From: "Eric A. Litman" Subject: PRESS RELEASE: Proxima and NeXT Announce ProxGate Electronic Mail Gateway Date: 26 Jun 1994 00:04:40 -0400 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Eric Litman Proxima, Inc. 703-506-1661 or Karen Logsdon NeXT Computer, Inc. 415-780-3786 PROXIMA AND NeXT OFFER PROXGATE ELECTRONIC MAIL GATEWAY FOR NEXTMAIL SAN FRANCISCO-June 21, 1994-Proxima, Inc., and NeXT Computer, Inc. today at NEXTSTEP Expo announced Proxima's ProxGate software for multi-platform electronic mail connectivity. An early release version is available today, with a planned ship date of July 5 for release 1.0. ProxGate brings for the first time seamless electronic mail interoperability between NEXTSTEP and the entire enterprise. Supporting delivery of multimedia electronic mail between NeXTmail, cc:Mail, Microsoft Mail, and QuickMail, ProxGate delivers today the most robust solution available to NEXTSTEP users for communications in a multi-platform environment. ProxGate provides the end user with the ability to compose and deliver electronic mail messages from within NeXTmail and have those messages delivered with attachments to users of several popular electronic mail packages. Combined with ProxSync, Proxima's directory synchronization product, ProxGate can serve as a complete enterprise electronic mail hub, transparently converting messages between any of the supported message formats. With ProxGate, mail platform standardization is no longer an issue, allowing organizations to additionally benefit from the ability to maintain their investment in existing electronic mail packages and training. "We have taken what we believe to be an unique approach to electronic mail connectivity," said Eric Litman, Director of Network Services at Proxima. "By including support for the most popular electronic mail packages in our base product, we are delivering significant value to all of our customers at a substantially lower price than our competitors." "As a NeXT Object Channel member, we have encountered situations where multiplatform electronic mail interoperability was of paramount concern. We developed ProxGate to complement NeXTmail and to help promote NeXTSTEP throughout the enterprise," said Raul Fernandez, CEO of Proxima. "By focusing on the leading e-mail applications on the market, ProxGate is addressing point-to-point mail interoperability without the cost or complexity of a proprietary mail backbone. Given that cc:Mail, Microsoft Mail and QuickMail combined represent 2/3 of the LAN e-mail market, Proxima's ProxGate NeXTmail gateway opens up a world of connectivity to NeXT users," said Francois Koutchouk, product manager at NeXT. In addition to message format translation, ProxGate provides extensive access control and diagnostics to system administrators. Incoming and outgoing messages can be restricted by user and/or domain name, with any denied messages logged and copied into a spool directory. A NEXTSTEP application allows for simplified configuration and installation of the gateway software, as well as detailed reporting of message statistics. ProxSync, a related product scheduled to ship 30 days following ProxGate's initial release, will provide automatic electronic mail address directory synchronization between all of ProxGate's supported environments. ProxSync will be sold as a stand-alone product, and will be offered at a substantial discount to ProxGate owners. About Proxima, Inc. Proxima, Inc., is a privately held corporation with offices in McLean, VA, Silver Spring, MD, and Morehead City, NC. Providing advanced technology services to goverment and commercial clients nationwide, Proxima is able to draw from a broad base of experience in custom NeXTSTEP software development and system integration. About NeXT Computer, Inc. NeXT Computer, Inc develops and markets the award-winning NEXTSTEP object-oriented software for industry-standard computer architectures. Customers use NEXTSTEP's advanced object environment to rapidly develop and deploy custom, enterprise-wide,client-server applications. NeXT is headquartered in Redwood City, California, and has offices in North America, London, Paris, Munich and Tokyo. # # # # Proxima, the Proxima logo, ProxGate and ProxSync are trademarks of Proxima, Inc. NeXT, the NeXT logo, NEXTSTEP and NeXTmail are registered trademarks of NeXT Computer, Inc. All other trademarks mentioned belong to their respective owners.