Fujitsu Announces NetCOBOL Release Candidate; Fujitsu Software Corporation Invites Customers to Get a Head Start in Moving Their COBOL Applications to the Microsoft .NET Platform

Business Wire, Feb 13, 2002

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 13, 2002

Fujitsu Software Corporation today announces the Release Candidate of NetCOBOL for .NET, which is Fujitsu's rich development environment and compiler for COBOL built on Microsoft Visual Studio .NET and the .NET Framework. The Release Candidate gives customers the opportunity to begin building real-world COBOL applications on the Microsoft .NET Framework. NetCOBOL gives companies the ability to take advantage of the exciting new technologies that Microsoft Visual Studio .NET and the .NET platform offer, while leveraging their current investments in COBOL code.

"We are very excited to take the next step with our customers in demonstrating the value that integration of their COBOL code with Microsoft Visual Studio .NET and the .NET Framework will achieve," said Ron Langer, Director of Languages, Fujitsu Software Corporation. "For example, we see corporations providing wider ranges of services to customers and establishing a common development platform for all developers."

NetCOBOL for .NET combines the reliability of Fujitsu's family of COBOL compilers with the Microsoft .NET Framework and the Microsoft award-winning development environment: Visual Studio .NET. The product includes a new compiler for the .NET Framework common language runtime engine, support for ASP.NET and XML Web services, and integration with the Visual Studio .NET Integrated Development Environment through its involvement with the Visual Studio .NET Integration Program (VSIP).

"Support for a wide variety of languages is an important part of the .NET strategy," said Tom Button, vice president for the Developer and Platform Evangelism Division at Microsoft Corp. "Because COBOL is a core programming language in the enterprise, having Fujitsu support COBOL for Microsoft .NET is an important piece of the puzzle in meeting the needs of enterprise developers."

NetCOBOL allows companies with existing COBOL assets to recompile their COBOL-85 programs and then enhance them using object-oriented extensions. The ability to compile existing code enables a clear migration path for customers wanting to migrate to the less expensive, and more feature-rich, Windows platform. The Microsoft .NET Framework supports an unprecedented level of integration between a variety of languages and technologies. NetCOBOL also leverages the Microsoft .NET Framework strength in developing XML Web services, making it easier for COBOL programmers to expose their code as components.

The Release Candidate for NetCOBOL follows a beta period that began late in December 2001, and is in preparation for final release later in the first half of 2002. The NetCOBOL Release Candidate targets the final version of Microsoft Visual Studio .NET. For more details about NetCOBOL and information about obtaining a copy of the Release Candidate visit the Fujitsu COBOL Web site at http://www.adtools.com.

About Fujitsu Software Corporation

Fujitsu Software Corporation, based in San Jose, Calif., is a wholly owned subsidiary of Fujitsu Limited. Fujitsu Software Corporation leverages Fujitsu's international scope and expertise in developing and providing information technology solutions. Fujitsu Software Corporation's products include INTERSTAGE(TM), e-business infrastructure software that includes the INTERSTAGE(TM) Application Server and i-Flow(TM), and Fujitsu COBOL. The INTERSTAGE Application Server enables enterprises to build and run mission critical applications. The i-Flow(TM) Business Process Management Platform empowers enterprises to manage business processes and business process change. Fujitsu COBOL is a COBOL development environment and suite of tools to build fast, mission-critical business systems on open platforms, including Microsoft's .NET Framework. For more information, visit http://www.fs.fujitsu.com.

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