Attachmate Acquires Lanyon's Connectivity Technology and People.

BELLEVUE, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 23, 1999--

Attachmate(R) Corporation, a world leading provider of host access management solutions, announced today that it has acquired the core connectivity technology and related development personnel from Lanyon(R) Ltd. The acquisition leaves Lanyon, previously a leading supplier of both connectivity and applications technology for the travel industry, free to focus on the market for applications software for airlines, hotel chains, and other parts of the industry. Attachmate has thus gained a substantial addition to its already significant presence in the airlines industry, which further illustrates Attachmate's commitment to this line of business. Attachmate has an organizational focus on major vertical markets such as the airline industry and delivers solutions designed specifically for those industry sectors.

This acquisition further solidifies a partnership that began in 1994. Attachmate and Lanyon have been helping airlines and other travel industry companies migrate mission-critical information from their proprietary communications networks to integrated systems based on standards such as TCP/IP. The majority of the world's major airlines currently use Attachmate's software products to provide host access to IBM MVS and Unisys 2200 mainframes. These systems are typically used for reservations, cargo management, and ticket printing. This signals a move by Attachmate to consolidate product availability and support from a single vendor to simplify customer acquisition and on-going utilization of Attachmate's solutions.

"The acquisition of Lanyon connectivity software gives Attachmate greater control of technology we've been licensing for some time," said Chris Buckingham, Vice President of Attachmate's Unisys Group. "We're looking forward to combining Lanyon's airline industry expertise and technology with Attachmate's substantial marketing and selling capabilities, while retaining Lanyon's valuable distribution channel to other parts of the travel industry. We're also very pleased that Nick Lanyon has agreed to be a consultant to Attachmate on the airlines industry."

Nick Lanyon, Chairman of Lanyon Ltd., said: "Attachmate can offer our communications specialists and their customers much greater opportunities, and I look forward to continuing my relationships with them all as a consultant to Attachmate."

Lanyon's customers will experience significant benefits from Attachmate's acquisition. Immediately, enhancements will be made to Attachmate's Airlines Workstation product line which will provide a solution to the problems of migrating legacy to web communications, through easy-to-manage Windows NT ALC gateways. In addition, Attachmate's world-wide support services will be available to the 100,000 people in over 60 countries who are already using Lanyon connectivity technology. Finally, Lanyon and Attachmate's future product developments will be accelerated and will allow for innovations such as adding tightly-integrated Java support and implementations of the MATIP industry standard.

Lanyon Ltd.

In 1984 Lanyon Ltd. developed the first version of the Lanyon ALC Board for PCs, which pioneered the use of a communications co-processor to connect PCs to travel industry mainframe computers. This, together with the related software which makes it easy to build distributed systems that add value to what are sometimes very unfriendly human interfaces, is used by hundreds of hotel brands and airlines, and thousands of travel agencies.

Lanyon also announced today that the airline systems business that was conducted in Lanyon Ltd. has been separated into Lanyon Application Systems Ltd., based in London, England, and the hotel systems business into Lanyon Inc., based in Arlington, Texas. These companies provide a range of software products and services to help airlines, hotels, and other travel companies distribute their products through Global Distribution Systems and the Internet. Both companies are now 100% owned by Nick Lanyon and his family, who are increasing their investments in them so they can bring new products to market faster. The two companies have been separated to improve their focus on their respective industry sectors, but will continue to work closely together on certain projects - particularly, those involving use of XML. As a result of the Attachmate deal they will be able to offer a wider range of connectivity options with their application solutions.

Attachmate Corporation

For over fifteen years, Attachmate connectivity software has enabled mission-critical information located on Unisys and IBM(R) mainframes and midrange systems, UNIX(R) systems and DEC(R)/VAX(R) systems to be safely and securely extended to users' desktops. One of the world's largest PC software companies, with more than 10 million users, Attachmate also offers e-business solutions, management software, application development tools, and hardware to help people access and use corporate data. A team of technical support and consulting experts backs all of Attachmate's products. With offices in more than thirty countries, Attachmate products and services are available worldwide.

For information about Attachmate products and services for Airlines or Unisys environments, contact Attachmate in Cincinnati, Ohio at Tel: [phone] or [phone]; Fax: [phone]; Web: www.attachmate.com/unisys.

For information about Attachmate Corporation, contact Attachmate headquarters in Bellevue, Washington at Tel: [phone]; Fax: [phone] or toll free at Tel: [phone]. Attachmate's World

Wide Web address is http://www.attachmate.com.