Applix demos one of the first enterprise-aware Sun Microsystems Java web application; World Wide Web becomes transport for new kind of client/server deployment -- simplified access to enterprise data for decision support any time, anywhere in the world.

WESTBORO, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 8, 1995--At the Sun Microsystems Inc. (NASDAQ:SUNW) Java Day at its Menlo Park, Calif. campus today, Applix, Inc. (NASDAQ:APLX) demonstrated one of the first Internet World Wide Web-enabled enterprise applications.

This proof-of-concept demonstration, code named "Espresso," highlights the potential for utilizing the Java and the Internet to support interactive client/server business applications securely and efficiently.

Java, Sun Microsystem's revolutionary new object-oriented programming language for the Internet, gives users the responsiveness and infinite extensibility of the Internet. Applix's presentation is the first to show how users can interact with enterprise data using Java. In Applix's implementation, associates in any location world wide accomplish virtually anything available to an enterprise system user at headquarters. Users could develop custom reports, drill down to data sources in new ways, initiate new queries of data- bases, drop information into compound documents, e-mail or fax reports, and the like.

Applix's presentation is one of the first to address the needs of enterprise computing, extending the capabilities beyond mere information publication to include practical use of the Internet as a platform for delivering powerful application solutions outside traditional enterprise boundaries.

"Applix chose to demonstrate one of the most difficult interactive user applications -- a live spreadsheet with connectivity to real-time financial information," said Barry A. Burke, director of strategic planning for Applix. "We wanted to show how Applix's Real Time Applications and Tools, Sun's Java technology and the Internet could be combined to create an entirely new distributed computing paradigm."

"Applix's presentation is a terrific example of what can be accomplished with the power of the Java language," said Ruth Hennigar, general manager, Java Products Group, Sun Microsystems Inc. "Enterprise applications like the interactive spreadsheet that Applix showed our developers at Java Day are critical to making Java a success on the Internet and beyond."

Java-enabled applications may be accessed by any hardware device enabled with Java run time. For example, the much-discussed "Internet appliance," a new concept in hardware devices, would be able to run Java, as can a large variety of workstations and computers. Access to up-to-the-minute customer information, order entry or inventory applications, E-Mail -- even the actual spreadsheet models available on headquarters workstations and desktops -- will all be available via the Internet.

With Applix's implementation, for example, a travelling businessperson could connect directly and securely into the headquarters enterprise information systems and utilize the extensive applications and data there. A bank could provide clients with up-to-the-minute snapshots of client portfolios. A CFO on the road could check the company's financial position, directly and fully up-to-date. In addition, suppliers of large data sources -- market research firms, media measurement services, statistical bureaus -- could publish data to subscribers in any form the subscriber wants, without losing control of the data. On-line, the data would remain timely and under control of the provider.

In Applix's demonstration, the spreadsheet's computational processing remains securely within the enterprise, on a powerful server with direct network access to the enterprise's vast information resources. A small Java applet that manages the user interface, display, and navigational capabilities are downloaded to the user's Java-enabled machine at the beginning of the session, via an applet, or mini-application (after user identification and access authorization).

By running the interpretive Java browser or Java-powered browser (e.g., HotJava Netscape Navigator 2.0, Oracle PowerBrowser) the user opens this applet. The applet executes locally, communicating with the server only as new information is requested or delivered in real time, requiring little or no network traffic as the user navigates the information. Unlike traditional remote access or X-Terminal alternatives, Java is actually running a significant component of the application locally, improving the performance and response times of the Internet medium.

This functional and computational division of an application into a client and a server component is not in itself new; what is revolutionary is the potential for implementation that is fostered by Java. The concept of download-on-demand applets enables centralized security, access and revision control, assuring that the most-current application versions are being used only by authorized users. Such control over user and application version will have tremendous appeal to enterprises worldwide as they expand access to and the utility of their enterprise information resources.

"The Applix focus has always been on enabling real time decision support solutions through the application of innovative technologies," said Jit Saxena president and CEO of Applix. "With Java, we seek to leverage the proven capabilities of Applixware beyond the desktop as the first true Internet Application Suite for widely distributed decision support."

Applix, based in Westboro, Mass., develops, markets and supports Applixware, an integrated family of software applications and tools for real-time decision support and groupware. Real-time decision support provides the ability to access, analyze and publish and distribute dynamically-changing (real-time) information. Integral real time, database, communications and rapid applications development tools allow customized environments that support the efforts of widely-dispersed groups, helping them manage complex tasks and situations.. Such demanding environments as financial trading, manufacturing, telecommunications and military command and control depend on real-time data and its interpretation. Applixware provides data access applications that enable users to access information simultaneously from a variety of sources; programmable, network-enabled personal productivity applications to display, analyze, edit and distribute information throughout the enterprise; and a development tool that enables customers to create and customize applications.

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CONTACT: Dave Gayman

Applix Inc.

508.870-0300 ext 341

[e-mail]

http://www.applix.com