IRVINE, Calif., and REDMOND, Wash., April 24, 2000 — Sage Software Inc., a leading provider of mid-range business management software solutions for small to medium-sized businesses, and Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq
“MSFT” ), the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing, today announced an agreement for Sage to incorporate Microsoft® Visual Basic® for Applications (VBA) 6.0 into its Acuity® and MAS 90® business management solutions. The inclusion of VBA in these two products will enable customers and reseller partners to easily customize the application to fit specific business needs and will help speed integration with other legacy line-of-business applications.
MAS 90 and Acuity are part of the Sage family of business management solutions for small and midsize businesses. The Sage products allow customers to run all aspects of their business, from financial accounting to distribution, manufacturing, human resources and payroll. Acuity has won the Microsoft Industry Solution Award three years in a row for best technology integration.
“Speed to market with any product or solution is an imperative business objective in today’s industries,”
said David R. Butler, president and chief operating officer of Sage Software.
“Our agreement with Microsoft addresses this objective by enabling customers with the ability to quickly implement and customize our business management solutions throughout the enterprise. By embedding VBA into Acuity and MAS 90, we provide our customers with a competitive advantage by reducing the costs associated with implementing traditional business management applications.”
Sage joins a growing trend of leading accounting and business management software vendors leveraging VBA to enable customizable applications. The use of VBA in these applications enables developers to combine the benefits of robust business management and accounting solutions with the flexibility provided by VBA to tailor applications to customers’ specific needs.
“Sage is leveraging the customization technology of VBA to address their customers’ needs for robust, flexible and highly customizable business management solutions,”
said Tod Nielsen, vice president of the Platform Group at Microsoft.
“The accounting software industry has embraced the added functionality and extensibility VBA provides to an application and in turn has empowered its customers to succeed in today’s dynamic marketplace.”
More information on Sage Acuity and MAS 90 can be found on the Sage Software Web site at http://www.sage.com .
More information about the VBA technology can be found on the Microsoft site at http://msdn.microsoft.com/vba .
About Sage Software Inc.
Headquartered in Irvine, Calif., Sage Software Inc. (www.us.sage.com) is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Sage Group plc, the world’s leading PC-based accounting software company with more than 2 million customers. Sage markets five major accounting software packages. Peachtree Ò , DacEasy Ò and BusinessWorks Òare easy to use and provide the full accounting features needed by most small businesses of up to 50 employees. MAS 90 is the leading accounting software for medium-sized businesses with up to 500 employees and is recommended by more CPAs than any other mid-range accounting product. Acuity is perfect for larger businesses or business units of up to 1,000 employees, and for three consecutive years it has won Microsoft’s Industry Solution Award for Best Technology Integration.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq
“MSFT”
) is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software — any time, any place and on any device.
Sage, Acuity, MAS 90, Peachtree, DacEasy, BusinessWorks and all Sage product and service names herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sage Software Inc.
Microsoft and Visual Basic are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.
The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
Note to editors: If you are interested in viewing additional information on Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft home page at http://microsoft.com/presspass/ on Microsoft’s corporate information pages.
