IMS HEALTH’s Erisco Managed Care Technologies Unit And Microsoft Announce Alliance

LONDON, March 30, 1999 — IMS HEALTH, the world’s leading provider of information solutions to the pharmaceutical and health-care industries, today announced that its Erisco Managed Care Technologies unit has entered into an alliance with Microsoft Corp. to deliver the Facets
™client/server solution on a Microsoft® platform based on the Windows NT® Server operating system. Under the alliance, Erisco will develop a SQL Server
™
7.0 database alternative for managed-care organizations (MCOs) seeking a full Microsoft solution. The Facets and Microsoft solution will be developed on Compaq’s server platform.

“We are pleased to announce an alliance with Erisco, one of the industry’s leading payer managed-care administration solution vendors,”
said Charles Stevens, vice president of the application developers customer unit at Microsoft.
“Health-care information has become a strategic and competitive advantage for integrated delivery systems and managed-care organizations. MCOs depend on fast, accurate clinical and financial data to enhance patient care and lower costs. Windows NT Server and the BackOffice® family of products offer them very powerful performance capabilities at a lower cost and with faster, easier deployment.”

The alliance will more closely align Facets with the technology strategies and preferences of many MCOs, according to Leon DeMaille, vice president of marketing at Erisco Managed Care Technologies.
“We’re excited about this initiative because the new Facets platform will be poised to exploit dramatic increases in server processing speed and Microsoft operating system advances, benefiting Erisco and customers alike,”
he said.
“And we’re pleased that Compaq has invested its top-of-the-line high-performance server hardware to help develop the platform.”

Scheduled to be available in the fourth quarter of 1999, the new Facets and Microsoft solution will deliver enhanced interoperability, improved ease of maintenance, solid price performance and a more robust development environment. Erisco also remains committed to supporting Facets’ existing operating platform and database. As a result of the alliance, Erisco’s team of software developers will adopt the Microsoft BackOffice platform and will fully embrace Microsoft’s COM/DCOM base architecture.

Created by a world-class development team, Microsoft SQL Server is a leading
Windows NT Server-based database that brings business advantage and improved decision-making to all levels of an organization through the power of data warehousing, industry solutions and interoperability with Microsoft Office. SQL Server 7.0 enables independent software vendors and customers to build and deploy scalable business solutions.

Facets, the industry’s most production-proven, scalable client/server system for payer managed-care administration, serves as a foundation to enable MCOs to create flexible, functional and interoperable IT enterprises.

Erisco Managed Care Technologies is a unit of IMS HEALTH (NYSE
“RX”
), the world’s leading provider of information solutions to the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries. With more than $1.2 billion in 1998 revenue, IMS HEALTH operates in over 90 countries.

IMS HEALTH is the largest pharmaceutical manufacturer information partner, with over 40 years’ experience in the industry. Key products and services integral to customer day-to-day operations include market research for prescription and over-the-counter pharmaceutical

products, sales management information to optimize sales force productivity, technology-enabled selling solutions for sales and marketing decision-making, and technology systems and information services that support managed-care organizations. Additional Erisco Managed Care Technologies product information can be obtained from the Erisco Web site: http://www.erisco.imshealth.com/ . Additional information and previous press releases are available at IMS HEALTH’s Web site: http//www.imshealth.com/.

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.

Microsoft, Windows NT and BackOffice are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.

Other product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Note to editors: If you are interested in viewing additional information on Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft Web page at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/ on Microsoft’s corporate information pages.

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