ECONOMICS

MIAMI, ASCENTIAL WORLD 2003 -- Ascential Software Corporation (NASDAQ:ASCL) unveiled its strategic product development plans for the next 24 months to capitalize on emerging technologies, meet evolving enterprise data integration requirements and "future-proof" information technology investments. Customers and partners can expect 64-bit computing and expanded grid-enabled capabilities, continued innovations in support for service-oriented architecture, and new functionality for radio frequency identification (RFID), among others. Ascential Software also announced the general availability of Ascential DataStage TX(TM) and its incorporation into the Ascential(TM) Enterprise Integration Suite. The company confirmed the value of and alignment between Ascential Software's plans and the enterprise integration requirements of customers and partners through a series of planning sessions and surveys. "The product direction that Ascential Software outlined maps directly to what the marketplace is telling us it needs in an enterprise-wide data integration environment," said Sandra Rogers, director, Web Services and Integration Software, IDC. "Ascential's strategy to partner and provide open technology based on industry standards that interface with other essential integration software is critical in today's evolving system and services-based architectural landscape." Timely access to accurate corporate data is critical in today's business environment. Complete, integrated data gives business the visibility to make strategic decisions today and insight for the future. Bob Zurek, Ascential Software vice president of advanced technologies and product management, underscored the significance of today's announcement by pointing out that integrating applications and business processes requires a data integration platform that functions across the full spectrum of current and future transactional, operational, and analytical application environments. "Customers want a complete enterprise data integration platform to support strategic business requirements. Ascential Software is the only complete solution that satisfies all enterprise integration requirements, enabling our customers to meet challenges and create business opportunities," said Zurek. "We are committed to delivering exceptional return on investment by focusing exclusively on data integration, taking an active role in standards bodies, investing in research and development, and closely collaborating with our customers and partners." Product Roadmap Ascential Software unveiled three strategic product initiatives, code- named Trinity, Hawk, and Rhapsody. The results of these development projects are anticipated to be in the market as soon as the first half of 2004. These product releases will expand Ascential Software's leadership in providing enterprise solutions designed to enable customers to build an integrated view of data for more effective business analytics and decision support, enable the interoperability of multiple applications for a higher level of customer service and operational performance, and reduce the number of data sources that IT personnel need to understand in order to develop new applications. Further, the product releases are designed to improve development efficiencies, dramatically reduce the complexity of integrating new and legacy systems and help manage the exponential growth of data to meet user requirements for immediate access to information. The product initiatives are: -- "Trinity" - Anticipated completion mid 2004. Trinity highlights include: * Expanded service-oriented architecture capabilities * 64-bit performance and expanded mainframe support * Increased functionality for enterprise grid computing initiatives * "Frictionless connectivity" - eliminating barriers to connectivity inside and outside the enterprise -- "Hawk" - Expected delivery late 2004. Hawk highlights include: * User interface innovations for enhanced productivity * RFID infrastructure support * "Next generation" meta data services infrastructure -- "Rhapsody" - Next generation platform that will deliver a quantum leap in productivity, manageability and scalability. Jeff Turner, engagement director, Pinnacle Technical Resources, Inc., an enterprise systems architecture consulting firm, stated that "Ascential Software's vision and real-time capabilities really resonate with customers because that's where most companies want to go. For example, one of our clients, Verizon Communications, has a large data warehouse and the company wants to introduce real-time capabilities in that environment. We're looking for partners like Ascential Software that can get us there." Introducing Ascential DataStage TX Ascential DataStage TX, formerly Mercator Inside Integrator, transforms and routes data in transactional application environments and business processes such as consumer portals, business-to-business exchanges, and trading partner networks. The solution delivers field-proven and time-tested support for industry standards including EDIFACT, HIPAA, and X12. Ascential DataStage TX currently handles $100 billion per day in SWIFT transactions between major international financial institutions. Ascential DataStage TX is integrated into the Ascential Enterprise Integration Suite through Ascential Real-Time Integration Services. "Ascential DataStage TX rounds out and further extends the value, performance, and leadership of the Ascential Enterprise Integration Suite," said Zurek. "The incorporation of Datastage TX into our suite to support transactional data integration was resoundingly supported by our customers and partners."