MENLO PARK, Calif., -- March 19, 1996 -- Versant Object Technology, Inc., the premier supplier of object database management systems for large-scale applications, today announced several agreements with leading technology and solutions providers to deliver the infrastructure required to manage complex business transactions on the Web.

To support its Internet initiative, Versant is announcing partnerships in three key areas of technology that are fundamental to delivering electronic commerce applications over the Internet: Web-oriented application development and management tools, object request brokers and legacy access and integration. The vendors, which range from new partners like BMC Software to existing partners like ParcPlace-Digitalk and Iona Technologies, will work together to deliver and integrate products and services that will allow organizations to deploy applications in a distributed computing environment that yield significant business advantage.

"As the most widely-deployed database in telecommunications and other important industries, Versant is deeply entrenched in the most challenging and complex applications in the world," said David Banks, CEO of Versant. "These partnerships will provide the distributed computing infrastructure that will allow organizations to take advantage of the cost savings and business advantage opportunities that the Internet affords."

Web Application Development and Management Partners and Tools Partners

In bringing applications to the Internet and Intranets, there are two areas of development required. The first is to support opening existing applications for Web access; the second is to provide easy and powerful ways to deliver "green-field" applications quickly. Once these applications are in place, organizations must be able to manage these applications with the same confidence as they manage other systems and applications. Finally, providing advanced search capabilities is an added benefit so that users can make best use of information related to their applications.

ParcPlace-Digitalk
The Versant ODBMS fully supports both VisualWave and VisualWorks 2.5 from ParcPlace-Digitalk. Together with Versant, these products enable customers to develop complex line-of-business applications for deployment on the Web. VisualWave allows existing Versant customers like Sprint, Nortel, and Texaco to open some or all their custom applications for either Internet or Intranet access.
http://www.parcplace.com/

Art Technology Group
ATG is a premier media, technology, and design firm with the mission of creating defining products for the information society. ATG provides Dynamo, an object-based Web authoring environment for creating advanced Web sites. With high-end customers like Chiat/Day Advertising, MCI, MovieFone, and the MIT Media Lab, ATG will use Versant to provide advanced electronic commerce applications, including areas like advertising, publishing, and telecommunications.
http://www.redstar.com/

BMC Software
BMC Software, Inc. is a worldwide developer and vendor of more than 100 software solutions for automating applications and data management across host-based and open systems environments. By integrating support for the Versant ODBMS into its product line, BMC Software begins supporting the distributed object infrastructure required for complex electronic commerce.
http://www.bmc.com/

HNC Software
HNC is a premier provider of products ranging from data visualization to fraud detection. The company has built a semantic-based text search engine using the Versant ODBMS. This tool allows both proximity searches for exact and related text as well as semantic searches that can evaluate related terms and synonyms.

Object Request Brokers

At the core of the distributed infrastructure are the ORBs which provide the distributed pipeline for Internet and Intranet applications. Using the CORBA 2.0 standard as a starting point, the ORBs separate access from the particular application functionality supported behind and allow developers to work with a generalized interface across all technologies. Besides its use as a high performance object engine for applications, the Versant ODBMS adds significant value to the ORBs themselves as a distributed object repository, speeding up tasks like object naming and identification.

Iona Technologies
Iona is the provider of Orbix, the first complete implementation of the CORBA standard. With Orbix, programmers can develop distributed, object-oriented applications following a consistent and straightforward standard-based model. The two companies recently announced Orbix+Versant, which provides developers with the option of "gatekeeper" access to the underlying object database functionality provided by the Versant ODBMS.
http://www.iona.com/

Expersoft
Expersoft is the market leader in the provision of a distributed computing infrastructure for Global 2000 organizations deploying object-oriented applications. Specifically, the company develops PowerBroker, a standard-based ORB that creates a powerful enterprise-wide operating environment for distributed object execution and management.
http://www.expersoft.com/

PostModern Computing
PostModern is focused on providing technically superior communications tools for the development and deployment of fault-tolerant distributed applications in an object-oriented environment. The company's products include ORBeline, a fault-tolerant ORB, and TPBroker, a transaction-based ORB developed jointly with Hitachi, Ltd. Of particular interest for the companies is the Black Widow product, which combines ORB technology with Internet access and support for Java.
http://www.pomoco.com/

Legacy Access and Integration
A critical part of the distributed object infrastructure is the ability to integrate with existing business systems and operations. Recognizing this, Versant is partnering with a group of solutions providers to cover a variety of differing integration strategies. Customers require a number of options in the way that they choose to integrate object applications with their existing data sources, both relational and mainframe-oriented. Versant partners cover a gamut including class library access to RDBMS, interoperability solutions between Versant and other databases, SQL and ODBC access to Versant, and support for complex heterogeneous transactions.

ONTOS
As a long-time player in the object community, ONTOS provides solutions that allow organizations to map data between object applications and relational data sources, like Oracle and Sybase. The combination of the ONTOS product, the Object Integration Server (ONTOS OIS), with the Versant ODBMS enables customers to develop sophisticated object-oriented applications while preserving their investment in existing relational databases.
http://www.ontos.com/

Rogue Wave
Rogue Wave Software is an established player in the emerging object-oriented software components industry, leading the market for C++ class libraries. Rogue Wave offers a specific class library, Dbtools.h++, that provides portable, object-oriented access to RDBMSs. With Dbtools.h++, developers will be able to integrate relational data into Versant applications.
http://www.roguewave.com/

Ilog
With major operations in Paris, France, and Mountain View, Calif., Ilog is a leading provider of pre-built C++ components designed to help create more robust applications. ILOG DB LINK provides C++ developers with a smooth integration with RDBMS services, supporting transaction management, data manipulation, and access to database dictionaries. This product provides the Versant developer with the capability of bringing existing corporate data into new object-oriented applications to provide true business advantage.
http://www.ilog.com/

In addition, Versant continues to market Versant/M, a tool providing SQL and ODBC access to data stored in the Versant ODBMS. Customers can continue to utilize their familiar query and reporting tools, like Crystal Reports, while gaining the advantage of deploying object applications that provide significant new business functionality. Contact Versant directly for pricing and platform availability.

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