MathSoft Introduces Next Generation of S-PLUS for Unix on Solaris; Major Upgrade Includes New Core Technology for Analyzing Large Data Sets; Enhanced Financial Time Series Functionality

Business Wire, August 10, 1998

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 10, 1998--MathSoft, Inc. (NASDAQ:MATH), provider of the broadest line of technical calculation and analytical software for business and academia, today introduced S-PLUS(R) 5.0 for Solaris, a key new enhancement to MathSoft's statistical data mining product family. S-PLUS 5.0 enables companies across a variety of industries to truly leverage the powerful, multi-tasking environment of the Unix platform for high-end statistical data analysis. S-PLUS 5.0 is powered by a major new release of Lucent Technologies' S programming language, which enables improved speed for statistical data mining, enhanced support for large data sets and new capabilities for importing data from a wide variety of sources, including relational databases and applications such as SAS and SPSS. The new version also incorporates enhanced calendar time series methods for financial analysis and is year 2000 compliant.

Since MathSoft is the exclusive licensee of the S language, S-PLUS is the only commercial product based on Lucent's powerful object-oriented language -- which is designed specifically for data visualization and exploration, statistical modeling and programming with data. With the newest generation of the S language at its core, S-PLUS 5.0 provides users with richer tools for analyzing their data. S-PLUS 5.0 empowers users to analyze larger data sets and process them faster than ever before. New statistical methods include bootstrap and jackknife, new robust regression and covariance estimation, and enhanced parametric survival and reliability analysis.

"For years, Merrill Lynch analysts in Tokyo, London and the United States have taken advantage of both the advanced graphics and the powerful underlying S language in S-PLUS to quickly create and deploy new analytics for advanced portfolio construction," said Hoon Yoon, vice president of quantitative trading, Merrill Lynch. "S-PLUS 5.0's ability to handle larger data sets and to more quickly analyze that data should enhance our ability to make the most accurate investment decisions."

To further service the financial industry, MathSoft teamed with a global investment bank to understand the complex analysis needs and requirements of the finance industry, one of the largest markets for the S-PLUS product line. From this relationship, MathSoft designed a rich set of object-oriented S-PLUS analytics for multivariate time series, making it the most comprehensive data analysis product available for calendar time series. Now, S-PLUS automatically accounts for global time zones, daylight savings rules and international holidays. To date, financial institutions worldwide have used S-PLUS to develop sophisticated systems for risk management, derivative product analysis, portfolio optimization and prediction of returns. Now, S-PLUS 5.0 provides enhanced power and flexibility to enable financial analysts to capitalize on the globalization of the financial marketplace, where instruments are traded across multiple countries and time zones.

"With this newest version of S-PLUS, we are once again redefining the cutting edge for statistical data mining software," said Rick Bohdanowicz, vice president and general manager of MathSoft's data analysis products division. "Our relationships with Lucent and key players in the financial industry make us uniquely qualified to advance the analytical market, particularly in addressing the needs of the financial community. This new release represents a significant milestone for the S-PLUS product family and demonstrates MathSoft's strategy of providing the most powerful and accessible line of statistical data mining products."

"Massive amounts of information in data warehouses today can present users with information overload. Finding patterns and trends in a large body of information is difficult enough to push the limits of human comprehension," said Don MacTavish, senior research analyst, META Group. "Scalable, robust analytical technologies will enable companies across a variety of industries to use advanced statistical data mining techniques to make more informed business decisions by providing a highly accurate way to analyze and visualize patterns in data."

With the S-PLUS Software Development Kit (S SDK(tm)) for Unix, which will be upgraded to support S-PLUS 5.0, companies can also create and deploy customized analytic applications and user interfaces to end users throughout an organization.

Pricing

S-PLUS 5.0 for Unix is $5,995 for Sun Solaris. S-PLUS 5.0 for Linux is $4,995 (please refer to today's press release titled "MathSoft's S-PLUS Product Line Supports Linux Operating System"). Support for additional Unix operating systems, including HP, IBM, SGI, and DEC, will follow. Academic and non-profit discounts are available for all S-PLUS products.

About MathSoft

Founded in 1984, MathSoft is the provider of the broadest line of technical calculation and analytical software for business and academia. With MathSoft's products, users can deploy technical calculations and exploratory data analyses across their entire organizations. The company has more than one million users of its Mathcad(R), StudyWorks(tm), S-PLUS, StatServer(R) and Axum(R) software worldwide. Users include technical professionals worldwide at more than 90% of the Fortune 1,000 companies and over 500 government installations, and students and faculty at over 2,000 colleges and universities.