Powersoft and Sun Microsystems announce Powerbuilder for UNIX on Sun Systems; Companies sign co-marketing agreement to deliver enterprise-wide development solutions

Business Wire, Sept 11, 1995

CONCORD, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 11, 1995--Powersoft Corp. and Sun Microsystems Computer Co. (SMCC) today announced PowerBuilder for UNIX(r) for Sun(TM) SPARC(TM) systems running the Solaris(TM) operating environment.

PowerBuilder for UNIX is the newest member of the industry-leading family of scalable client/server development tools. Based on a common code base, PowerBuilder's multi-platform architecture reduces development costs and boosts productivity by enabling developers to build a single application, deploy it across a heterogeneous environment and provide users with a native look and feel. Sun systems provide a 32-bit development and deployment platform for PowerBuilder applications that offers the scalability and security required for large, complex and compute-intensive applications.

Powersoft and SMCC also announced that the two companies will co-market PowerBuilder for UNIX on Sun systems through joint sales and marketing activities. Powersoft has joined Sun's Catalyst(TM) Strategic marketing program, which is reserved for Sun's most promising partners and offers co-operative marketing dollars, equipment and access to technology sharing opportunities. In addition, Sun Microsystems has joined Powersoft's Client/server Open Development Environment (CODE) partner program. CODE is Powersoft's initiative to encourage vendors of client/server solutions to provide the market with a range of fully integrated, interoperable products.

As part of the joint sales and marketing efforts, Powersoft and Sun will deliver a nationwide series of joint solutions seminars beginning later this month and continuing through the end of the year. Powersoft (Booth 1046) will demonstrate PowerBuilder for UNIX at the upcoming UNIX Expo show in New York City on September 19-21.

"PowerBuilder for UNIX on Sun systems delivers on Powersoft's commitment to provide an open client/server development environment that offers database, platform and architecture alternatives for our customers," said David Litwack, president of Powersoft. "Sun is a leading development platform in the critical UNIX market and its SPARC systems and Solaris operating environment offer PowerBuilder developers the scalability, security and reliability they need for large-scale applications."

"We are focused on enabling our customers to build and deploy network-based applications by providing them with the most advanced tools and services on a platform optimized for distributed business-critical applications," said Mark Tolliver, vice president of market development for Sun Microsystems Computer Company. "We are pleased that Powersoft has chosen Sun as its first UNIX platform offering. The announcement of PowerBuilder for UNIX on Sun systems greatly enhances Sun's ability to deliver on its focus."

"This is a good move for both companies," said Dan Kusnetzky, research director, International Data Corporation. "PowerBuilder becomes a more scalable development tool, available on one of the leading UNIX platforms, and Sun's customers get access to one of the best known rapid application development tools."

Cross-Platform Development

All multi-platform versions of PowerBuilder are available at the same suggested retail price of $3,295. All are based on common source code to provide consistency across multiple platforms. Each is a full environment that allows development and deployment of native applications on its respective platform. The products share a common object library format that enables them to interoperate transparently in a cross-platform, team development environment. PowerBuilder's approach enables development teams to work across platforms on common applications and still exploit unique platform capabilities.

"We're impressed with the cross-platform consistency of PowerBuilder for UNIX," said Thomas Gagne, vice president and client application specialist, Comerica Bank. "We deploy applications to a mix of users on different platforms. PowerBuilder for UNIX enables us to extend our Windows applications to our Sun systems while maintaining a native Motif interface."

PowerBuilder for UNIX supports all major object-oriented programming features, including inheritance, encapsulation of data and processing logic as well as polymorphic messaging -- features that ensure consistency in applications, increased productivity and minimized maintenance costs. Users can also take advantage of a built-in, comprehensive library of reusable objects.

Feature-Rich Development Capabilities

PowerBuilder's unique data access capabilities allow database manipulation without coding SQL. Its intelligent DataWindow feature understands the unique functionality of each supported database -- users simply select a data source and presentation style, and the DataWindow directly manages the interaction and manipulation of the database. PowerBuilder also includes support for complex queries and report design. PowerBuilder simplifies querying, with a graphical, ad hoc query builder. Its banded report writer supports a wide range of report types, including freeform, tabular, control break, cross-tab, labels, composite and more. A powerful business graphics engine provides 2D and 3D pie, bar, column, line, scatter and area graphs.