888-99-SIDUS.