Thomson Software Products and IDE Sign Letter of Intent to Form Major New Strategic Software Vendor; The merger will produce a leader in the strategic software application and information systems market

Business Wire, April 26, 1996

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 26, 1996--Thomson Software Products and IDE have signed a letter of intent to merge IDE with Thomson Software Products to form a new company that will focus on the fast growing application development and information systems software market.

The merger, which will be completed by the end of June, will form a new company under a new name, headquartered in San Francisco. The merged company will support its installed base of NOMAD(R), Ada, TeleUSE(R), and Software through Pictures(R) customers and will also add powerful new application development and data warehouse solutions.

"The strategic fit between our two companies is excellent," said Jean-Luc Badault, CEO of Thomson Software Products. "The combination of our product lines and customer installed bases brings a new and powerful competitor to market."

IDE's powerful object-oriented software technology combined with Thomson Software Products' strong presence in the MIS and data warehousing markets are positive indicators of success for the new company. "We have long sought the critical mass and commercial market presence to grow our business with the industry's leading object-oriented analysis and design tools," said Chris Kenber, CEO of IDE.

"This transaction positions us for future growth while at the same time protecting our customers' investment in both Thomson Software Products and IDE products."

About Thomson Software Products

Thomson Software Products is a global provider of software and services that address a broad range of application development and information management needs for mission-critical, safety-critical, and decision-support applications.

The mix of products offered provides a unified source for solutions that range from embedded real-time applications to flexible enterprise data access and reporting and for technologies that include object-oriented development, client/server computing and automated code generation.

A member of the Thomson Group, a $14 billion multi-national high-technology company, Thomson Software Products is the pivotal software company in the Thomson Information Technology Group, a fast-growing strategic division comprised of providers of advanced technology.

Thomson Software Products has more than 20,000 installations and more than half a million users worldwide. Thomson Software Products' corporate headquarters is at 101 Merrit 7, Norwalk, CT 06856. Phone 800/441-6878. World Wide Web address is http://www.thomsoft.com.

About Interactive Development Environments, Inc.

Interactive Development Environments, Inc. (IDE), located in San Francisco, was founded in 1983 with a mission to help companies build better mission-critical and enterprise-wide systems. IDE's integrated software tools automate every aspect of large-team development life cycles, and fully support object-oriented, relational and structured methodologies.

IDE's training, consulting and support services, along with partnerships with industry leading hardware, software and services vendors, provide seamless coverage across the entire scope of software development.

Today, IDE has more than 18,000 users in 25 countries on five continents. IDE's world headquarters is at 595 Market Street, 10th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94105. Phone 800/888-4331. World Wide Web address is http://www.ide.com. -0-

Note to Editors: Software through Pictures and the IDE logo are registered trademarks of Interactive Development Environments, Inc. Thomson Software Products is the alliance of U3S Corporation of America and Alsys, Inc. NOMAD is a registered trademark of U3S International BV. All other company and product names are the trademarks of their respective companies.

CONTACT: Geltzer & Company, Inc.

Rob Anderson, 212/575-1976

robroy@pipeline.com

or

UpStart Communications

Sharon Egan, 208/726-5551

segan@upstart.com

or

Nadel Phelan

Paula Phelan, 408/335-7745

paula@nadelphelan.com