DataDirect Technologies Releases New Versions of Industry's Leading .NET, JDBC and ODBC Database Drivers

Business Wire, May 2, 2005

BEDFORD, Mass. -- Data Connectivity Leader Raises the Bar with Wizard-Based Configuration; Developers Can Now Achieve Optimal Performance in Minutes

DataDirect Technologies, the leading provider of components for connecting software to data, today announced the availability of three new suites of its market-defining data connectivity components: DataDirect Connect(R) for .NET, DataDirect Connect for JDBC(TM), and DataDirect Connect for ODBC. The standards-based releases offer new Performance Wizards for customized configuration, enabling software developers to build high-performance applications while speeding development, integration and deployment.

With the addition of Performance Wizards, DataDirect Technologies ensures optimal data connectivity out of the box, by leading users through an intuitive process to configure critical connection properties that affect performance. Embodying hundreds of developer years focused on performance tuning, the tool reduces configuration complexity to drive maximum performance with less time and effort. An industry first, the Performance Wizards eliminate the guesswork inherent in configuring infrastructure software, resulting in time and cost savings for software developers.

"Many developers don't realize how much impact data connectivity has on application performance," said Mark Driver, vice president and research director at Gartner. "It's a big deal - and configuring database drivers for maximum performance has always been a challenge for engineers."

Developers worldwide at independent software vendors and corporate IT departments rely on DataDirect Technologies to connect their software applications to data. From increased revenue and improved programmer productivity to faster evaluations and reduced customer support burdens, DataDirect Technologies' .NET, JDBC and ODBC components drive quantifiable results.

"High-performance data connectivity is a key component of Stream's operations," said Ken Schreck, Application Development Manager for EMEA and India at Stream, a global technical support and customer service outsourcing provider and DataDirect Connect for .NET customer. "Since moving to DataDirect Connect for .NET, we have seen a marked improvement in performance in our internal contact center application. Fast, reliable access to data enables Stream to provide exceptional customer service for our customers - our real business value."

DataDirect Technologies offers the most comprehensive, proven line of data connectivity components. Linking applications to an unparalleled range of data sources, the DataDirect Connect suites support all major databases including Oracle, IBM DB2, Microsoft SQL Server, Sybase, Informix and Progress(R).

"DataDirect Technologies invests more than 50 percent of its research and development budget into performance enhancements," said John Goodson, vice president of product operations for DataDirect Technologies. "Now our customers can easily reap the benefits of our expertise. Software engineers shouldn't have to be data connectivity experts. Our new Performance Wizards abstract the complexity of performance tuning to let engineers focus on deploying better applications, not on driver configuration."

The browser-based Performance Wizards will be included with most of the latest releases of the DataDirect Technologies' Connect products and available on the company's Web site for download at: http://www.datadirect.com. The new utilities will support Oracle, IBM DB2, Microsoft SQL Server, Sybase and Informix and will be available for ODBC, JDBC, and .NET.

About DataDirect Technologies

DataDirect Technologies is focused on standards-based data connectivity, enabling software developers to quickly develop and deploy business applications across all major databases and platforms. DataDirect Technologies offers the most comprehensive, proven line of data connectivity components available anywhere. Developers worldwide at more than 250 leading independent software vendors and thousands of corporate IT departments rely on DataDirect(R) products to connect their applications to an unparalleled range of data sources using standards-based interfaces such as ODBC, JDBC(TM) and ADO.NET. Developers also depend on DataDirect to radically simplify complex data integration projects using XML products based on the emerging XQuery and XQJ standards. DataDirect Technologies is an operating company of Progress Software Corporation (Nasdaq: PRGS), a US$300 million global software industry leader. Headquartered in Bedford, Mass., DataDirect Technologies can be reached on the Web at www.datadirect.com or by phone at 1-800-876-3101.

DataDirect and DataDirect Connect are trademarks or registered trademarks of DataDirect Technologies Corp. in the U.S. and other countries. Progress is a registered trademark of Progress Software Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. Java and all Java based marks are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the U.S. and in other countries. Any other trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.