OMG names OpenDoc industry standard; IBM announces OpenDoc for Windows delivery schedules Justsystem joins growing movement to OpenDoc

Business Wire, March 21, 1996

BURLINGAME, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 21, 1996--At a press conference today, the Object Management Group (OMG) announced the adoption of OpenDoc(b) technology as an industry standard, laying the groundwork for an open, extensible marketplace for component software. IBM, one of the companies that has led the multiplatform development of OpenDoc, detailed delivery plans for OpenDoc for Windows(b) NT(b) and Windows 95. IBM also announced that Justsystem Corporation, Japan's leading producer of Japanese-language desktop software, will port its office automation software to OpenDoc for Windows.

OpenDoc, OMG's new distributed document component facility (DDCF), is a robust architecture for creating component software that can be shared and customized across heterogeneous environments. OpenDoc's component-based integrated structure allows developers and end-users to build higher quality applications faster, with reduced costs. OpenDoc components can support and interoperate with Microsoft's Object Linking and Embedding (OLE)(b) objects, while providing full cross-platform and distribution capabilities to component software.

"OMG's adoption of OpenDoc as a standard will bring industry uniformity to building distributed software components and give more developers the ability to tap into the power of OpenDoc," said Steve Mills, general manager, IBM Software Solutions Division. "For IBM, it represents a major step toward our vision of genuinely transparent network computing."

OpenDoc for Windows Broadens Platform Choices

IBM will begin shipping beta versions of OpenDoc for Windows NT(b) and Windows 95 in June 1996, and general availability will follow in the fourth quarter. The first phase of the OpenDoc for Windows delivery schedule has begun with the distribution of alpha-level developer toolkits to more than 600 developers.

In addition to the new Windows versions, IBM has made OpenDoc for OS/2 Warp(a) Version 3.0 generally available and is shipping beta versions of OpenDoc for AIX(a). General availability of OpenDoc for AIX is planned for the third quarter of this year. OpenDoc's highly efficient facility for distributing objects, the System Object Model (SOM)(a), is also available on IBM's MVS(a) enterprise operating system and is in beta on the OS/400(a) system, providing OpenDoc resources to enterprise customers. OpenDoc for Mac OS(b) is also generally available from Apple Computer, Inc.

Through a demonstration of commerce on the Internet, IBM showed OpenDoc's power and flexibility in building collaborative applications that link customers and suppliers in cross-platform environments. The demonstration illustrated pre-built JAVA(b) applets obtained from the Internet seamlessly integrated into an OpenDoc application collaborating across OS/2, AIX, and Windows NT operating systems.

Justsystem Corp. Joins Growing ISV Momentum

Justsystem, Japan's largest software vendor and the developer of Ichitaro(b), the world's leading Japanese-language word processor, announced plans to port its office automation software to OpenDoc for Windows. "With OpenDoc, we can deliver office automation functions to our customers with a uniquely 'Just' flavor," said Kazunori Ukigawa, president and chief executive officer, Justsystem Corporation. "OpenDoc will be a key technology in our future products."

With worldwide momentum growing, a number of independent software vendors (ISVs) who have adopted OpenDoc in their development efforts were on hand at the OMG event, including:

o Bear River Associates

o Cirrus Technology

o ClearSoft AG

o DST Systems, Inc.

o MicroRim

o Peripheral Vision

o Secant Technologies

o SSG

o SunDial Systems

o TruSpectra

o Voice Pilot Technology

Club OpenDoc, the online resource for code developed by IBM, news, tips and information on OpenDoc, has more than 1800 members enrolled worldwide. OpenDoc code can be obtained free of charge through Club OpenDoc at http://www.software.ibm.com/clubopendoc.>More About IBM

IBM, the world's largest software provider, creates, develops and manufactures the industry's most advanced information technologies, including computer systems, software, networking systems, storage devices and microelectronics. IBM's Software Solutions Division provides data management, application development and workgroup solutions for mission-critical applications on personal computers, workstations, LANs and host systems.

For additional information regarding IBM software, visit the IBM Software home page at http://www.software.ibm.com. -0-

(a) Indicates trademark or registered trademark of International

Business Machines Corporation.

(b) Products or companies mentioned are trademarks or registered

trademarks of their respective holder.

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