Attachmate e-Vantage Plays Major Role in e-Business Migration; Over One Million Attachmate e-Vantage Licenses Sold in 1998

Business Wire, Feb 22, 1999

BELLEVUE, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 22, 1999--The approaching millennium marks a significant change in existing business models for information dissemination.

Without question, the hovering "New Digital Economy" mandates enterprises globally accept new business practices to remain competitive. In a sea of startups and quick-fixes, CIOs and IT departments increasingly seek voices of reason in the midst of this hype, turning to reliable and proven innovators for enterprise solutions with leading-edge technology and legacy experience. Attachmate Corporation, a 17-year leader in host access, today announced in 1998 it sold over one million licenses of Attachmate(R) e-Vantage product solutions, its highly touted server-based, host access management solution utilizing Web-to-host technologies that lays the necessary foundation for evolving to e-business. This rapid worldwide adoption rate signifies a major shift for large enterprises from "wait-and-see" to an active deployment of e-business for competitive advantage.

Host systems: an indispensable tool. With 70-to-80 percent of all business information residing on host systems, representing at least a $5 trillion investment, leveraging this business-critical data is more important than ever. Attachmate e-Vantage(tm) solutions tie Web technologies to business logic and databases on host systems -- a fundamental principle of e-business. Whether it's giving existing users a new way to connect to host applications via the Web or introducing "self-service" access to customers via the Internet, leveraging the wealth of data captured on enterprise hosts by streamlining business processes produces measurable gains and a strong return on investment.

In order for Web-based, self-service applications to run reliably and quickly, they need high-end server back-ends to drive them. Attachmate e-Vantage solutions combine server-based Web-to-host technology with consulting expertise to assist customers in migrating to e-business. At the heart of these solutions is the Attachmate e-Vantage Host Access Server, combining a complete set of host access services and applications. The Attachmate e-Vantage Host Access Server includes centralized management services, host session services, secure access services, and fundamental services like SNA gateway services. It provides a powerful, integrated platform enabling enterprises to evolve to e-business at their own pace. Attachmate e-Vantage Client Access Licenses (CALs) grant both web-based and client-based access to those services and applications, giving customers the flexibility to deploy thick, thin, or custom Web-top or desktop solutions, as needed, when needed.

"If you think about high volume transaction systems, Web commerce ranks high on the transactions-per-minute scale," said Kathy Wilcox, president of the Washington Software Alliance. "At our annual `Predictions Dinner' in December, we discussed this phenomenon. If you look to see what makes Web commerce systems run, you will find some kind of host -- a mainframe, an AS/400, etc. The beauty of this new Web transaction-centric world is that the end-user is unaware of the engine driving the system. The user sees information in a browser, conducts the transaction, and goes away, blissfully insulated from the technology driving the data exchange."

Web-to-host growth in 1998. According to an IDCFLASH published in 1999, the worldwide Web-to-host browser market experienced 375 percent growth to reach $90 million, exceeding IDC's forecast of $50 million (IDC No. 15950, April 1998). The actual market is larger yet: IDC omits maintenance license conversions in which, for Attachmate alone, 800,000 license conversions were purchased allowing Attachmate customers to evolve to e-business when they are ready.

Enabling companies to go out to the Web. By 2003, U.S. business trade on the Internet will explode to $1.3 trillion from $43 billion in 1998 -- rising to 9.4 percent of business sales, predicts Forrester Research. As more companies recognize this commerce potential, the need for host-enabled e-business is increasingly critical. With Attachmate e-Vantage solutions, customers can extend legacy data and leverage this existing information to provide a faster-to-market competitive edge. These comprehensive custom and consulting solutions based on open industry standards, enable organizations to build Web-based business applications that are very secure, highly reliable, and easy to deploy.

"The success of Attachmate e-Vantage solutions can be attributed to corporate America's acknowledgement that in order to compete, you need to be connected," said Bill Patterson, Attachmate senior vice president. "It confirms customers want the ability to quickly respond to e-business opportunities. They want flexibility, freedom of choice, and the ability to evolve at their own pace."

The emerging "New Economy." e-Business opportunities and challenges dramatically change the way enterprises do business. For the enterprise, the largest opportunity signaled by Web technology advances is the opportunity to collapse space and time, by streamlining business processes. Attachmate e-Vantage solutions enable corporations to compete in the "New Economy," by addressing and managing the complexity e-business brings to host access. This, by default, can assist dramatically to collapse space and time.