NeXT SHIPS ENTERPRISE OBJECTS FRAMEWORK RELEASE 1.1

Product upgrade enables customers to maintain investment in relational
databases while gaining the advantages of object technology

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--April 4, 1995--NeXT Computer, Inc. today shipped
Enterprise Objects Framework Release 1.1, a new version of its
revolutionary technology which seemlessly integrates object-oriented
applications with data from leading relational databases from Oracle
Corporation and Sybase, Inc. The Enterprise Objects Framework enables
customers to rapidly build reusable business and application-level objects
that are independent of underlying databases.

With this release, the Enterprise Objects Framework has been optimized for
performance in the areas of application start-up time, virtual memory
usage and CPU usage. It now includes database adaptors for Sybase System
10 and Oracle7 on all four NEXTSTEP platforms -- Intel PC, Motorola 68k,
PA-RISC and SPARC. Applications using Enterprise Objects Framework Release
1.1 can now also be deployed on servers from HP, Sun and Digital running
their native operating systems, using NeXT's PDO 3.0 portable distributed
object model software which runs on HP-UX, SUN OS, Solaris and Digital
UNIX operating systems.

"Enterprise Objects Framework Release 1.1 is an excellent example of an
incremental product improvement. Used in conjunction with
industry-standard relational databases, Release 1.1 fetches objects
significantly faster than Release 1.0 and DB Kit," said Steven P. Jobs,
Chairman and CEO of NeXT Computer, Inc. "When the Enterprise Objects
Framework is combined with our PDO -- Portable Distributed Objects --
technology, customers will see how easy it is to build three tier client
server applications that scale across the entire enterprise."

Benchmarks Show Performance Dramatically Increased

Specifically, Enterprise Objects Framework Release 1.1 has been optimized
for performance in three critical areas: application start-up time,
virtual memory usage and CPU usage. When measured in tests against
Enterprise Objects Framework Release 1.0 and DB Kit, NeXT's previous
database product, application start up time was reduced by more than 50%.
With NeXT's new Foundation Kit, the virtual memory usage is half the
overhead of DB Kit. Finally, CPU usage has been dramatically reduced. In
tests, Release 1.1 has been measured to fetch large numbers of objects up
to six times faster than Release 1.0 and up to twenty times faster than DB
Kit.

"We have been very impressed by the Enterprise Objects Framework because it
is stable and has given us a major gain in productivity," said Jonathan
Weeks, technical architect at McCaw Cellular Communications, Inc. "Using
the Enterprise Objects Framework, our lines of application code shrank by
80 percent and developer productivity went way up, so we are looking
forward to even greater productivity gains with Release 1.1."

Enterprise Objects integrate business data with the business policies that
make the data meaningful. For example, a customer credit rating (data) has
little meaning separate from the policy that determines credit ratings. In
addition, a credit rating that is computed according to an obsolete policy
is erroneous. As a result of existing within the NEXTSTEP application
development environment, Enterprise Objects can be reused in application
after application. Therefore, as business requirements change, the
policies in effect for a particular business object can easily be
redefined and every application automatically incorporates the new
policies.

The Enterprise Objects Framework Modules

The Enterprise Object Modeler is used by developers to build Enterprise
Objects (NeXT's term for business objects); and create a mapping structure
that sits between these Enterprise Objects and the databases used by the
application. If the structure of the database changes, the Enterprise
Object Modeler can be used to reconfigure the mapping structure.

The Framework enables Enterprise Objects to run on the NEXTSTEP operating
system and is required for all systems on which Enterprise Objects
Framework-built applications will be deployed. This module is available
for NEXTSTEP today and will be available for the PDO platforms this
summer, enabling Enterprise Objects to be deployed on servers running
HP-UX, SUN OS, Solaris and Digital UNIX operating systems.

The adaptor layer provides database independence by enabling the Framework
to communicate to a variety of RDBMSs, transparent to Enterprise Objects.
Today, database adaptors for Oracle and Sybase are bundled with the
product. Other adaptors are available from database vendors and third
party developers.

Pricing and Availability

Enterprise Objects Framework Release 1.1 is available today at a U.S. list
price of $299. Upgrades from Enterprise Objects Framework 1.0 are $199.

NeXT Computer, Inc.

NeXT develops and markets OpenStep, the industry's first and most advanced
object environment. OpenStep versions have been announced which will run
on several operating systems, including NeXT's own MachOS, Sun's Solaris,
Digital's OSF/1 and Microsoft's Windows NT and Windows 95. OpenStep's
object-oriented technology allows corporate customers to rapidly create
and deploy three-tier, client-server, mission critical custom
applications. NeXT is headquartered in Redwood City, California, and has
offices in North America, London, Paris, Munich and Tokyo.

Next Computer Inc
900 Chesapeake Dr
Redwood City, CA 94063
415-366-0900

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