KEY VENDORS TEAM UP ON CLIENT/SERVER SOFTWARE INITIATIVE

X/Open To Support NIICE Initiative And Expand Membership Throughout
Software Industry

LAS VEGAS, NV, March 29, 1995 -- Key client/server software vendors,
supported by X/Open Co. Ltd., today announced the establishment of the New
Information Industry Cooperative Endeavor (NIICE). Five leading
client/server vendors--Computer Associates, Lotus, Microsoft, Novell, and
Sybase--have signed on as the initial NIICE participants. The key
objective of NIICE is increased interoperability of databases and tools
for customers with multi-vendor environments.

Under the NIICE initiative, vendors in the client/server industry will
provide product licenses and support to other NIICE participants, giving
vendors timely, fair, and equal access to products and support regardless
of their competitive status, and enabling their products to interoperate.

X/Open, the worldwide integrator for open systems intends to provide
coordinated administration for NIICE and will work closely with the
charter participants to develop a plan that ensures the value of NIICE for
customers. All current NIICE participants have pledged to apply the
resources necessary to meeting the NIICE commitments under the agreed
plan.

In keeping with its role as the industry body devoted to facilitating
adoption of open systems standard specifications, X/Open is initiating
proceedings to implement an administration program for NIICE. An X/Open
inaugural meeting will be held at DB/Expo in May 1995, at which the NIICE
implementation plan will be developed. The ISV community is invited to
participate in the X/Open inaugural meeting which will be open to all
client/server software vendors who are interested in joining NIICE.

X/Open feels that the NIICE initiative fits very well with known demands
for IT solutions built from multi-sourced components. The NIICE initiative
will be complementary to the work of the SQL Access Group, now part of
X/Open, which has long been instrumental in creating necessary industry
interface standards.

"The NIICE initiative supports the ideas of interoperability assurance in
the client/server domain, exemplified by the X/Open branding program,"
said Geoff Morris, president and chief executive officer of X/Open. "NIICE
represents an ideal vehicle for X/Open to continue to promote
interoperability standards for users. To ensure the success of NIICE, we
will work towards putting measures in place, such as conformance testing
tools, that underpin the NIICE interoperability program."

The NIICE initiative will ensure that customers who implement multi-vendor
software solutions have access to highly interoperable software products,
including products from competing vendors, in order to properly address
their business needs. The NIICE initiative is intended to give customers
greater choice of databases and tools in constructing their multivendor
solutions, and prevent them from being unnecessarily limited in their
purchase decisions. NIICE is intended to provide vendors equal access to
generally available products, as well as to products in pre-release
programs.

Vendor Endorsement

The first vendors to endorse the initiative include Computer Associates,
Lotus, Microsoft, Novell, and Sybase. Although initiated by vendors of
database and data connectivity products whose APIs are important to a
large number of vendors, all client/server software vendors are encouraged
to endorse NIICE. X/Open hopes to make endorsement of the NIICE principles
a universally accepted code of conduct for client/server vendors.

"The real impact of NIICE is that it will ensure the client's freedom to
choose databases and tools that are cost-effective and make business sense
for their companies," said Yogesh Gupta, Computer Associates' senior vice
president of product strategy. "CA-OpenROAD and CA-OpenIngres are clear
demonstrations of CA's freedom of choice credo, and the NIICE initiative
furthers our efforts in this area."

"The return on investment from an organization's deployment of
client/server technologies is often closely related to its ability to
establish connections between or among products from different vendors,"
said Jeff Papows, vice president of Lotus' Communications Products Group.
"We are happy to join this pledge of continued commitment to working with
other technology vendors to maximize the positive impact of our respective
products on the productivity of our shared customers."

"Microsoft understands that there are many complexities associated with
client/server computing: interoperability with different products, dynamic
technology improvements, and product support from multiple vendors," said
Roger Heinen, senior vice president, developer division, Microsoft Corp.
"We see the NIICE initiative as an opportunity for us to work
cooperatively with other vendors to make sure that customers can easily
implement our products and technologies. We fully support NIICE in its
efforts to make client/server computing easier for customers."

"Novell has long been a supporter of co-opetition--cooperating with vendors
in the industry to meet our mutual customers' needs, and competing in the
marketplace with best-of-breed products," said William C. Mason, director
of Partner Marketing for Novell's NetWare Products Division. "NIICE
reinforces Novell's commitment to meeting customers' needs in a
heterogeneous market today and in the future."

"Sybase believes that one of the major benefits of client/server computing
is that it offers customers an opportunity to combine products from
multiple vendors to meet their business needs. Consequently, it is
imperative that the buyers have confidence that products from different
vendors will work together and be well supported by the vendors over
time," said Mitchell Kertzman, chief executive officer of Powersoft, and
executive vice president of Sybase. "We feel that customers must be
assured that they will not feel the negative effects of competitive
maneuvering of vendors. It is our hope that as customers become aware of
the NIICE initiative, they will begin to ask their vendors if they endorse
the principles of NIICE, and make their purchase decisions accordingly."

NIICE Statement of Principles and Code of Conduct

NIICE is a client/server industry initiative intended to promote successful
multivendor software solutions by giving customers confidence that they
will enjoy timely support for and correct operation of their
interoperating products. Client/server vendors who endorse this Statement
of Principles and Code of Conduct pledge to cooperate in the ongoing
exchange of products and support services for the benefit of their mutual
customers.

Vendors who endorse NIICE subscribe to the following principles and code of
conduct, in their actions as well as words:

1. Client/server is by nature an open computing platform founded upon
published application programming interfaces which allow all parties to
access and use the functionality of a particular software component or
system within the terms of their license conditions.

2. Customers should have the option to choose those components of the
client/server platform which best suit their needs, and the right to
expect that competing vendors will cooperate to insure that their products
interoperate correctly and efficiently.

3. All vendors of products intended to interoperate with other vendors'
products, including those of vendors who are competitors, should have
equal access to the products and support necessary from those vendors to
insure such interoperability.

4. Equal access to products and support should include equal opportunity to
participate in pre-release programs that allow timely support of new
features and functionality.

5. Because sharing of products and access to support is possible only in an
atmosphere of trust and ethical conduct, NIICE vendors pledge to use
access to products from competing vendors only to develop and support
interoperability solutions and not as a means of gaining competitive
intelligence.

X/Open Company, Ltd.

Founded in 1984, X/Open is a worldwide, independent company dedicated to
bringing the benefits of open computer systems to market. The company
markets products and services to computer system buyers, system suppliers,
software developers, and standards organizations. By integrating
prioritized requirements and expertise from each of the groups, X/Open is
able to evolve and manage a comprehensive set of publicly available open
systems specifications, including de facto and international standards,
which define the Common Applications Environment (CAE). X/Open operates a
branding and testing program that awards a mark of continuing compliance
to products meeting the conformance requirements.

For more information concerning the X/Open workgroup session to be held at
the close of DB/Expo in May 1995, please contact Patty Donovan, X/Open, at
phone: 415/3237992 x 221.

Sybase Inc
6475 Christie Ave
Emeryville, CA 04608
510-596-3500;  Fax: 510-658-9441

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