BORLAND ANNOUNCES DELPHI AND DELPHI CLIENT SERVER; Borland's Delphi Sets New Standard in Visual Development Tools

Business Wire, Feb 14, 1995

SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 14, 1995--Borland International Inc. today began a new revolution in high performance rapid application development, with the release of Delphi and Delphi Client/Server. Both products are scheduled to be released to manufacturing this week and are scheduled to be available from resellers worldwide and directly from Borland by the end of February.

Delphi, a breakthrough high-performance Windows development tool, uniquely combines the power of the world's fastest optimizing native-code compiler, the rapid application development (RAD) benefits of a visual development environment, an object-oriented component-based architecture, and scaleable database technology. No other development tool can claim this unique set of features, which allows Delphi to create applications that run 10 to 20 times faster than older first generation visual development tools, such as PowerSoft's PowerBuilder and Microsoft's Visual Basic Professional. This unique combination of features was recognized by Byte Magazine at the Comdex Fall trade show in Las Vegas where Delphi won the 1994 Best Of Comdex Award in the development/system software category.

"Delphi represents the next generation in windows application development. It combines the productivity of a visual rapid application development tool with the performance of an optimizing compiler," said Paul H. Gross, vice president of Research and Development at Borland. "The consensus among more than 5000 beta testers worldwide is that Delphi's combination of functionality sets it apart from the competition."

Delphi's integrated compiler technology allows developers to progress smoothly from prototype to production applications without switching development tools. Until now, to build robust, mission-critical applications corporations were relying on a combination of proprietary scripting languages and less productive compiler technology.

Many corporate developers have already started to deploy Delphi applications; and more than 1000 trained value added resellers, systems integrators, consultants, and third party vendors are developing Delphi specific products and services.

Delphi applications developed for the Windows 3.1 operating environment will also run under Windows 95 and Windows NT. Upgrading applications to full 32-bit performance will only require recompiling your existing Delphi code with the forthcoming Delphi for Windows 95.

"One reason Delphi is such as great tool for building applications is because it lets us create new components without the need to ever go outside the development environment," said Art Hill, vice president in the Cash Management Systems Group at The First National Bank of Chicago. "We have already started to deploy our applications written in Delphi and we are seeing the benefits of working with a well designed, visual development environment, with features such as component reuse and lightning-fast applications."

"Delphi allows me to build and extend applications for my clients; it provides faster turnaround for building applications and is easy to learn," said Bob Ainsbury, vice president, software development of T.J. Software. "It's the only true fully object- oriented rapid application development tool that actually delivers on the promise of reuse."

The Delphi Industry:

In anticipation of the release of Delphi, an entire industry of books, magazines, user groups and third-party tools and libraries has been established. There are currently:

-- more than twenty books

-- six magazines/specialist newsletters worldwide

-- over 20 Delphi specific user groups

-- more than 50 third party tools and component libraries

being developed

Product Information:

The Delphi product line consists of two products: Delphi Client/Server, the high-performance rapid application development tool with full Client/Server support; and Delphi, the radical performance windows development tool with local database support. Delphi applications are fully scaleable to the Client/Server version.

To make the transition from Delphi to professional client/server development and deployment using remote SQL database servers, developers can upgrade to Delphi Client/Server. Delphi Client/Server features high-performance native/SQL drivers for Oracle, Sybase, Informix, and Borland InterBase; along with team development support, a Visual Query Builder tool, and much more.

Pricing and Availability

Delphi Client/Server will carry a suggested retail price of $1999, and Delphi carries a suggested retail price of $495 and has a 90-day promotional price of $199.95. Prices are in U.S. dollars and apply to U.S. and Canada only. Dealer prices may vary. Borland is also providing Scholar pricing for the educational market. For more information or to place an order, please contact Borland at (800) 891-2223.

Borland International Inc. (NASDAQ:BORL) is a leading provider of products and services targeted to software developers. Borland is distinguished for its high-quality software development tools, which include Borland C , dBASE, Paradox, Pascal and Delphi. Borland's award-winning products are supported through comprehensive programs for small- and large-sized software developers, corporate developers, value added resellers and systems integrators. Founded in 1983, Borland is headquartered in Scotts Valley, California.