Microsoft and ISG announce the inclusion of ISG Navigator/Bridge in Microsoft's OLE DB SDK

Business Wire, July 17, 1996

REDMOND, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 17, 1996--Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ NMS:MSFT) and ISG International Software Group Ltd. (NASDAQ NMS:SISGF), today announced that Microsoft has licensed ISG Navigator/Bridge from ISG to be included in the SDK (software development kit) for OLE DB, Microsoft's emerging universal interface for data access.

ISG Navigator (a data connectivity middleware product) is believed to be the first commercial implementation of Microsoft's OLE DB. ISG Navigator also supports Microsoft's ODBC standard.

According to the agreement, Microsoft will distribute ISG Navigator/Bridge to software developers as an aid in the development of OLE DB Drivers. Developers will purchase redistribution licenses from ISG in order to deploy their applications that include ISG Navigator/Bridge. ISG Navigator/Bridge, a member of the ISG Navigator product family, provides ODBC access to OLE DB data sources.

David Cameron, Manager of Microsoft's Database API group, commented "We are excited to include ISG Navigator/Bridge in our OLE DB SDK, scheduled to be released later this year. OLE DB protects the investment our customers have made in ODBC while addressing their need to access non-relational data sources that represent over 80 percent of the data in the world. The OLE DB SDK will be distributed to software developers and sophisticated electronic information providers worldwide. We selected ISG Navigator/Bridge and we expect our customers to find that ISG Navigator/Bridge facilitates their transition to the new OLE DB standard. Microsoft anticipates that OLE DB will find broad acceptance because it dramatically expands the range of information sources that can be economically accessed.

Arie Gonen, chairman and CEO of ISG said, "Microsoft's decision to include ISG Navigator/Bridge in the OLE DB SDK is very strategic for ISG and marks a milestone on ISG Navigator's road to success. The release of ISG Navigator is the culmination of over 60 man-years of development effort. ISG Navigator brings the OLE DB data integration standard to multiple platforms and operating systems (PC's NT; UNIX, VMS and mainframe) and multiple data sources (relational and hierarchical databases, Internet and Intranet accessible information, legacy data, multi-media, and system files). Customers' multi-billion dollar investments in data stored in Oracle (NASDAQ NMS:ORCL), Sybase (NASDAQ NMS:SYBS), Informix (NASDAQ NMS:IFMX) Adavas, and other file and legacy systems are protected while their ability to add access to many new data sources expands the value of end-user applications. Now customers can turn their volumes of data into meaningful information for strategic decision making."

The ISG Navigator product family meets all the requirements of a modern data integration middleware. It consists of four products: ISG Navigator/OLE DB, a multi-tiered client/server OLE DB middleware for heterogeneous data sources; ISG Navigator/ODBC, a multi-tiered client/server ODBC middleware for heterogeneous data sources; ISG Navigator/Drivers, a set of OLE DB data drivers and tools for customizing data drivers; and ISG Navigator/Bridge, an ODBC driver for OLE DB data sources.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft is the world wide leader in software for personal computers. The company offers a wide range of products and services for business and personal use, each designed with the mission of making it easier and more enjoyable for people to take advantage of the full power of personal computing every day (www.microsoft.com).

ISG is a leading supplier of application development and integration tools for distributed, heterogeneous environments. ISG provides a family of software tools that revitalize legacy systems and integrate them with desktop applications. ISG products address programmers' needs in building enterprise-wide client/server solutions. ISG's products are standard-based (OLE DB and ODBC), are available on multiple platforms and provide database-independent access to many database and file systems. The company's principal products are: ISG Navigator, CorVision 10, and APTuser. ISG has sales and support offices in the United States, Israel, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, People's Republic of China and Australia (www.isg.co.il).

CONTACT: ISG International Software Group Ltd.

Shlomo Baumgarten, CFO

972/48576744, ext. 204

Email: shlomo@isg.co.il

or

Sunrise Financial Group Inc.

Derek Caldwell, Vice President

212/421-1616