ASNA Announces AVR Support for Microsoft Visual Studio 'Orcas'.

ASNA Visual RPG Continues to Improve Developer Productivity with Latest Scheduled Release

SAN ANTONIO -- ASNA, a long-time provider of development solutions bridging the Microsoft and iSeries worlds, announced at Microsoft Tech-Ed 2007 that it will release Version 9.0 of ASNA Visual RPG for Microsoft .NET Framework which works with the upcoming release of Microsoft Visual Studio 2008. The new release will enable both RPG and Visual Studio development teams to collaborate on the development of connected, secure, and compelling applications and services for the Windows .NET Framework and Windows Server 2008.

"Our success is tied directly to the success of our customers who rely on our ability to integrate the benefits of Microsoft development tools with ASNA development solutions designed for iSeries RPG applications. Our development teams continually strive to deliver new value by synchronizing our releases with those of Microsoft, just as we have done since the first release of the Microsoft .NET Framework and Visual Studio," said ASNA President Anne Ferguson. "The newest release of AVR will affirm our commitment to greater developer productivity, improved collaboration across development teams, and ease the creation of software and services."

ASNA has demonstrated through its development efforts in creating ASNA Visual RPG for .NET, ASNA Monarch, and ASNA DataGate a deep understanding and commitment to help enterprises and independent software vendors extend their applications, programs, and development resources to Microsoft .NET. ASNA leads the way for the AS/400, iSeries, and System i Community to evolve their application assets to take advantage of Web services, improved user accessibility, and high-performance application integration while leveraging the rich experience and enterprise value of existing applications, data, business processes, and development staff.

The Beta release of ASNA Visual RPG for Microsoft .NET Framework (AVR) will become available following the Beta 2 release of Visual Studio 2008. ASNA plans for its own Beta 2 release of AVR following the final ship date for Visual Studio 2008. The general release of AVR with support for Visual Studio 2008 should follow the AVR Beta 2 release by approximately 60 days.

"ASNA continues to be a leader in the market with innovative solutions for customers seeking to integrate their System i applications with the Windows platform," said Prashant Sridharan, senior product manager for Visual Studio at Microsoft Corp. "ASNA's unique approach to adapting the RPG language to .NET Framework and enabling collaborative development between RPG and Visual Studio programmers ensures that customers benefit from development efforts enhanced by the improved communications, collaboration, predictability, and reliability of Visual Studio 2008."

ASNA (Amalgamated Software of North America, Inc.) has been developing visual programming and systems software for the midrange community since 1982. ASNA Web and Windows development products include ASNA Visual RPG for .NET, DataGate, and the ASNA DataGate Component Suite. ASNA Monarch is a fully integrated solution for transforming RPG applications to the Microsoft .NET platform. ASNA is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, a Microsoft Visual Studio Industry Partner, an IBM Tools Network Partner, and an Advanced Tier Member of IBM's PartnerWorld for Developers. ASNA is also a founding member of the Midrange Alliance Program, or MAP, and an exclusive Delivery Partner for the Microsoft NXT program for ISVs. Business applications developed with ASNA Visual RPG (AVR) and DataGate are used by more than 750,000 end-users. Based in San Antonio, Texas, ASNA also has offices in Europe (Guildford, UK) and more than 20 international distributors. For more information, please visit www.asna.com.

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