REDMOND, Wash., July 16, 1997 — Microsoft Corp. and PLATINUM technology inc. today announced that they have signed an agreement to pursue collaborative development and marketing of the next version of Microsoft® Repository. The agreement will lead to new Microsoft Repository capabilities and interoperability with PLATINUM’s existing repository and tools. Customers will benefit from faster, more efficient software development and the ability to share software components easily among tools in a distributed environment.
Microsoft selected PLATINUM for its cross-platform expertise and established track record in enterprise repositories and application lifecycle tools. Elements of the collaborative agreement include PLATINUM rights to do the following:
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Exclusively port and deliver the Microsoft Repository engine on MVS, AS/400 and major UNIX platforms
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License the Microsoft Repository engine for use with all popular databases on the Microsoft Windows® and Windows NT® operating systems
In addition, the companies will pursue development of new information models, tools and data migration capabilities, as well as interoperability and scalability for their existing repositories. The companies will also pursue comarketing efforts and distribute Microsoft Repository in their respective channels and with existing products.
PLATINUM will continue to develop and market its existing repository and data warehousing product lines.
“This agreement bridges the technologies of two leading repository vendors and benefits the software industry by establishing the most widely supported set of repository interfaces and services for applications development and data warehousing vendors,” said Paul Gross, vice president, developer tools division at Microsoft. “It will allow them to easily integrate their tools and achieve exceptional levels of interoperability.”
“For the past 10 years, PLATINUM has been a leader in helping customers manage and share information through repository technology,” said Andrew J. Filipowski, president and chief executive officer of PLATINUM technology. “Today’s announcement extends our core competency to developers, enabling them to build software faster and pave the way for mass adoption of repository-based solutions.”
Microsoft and PLATINUM will work with other vendors in the ongoing open review process for the repository Open Information Model. This information model provides the industry with a consistent format for storing data, software components and descriptive information about how components interoperate: what they do and how they are used. Storing this information in a repository enables many development tasks to be automated and facilitates component sharing between products from multiple vendors. It also allows tools from different vendors to operate in an integrated fashion across the application development lifecycle.
Development Cooperation
A select group of the PLATINUM repository development team has joined the Microsoft Repository development team at Microsoft’s Redmond, Wash., headquarters. The combined team will work to deliver the next version of Microsoft Repository based on the version 1.0 foundation.
The Open Information Model, which uses Component Object Model (COM)-based interfaces, will be published to enable other vendors’ products to integrate seamlessly with the repository. Microsoft intends to include the new repository in future versions of its tools and server products, including the Microsoft Visual Studio
™development system, the Microsoft Visual Basic® programming system and the Microsoft BackOffice® family. The repository solutions will also be included with PLATINUM’s application life-cycle tools, such as PLATINUM Paradigm Plus component modeling, PLATINUM CCC/Harvest configuration management and future PLATINUM offerings.
Industry Support
PLATINUM and Microsoft enjoy widespread customer and industry support for their open repository technologies. The PLATINUM worldwide sales and consulting organization of more than 2,000 professionals will deliver repository solutions to enterprise customers, where PLATINUM has 80 percent of the data warehousing repository category. Microsoft is initially licensing the repository to 26 vendors, and more than 30 tool vendors are building interoperable products.
“The Microsoft Repository creates opportunities for ISVs and Visio customers to create solutions that work together,” said Peter Mullen, general manager of the business products unit at Visio Corp. “By including the repository in upcoming versions of Visio products, we have a standard for storing data from Visio diagrams. This is a tremendous improvement over the incompatible repositories currently used by third-party Visio solutions.”
“Sterling Software’s recent acquisition of TI Software amplifies the importance of our commitment to Microsoft Repository,” said Keith Short, chief technology officer for Sterling Software Inc.’s applications management group. “With our newly combined product line, we expect the Microsoft Repository to provide a natural approach to product interoperability.”
About PLATINUM
technology inc.
PLATINUM technology inc. (NASDAQ “PLAT”) provides a unique set of software and services for IT organizations to improve performance and reduce the risk of their IT infrastructures. PLATINUM’s 10,000 worldwide customers rely on the company’s products and services to provide around-the-clock, behind-the-scenes management of data, systems and applications. Areas of IT management expertise include database management, system management, application development, data warehousing, decision support and Year 2000 conversions. Founded in 1987, PLATINUM posted 1996 revenues of more than $468 million. Headquartered in the Chicago suburb of Oakbrook Terrace, Ill., PLATINUM distributes its products worldwide through a network of domestic and international sales offices.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (NASDAQ
“MSFT”
) is the worldwide leader in software for personal computers. The company offers a wide range of products and services for business and personal use, each designed with the mission of making it easier and more enjoyable for people to take advantage of the full power of personal computing every day.
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