Progress Software Blasts Into 2000 With More Than 100 New Application Service Provider —ASP— Business Partnerships

Business Wire, Jan 25, 2000

Business/Technology Editors

BEDFORD, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 25, 2000

Progress Software's ASPEN 2000 Program continues to dominate the

global ASP market with over 150 partners, over 70 rentable

applications and over 10,000 end users

Progress Software Corporation (NASDAQ:PRGS), a leading supplier of application development, deployment and management products and services, today announced the addition of more than 100 new Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) to its Application Service Provider ENablement (ASPEN(tm)) Program. Through these relationships, Progress Software extends its strong leadership position in the exploding ASP market and continues to help migrate top vertical market applications in areas such as financial services, supply chain management and customer relationship management (CRM) to the ASP model.

&uot;Our ASPEN 2000 Program now boasts over 150 partners worldwide, clearly representing the leading edge of the ASP wave and the world's largest network of ASPs and related strategic partners,&uot; said Mike Mitsock, vice president of Progress Software's ASP Business Unit. &uot;Through the ASPEN Program, we continue to enable our ISVs to take advantage of the ASP model faster and more effectively than anyone else and are now the first vendor to bring ASP applications to more than 10,000 end-user seats--far exceeding previous claims made by competitors such as Oracle.&uot;

A channel pioneer, Progress Software has long been recognized for its ability to give ISVs the technology and services they need to meet the rigorous requirements of middle market, resource-constrained environments and to deliver industry-specific solutions more quickly, more tightly integrated and at a low total cost of ownership.

These same qualities have firmly positioned Progress Software to lead the expanding ASP market, by bringing its 2,000 ISV partners worldwide and their more than 5,000 Progress(R)-based applications to this new distribution channel.

Progress Software today welcomes more than 100 ISVs from all around the globe to the ASPEN 2000 Program. This new group of ASPEN partners represents a wide variety of market segments, such as Accounting &Financial Services, which includes Westland Systems, Ltd., Proteus Software, Ltd., and Unibis; Automotive, which includes Global Automotive, ASA Tire Systems Group and Car Systems S.A.; Consulting, which includes Grampian Software and Parallax Information Technology; Supply Chain Management, which includes Datasul, Pulse Logistics, Robocom Systems International and Online Logistics; Customer Relationship Management (CRM), which includes Promises Software, MarBex S.A. and Arbour Group; and Human Resources &Payroll, which includes Prisme, Tempus Systems and Hipvale Business Software.

Progress Software's Application Service Provider ENablement Program

Progress Software's ASPEN 2000 Program now boasts a worldwide membership of more than 150 partners, from 20 different countries around the world, representing all of the company's operating regions.

Progress Software's ASPEN Program offers business planning assistance, industry recognition, technology, services and partnerships to help ISVs quickly and easily transform Progress-based applications into ASP-enabled applications. These new applications, available on a subscription basis and accessed over the Internet rather than purchased, allow small and mid-tier organizations to more quickly and economically gain access to application functionality previously unavailable to them. ASP-enabled applications reduce traditional IT infrastructure costs because they are developed and maintained by service providers rather than an internal IT staff.

New vendors are emerging to bridge the gap between small and mid-tier organizations and high-performance applications. Already growing fast, the ASP market is expected to curve exponentially. Industry analysts estimate the &uot;application rental market&uot; will generate between $4 and $6 billion in revenue by 2003. The first ASPs who enter this market will have an important grip on its future growth. For more information on the ASP market and Progress Software's ASPEN 2000 Program, visit www.ASPconnections.com.

About Progress Software

Progress Software Corporation (NASDAQ: PRGS) is a global supplier of software products and services for developing, deploying and managing business solutions across all computing and network environments. Our products, which are installed in over 60% of Fortune 100 companies, include application servers, databases, development tools and application management products for Internet/Web, extranet and intranet applications.

Our customers operate in 100 countries, are supported by more than 1,300 employees worldwide, and deploy annually over $2 billion in Progress-based applications built by more than 2,000 independent software vendors (ISVs). For more information, visit www.progress.com or 1-781-280-4000.

Progress is a registered trademark of Progress Software Corporation. ASPEN is a trademark of Progress Software Corporation. All other trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.