**NEWS RELEASE**
Compuware Enters Web Application Server Market
UNIFACE WebApplication Server Delivers True Enterprise E-business Applications
FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich.–February 15, 1999–Compuware Corporation
(NASDAQ: CPWR) today announced UNIFACE WebApplication Server, a
highly scalable, open enterprise application server for deploying
strategic e-business applications. UNIFACE WebApplication Server
enables organizations to deploy new and existing business-critical
components and legacy applications on the web, reaching out to
customers and suppliers while protecting organizational investment in
current technology and developer skills.
UNIFACE WebApplication Server features a multi-user component
construction and application assembly environment with an integrated
visual HTML page designer. These features enable developers to
develop applications at a high level of abstraction and without
knowledge of the underlying technology. Additional development
features includes a built-in Unified Modeling Language (UML)
interface, the ability to construct server based application logic
components, team development, version control and national language
support.
UNIFACE WebApplication Server scales to very large numbers of users
through its multi-tier architecture and integrated load balancing
features with ensured reliability through its fail-over capabilities.
“I have been very impressed with Compuware’s current web development
technology, which allowed us to re-develop an existing web
application with significantly reduced development cycles. In
comparison to other web development, the process has been painless,
it’s truly a great product,” said Kathy Mast, IT Project Manager at
VHA, a Texas based nation-wide network of community owned health care
organizations. “The business benefits e-commerce offers require
organizations to adapt existing structures, relationships and legacy
processes to meet this new paradigm. UNIFACE WebApplication Server
will allow us to integrate a diverse range of technologies, protect
our investment in existing technologies and give us additional power
for future projects.”
“Companies are now in the position to take proven business-critical
enterprise applications to the web,” said Roy Franzen, General
Manager of Compuware UNIFACE products. “UNIFACE WebApplication Server
is the ideal environment for rapid application evolution–assembling
applications from existing and new components built with different
tools and in different technologies and deploying them in an almost
unlimited deployment environment.”
UNIFACE WebApplication Server accommodates COM+, CORBA and JavaBeans
component models and supports communication standards such as IIOP
and RMI.
UNIFACE WebApplication Server uses HTML 4.0 enriched with JavaScript
and Cascading Style Sheets as the presentation interface and
integrates with a wide range of Internet standards and web
functionality including Internet mail (SMTP/POP3) and directory
servers (LDAP).
UNIFACE WebApplication server includes native support for all major
browser and web server technologies including Microsoft (ISAPI),
Netscape (NSAPI) and CGI web server interface standards. Additional
features include integration with Microsoft Active Server Pages and
support for Secure Sockets Layer. Digital signatures provide the
security capabilities required for building e-business applications.
The low bandwidth required by the HTML presentation interface offers
rapid download times, a critical requirement for e-business
applications. To support the most transaction-intensive e-business
applications, UNIFACE WebApplication Server provides built-in support
for leading TP Monitors, specifically BEA TUXEDO from BEA Systems,
Inc.
“The productivity and time-to-market benefits of component-based
development are key to successfully leveraging the Internet for
competitive advantage,” said Michael Barnes, senior analyst at
Hurwitz Group. “Application servers that can help integrate
component-based development and the Internet are extremely valuable
for IT organizations building large-scale e-commerce applications.”
In contrast to other application servers, UNIFACE WebApplication
Server is available on a wide range of platforms, providing
connectivity to most datasources and legacy systems over multiple
networks. Support includes:
Windows NT, UNIX, AS/400 and OS/390
Oracle, SQL Server, INFORMIX, Sybase, DB2, VSAM, ADABAS and IMS
datasources
Legacy systems based on COBOL, RPG, IMS/DC and CICS TCP and SNA
networks
Middleware support for BEA TUXEDO and TXSeries/Encina
Availability
UNIFACE WebApplication Server will ship in February 1999.
UNIFACE
The UNIFACE application assembly environment allows large IT users to
successfully implement complex, business-critical applications in the
midst of business and technology change. UNIFACE embraces the three
critical dimensions shaping strategic applications: component-based
development, component-based deployment and component-based delivery.
Combined with Compuware’s track record of implementing large-scale,
strategic applications, UNIFACE enables the construction, assembly
and deployment of component-based applications for distributed
environments, including the Internet and client/server.
Compuware Corporation
Compuware productivity solutions help the world’s 14,000 largest
corporations more efficiently maintain and enhance their most
critical business applications. Compuware is the world leader in
providing immediate and measurable return on Information Technology
investments. Compuware products and services improve quality, lower
costs and increase the speed at which systems can be developed,
implemented and supported. The Company’s professional services
organization has a staff of more than 6,600 professionals. Compuware,
with calendar 1998 revenues of $1.5 billion, is the world leader in
client/server development technology. For more information on
Compuware, please contact the corporate offices at 800-521-9353.
Compuware also can be found on the World Wide Web at
http://www.compuware.com.
______________________________________________________________________
Compuware offers a compelling viewpoint on why we believe not all
application servers are created equal:
A true web application server should offer businesses the following
five key technologies:
1. Needs to offer an Internet Ready Solution: Application servers
should support the following -: CORBA, COM, RMI, RSAPI, NSAPI, LDAP,
SMTP/POP3. Not all application servers can claim this support.
The UNIFACE WebApplication server comes internet ready, supporting
all of the above standards.
2. Needs to offer a Fully Integrated Solution: This phrase is often
quoted but the reality is that many application servers on the market
require customers to use one product for web development and a
separate product for deployment – this increases time to market and
requires developers to have two skill sets.
The UNIFACE WebApplication Server integrates development and
deployment within the product requiring one developer skill set thus
reducing time to market.
3. Needs to offer Broad Platform Support: Industrial strength
application servers must support a diverse range of platforms.
The UNIFACE WebApplication Server supports the following platforms:
NT, Solaris, HP-UX, AIX, AS/400, OS/390. This support provides
businesses with the ability to deploy legacy applications straight to
the web.
4. Needs to oddfer Support for TP Monitors; To ensure the most
transaction intensive applications can scale to accommodate load,
application servers must provide support for TP Monitors.
The UNIFACE WebApplication server supports the defacto industry
middleware standard – BEA Tuxedo
5. Needs to offer Development at a High Level of Abstraction:
Businesses require a development environment that shields the
developer from the complexity of underlying technology, thus enabling
the developer to focus on the business requirements of the
application.
The UNIFACE WebApplication server automatically generates HTML, SQL
statements, CORBA IDL’s and COM interfaces, most application servers
on the market cannot claim this.”