EARTH SCIENCES

ROCKVILLE, MD -- DataDirect Technologies, Inc., an industry leader in connectivity components for data and applications, today announced the general availability of SequeLink(R) 5.2, the most comprehensive connectivity solution on the market for connecting standards-based applications to mainframe and relational data stores. SequeLink 5.2, an end-to-end middleware solution, delivers new support for mainframe data stores including IMS, IDMS, VSAM, Adabas, Datacom and Sequential files. With SequeLink 5.2, customers can now more quickly and easily integrate their heterogeneous data stores, from legacy to relational to desktop, with any standards-based application - with no additional coding efforts, middleware or gateways. "SequeLink 5.2 is the only solution on the market that truly enables organizations to leverage their existing investments in legacy data stores while taking advantage of new interfaces such as Java - all with a single, end-to-end middleware solution," said Evan McDonnell, vice president of Product Management, DataDirect Technologies. "This release underscores our commitment to the data connectivity market and to providing our customers with the broadest spectrum of connectivity options available." DataDirect(R) SequeLink includes a single, thin universal client component (ODBC, JDBC or ADO/OLE DB) for accessing data across multiple back-end systems. In addition to supporting new mainframe data stores, SequeLink also supports DB2, Oracle, Informix, Sybase and SQL Server. SequeLink supports the latest connectivity specifications, with sophisticated security (DES/3DES, SSL), configuration and management capabilities. With SequeLink 5.2, organizations can connect any of their standards-based applications to a virtually unlimited combination of data stores and platforms. "Providing an open, scalable architecture for integration, the SeeBeyond eBusiness Integration platform can easily interoperate with best-in-class technology solutions for extended functionality such as access to legacy data," said Richard Levy, vice president of Program Management for SeeBeyond. "DataDirect Technologies has been delivering best-in-class solutions for mainframe and relational connectivity for more than ten years, and was a clear choice for extending our adapter connectivity beyond traditional data sources. In addition, not only does DataDirect Technologies focus its entire business on connectivity components, but shares in our vision of support for the latest emerging standards, platforms and databases." SequeLink 5.2 release highlights include: -- Support for new operating systems including Linux (Red Hat 7.1, SuSE 7.2, Caldera 2.4), HP-UX 11.11, Tru64 5.1 and Z/OS 1.1 -- Support for new mainframe data stores, including Adabas, Datacom, IMS, IDMS, VSAM and Sequential files -- Enhanced XML functionality with ODBC applications, including capabilities to persist a result set as an XML data file with embedded schema -- Enhancements to SequeLink for OS/390, including support for DB2 V7R1 and enhanced scalability on OS/390 For more information visit www.datadirect-technologies.com