Award Software Announces USBAccess Support For Wind River Systems' Tornado; USB-Host Connectivity Software Minimizes Time-To-Market for Embedded Systems Developers Using Tornado

Business Wire, Feb 3, 1998

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 3, 1998--Award Software International(R) Inc. (NASDAQ:AWRD), today announced the immediate availability of USBAccess(TM) for Wind River Systems' (NASDAQ:WIND) Tornado(TM) development environment on both x86 and MIPS platforms, giving Tornado-based embedded systems immediate connectivity to Universal Serial Bus devices.

Award Software's USBAccess is a complete USB software solution available for host-side embedded device manufacturers. The product's features are a full implementation of the current USB specification 1.0 and include the host controller software stack and host-class drivers, supporting all USB functions for the growing number of USB devices. It provides manufacturers with seamless integration of USB devices into products based upon operating systems that do not include support for the USB standard.

Available for UNIX, Windows 95, and Windows NT host platforms and more than one dozen target processor families, Tornado is the only complete software cross-development environment for embedded systems. Tornado is seamlessly integrated and includes the industry's most powerful development tools and VxWorks(R) a feature-rich, high performance and scalable real-time operating system.

"Award's USBAccess provides Wind River's customers with a software solution for building embedded systems and consumer devices that use USB for connectivity," said Curt Schacker, vice president of marketing for Wind River Systems. "Award offers a complete and unique USB software solution as the only host-side solution on the market at this time."

"USB connectivity is becoming a requirement for many classes of embedded designs, ranging from consumer electronics to industrial control applications," said Laurent Gharda, vice president of marketing at Award. "We are pleased to enable Wind River Systems customers to leverage this new standard for PC connectivity in embedded and consumer electronic designs."

Award Software provides system management software (SMS) for personal computers and embedded systems. Award's cornerstone PC SMS product, BIOS, is marketed to computer and motherboard manufacturers, and is included in 60 percent of all x86-based desktops and servers worldwide. Additional Award PC products include software to facilitate system administration and reduce total cost of ownership through remote administration, diagnostics, and repair; enhanced support for PC cards; and BIOS upgrades to extend the useful life of existing PCs. Award also offers a complete line of products for manufacturers of embedded and real time systems including turnkey Internet appliance-enabling software, Win32 compatibility libraries, USB host and device connectivity software, and BIOS for embedded x86 systems. Award Software, headquartered in Silicon Valley, has offices in Germany, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan and the US. For more information, e-mail info@award.com.

The company's stock is traded on the Nasdaq National Market under the symbol AWRD. More information can be obtained from the company's SEC filing or by visiting Award Software's Web site at http://www.award.com.

For more information on Wind River's products please call 800/545-WIND or 510/748-4100, send e-mail to inquiries@wrs.com, or visit http://www.wrs.com.

The statements in this news release, other than the historical information, may contain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties including those associated with the acceptance of new technology and products for the Internet and embedded systems market, Award Software's ability to respond to technological change and other market conditions that could cause actual results to differ materially. Further information on factors that could affect the company's results are detailed in Award Software's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended Dec. 31, 1996, and on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 1997, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. -0-

Note to Editors: Wind River Systems, Tornado and VxWorks are registered trademarks of Wind River Systems, Inc. All trademarks, registered trademarks or service marks are the property of their respective owners.

CONTACT: Award Software International Inc.

Toni Goodrich, 650/237-6831

toni_goodrich@award.com

or

Stapleton Communications Inc.

Anna Yen/Deborah Stapleton, 650/470-0200

anna@stapleton.com