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Tamarac Adds Exchange Traded Funds To Its Proprietary Optimization Procedure

Web-based financial tool allows investment professionals to analyze the underlying stocks of Exchange Traded Funds

SEATTLE, WA, February 26, 2002 - Tamarac, Inc. (www.tamaracinc.com), a leading provider of tax-efficient separate account management tools, today announced the incorporation of Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) into its proprietary optimization procedure.

Tamarac incorporated ETFs into its system in order to enhance an advisor's ability to build, manage, and tax loss harvest diversified equity portfolios. Tamarac's proprietary optimization procedure analyzes both individual stocks and the underlying stocks of ETFs to determine the overall impact on a portfolio's tracking error, tax cost, and security and sector weightings. This feature allows financial advisors to utilize individual equities and ETFs in one portfolio to control risk through greater diversification, monitor compliance issues across an unlimited number of customized accounts, and actively manage tax loss harvesting.

For example, an advisor can use Tamarac to create a stock portfolio from cash or transition an existing stock portfolio to track a custom benchmark consisting of 60% S&P 500 stocks, 20% S&P 400 ETF, and 20% S&P 600 ETF. Tamarac constructs a list of individual stocks to track the S&P 500 and both ETFs at their desired weights. A resulting $250,000 portfolio will typically have 65 positions, a tracking error of 1%, and an estimated cost of 25 basis points (BPS) per year, all in one account.

The initial rollout will encompass the following iShares from Barclays Global Investors (BGI):
IVV - S&P 500 Index Fund
IJH - S&P MidCap 400 Index Fund
IJR - S&P SmallCap 600 Index Fund
IYM - Dow Jones U.S. Basic Materials Sector Index Fund
IYC - Dow Jones U.S. Consumer Cyclical Sector Index Fund
IYK - Dow Jones U.S. Consumer Non-Cyclical Sector Index Fund
IYE - Dow Jones U.S. Energy Sector Index Fund
IYF - Dow Jones U.S. Financial Sector Index Fund
IYH - Dow Jones U.S. Healthcare Sector Index Fund
IYJ - Dow Jones U.S. Industrial Sector Index Fund
IYW - Dow Jones U.S. Technology Sector Index Fund
IYZ - Dow Jones U.S. Telecommunications Sector Index Fund
IDU - Dow Jones U.S. Utilities Sector Index Fund

"By incorporating Exchange Traded Funds into their clients' equity portfolios, advisors can cost effectively provide their desired allocation, tax management, and customization to nearly any level of account size," said Matt Springer, Tamarac CEO and co-founder.

Tamarac's ASP model allows advisors to evaluate a client's portfolio of individual stocks and ETFs against a manager's model, custom blended benchmark, or a standard market index. With a secure web interface, the Tamarac platform enables advisors to easily rebalance each client's account to minimize taxes without altering the fundamental investment strategy. Advisors can quickly upload client positions from their current accounting system, run analysis, and download trade lists.

Tamarac's integrated technology features multiple applications allowing advisors to use a single client account input to generate a range of investment scenarios. Tamarac analyzes a client's equity holdings, measuring their current positions against the advisor's preferred benchmark. The speed and ease with which Tamarac calculates clients' positions against preferred strategies dramatically increases advisors' ability to serve the semi-affluent investor market - without overburdening staff or their business capacity.

About Tamarac Inc.

Founded in 2000, Tamarac focuses on web-based portfolio rebalancing and trading software and consulting services for investment professionals that enable them to grow their business by automating critical portfolio management tasks. Tamarac is the leading portfolio rebalancing software provider with a collective client AUM in excess of $100 billion. Tamarac maintains over a 95% client renewal rate by working with each client to implement its technology and providing continuous support.

Tamarac is headquartered in Seattle, WA. Its website address is: http://www.tamaracinc.com