Microsoft to Distribute ISGDataControl for Simplifying Data Access; ISG's ADO Control for Visual Basic Offered by MSDN

Business Wire, Feb 12, 1998

BURLINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 12, 1998--ISG International Software Group Ltd. (NASDAQ NMS:SISGF) today announced an agreement with Microsoft to offer ISGDataControl for ADO through MSDN Online, Microsoft's electronic distribution network serving over 400,000 subscribers. ISGDataControl, the first ADO Control for Visual Basic, significantly reduces the effort required by developers connecting applications to an OLE DB-enabled database. The ISGDataControl includes a built-in connection to ISG Navigator Universal Data Access software, further simplifying Visual Basic access to databases on Windows NT, VMS, or UNIX systems.

"Microsoft's decision to distribute ISGDataControl is a further acknowledgment of ISG's expertise and leadership in ADO and OLE DB technology," said Arie Gonen, ISG CEO and chairman. "Our unique ADO Data Control has been installed successfully by thousands of Visual Basic programmers and we expect that through MSDN Online both the ISGDataControl and ISG Navigator will be exposed to hundreds of thousands of developers who rely on Microsoft tools and technology."

Gonen added, "ISG Navigator offers enterprise connectivity in the rapidly growing market for Windows NT applications and we expect proliferation of ISG Navigator as the Universal Data Access provider for all types of Intranet and Internet solutions."

"ISG's products that are based on OLE DB and ADO technology bring a high-quality solution and the expanded power of OLE DB for heterogeneous database access," said Sondra Webber, MSDN Online product manager. "Microsoft's powerful suite of development tools, easily connected through ADO and ISG Navigator's Universal Data Access software, including ISG Navigator and the ISGDataControl, bring Internet application development to a new level of simplicity and flexibility."

ISG Navigator is the market leading OLE DB data access software and the first to support ADO, providing the key software that allows programmers to develop Internet and Intranet applications that simultaneously access multiple, diverse data sources. Companies capitalizing on the Internet and Intranets to provide their employees, vendors and customers with swift access to a variety of information now have a strategic Universal Data Access solution.

ADO and OLE DB are the underlying technology for Microsoft's Universal Data Access Component strategy. ISG products that fulfill this strategy create a new standard for integrated access to enterprise information. ADO (ActiveX Data Objects) is now the standard programmer interface shipping with Microsoft languages and tools, including Visual C/C , Visual Java, Visual Basic, Visual Basic Script, Internet Information Server 3.0 and Microsoft Transaction Server. By using ISG Navigator, all of these languages and tools will be able to transparently access and join remote data sources of all types, on multiple platforms.

MSDN Online is located at http://www.microsoft.com/msdn/.> Pricing: A typical ISG Navigator installation, including the ISGDataControl, costs approximately $150 per user in a 50-user Windows NT configuration.

ISG

ISG (NASDAQ NMS:SISGF) is the leading provider of Universal Data Access software based on Microsoft's OLE DB standard and other standards-based (OLE DB, ODBC, ADO, JDBC) products. ISG products are available on multiple platforms and provide simultaneous database-independent access to many databases and file systems. ISG has sales and support offices in the United States, Israel, United Kingdom, Hong Kong, and Australia and full-service distributors in France and Japan. For more information, visit ISG's Web site at http://www.isgsoft.com.

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