BEA Introduces BEA M3 for Mission-Critical Telecommunications Applications.

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 9, 1998--

Built on Trusted BEA Technology, BEA M3 Provides a Safe, Simplified Software Platform for Global Telcos to Use Components While

Leveraging Current Computing Investments

BEA Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:BEAS), a market leader in mission-critical middleware solutions for Global 5000 enterprises, introduces BEA M3(TM), the world's first development and deployment platform to bring mission-critical reliability to component-based, client/server telecommunications applications. Combining the functional ease of objects with the robust, highly scalable, proven infrastructure of a transaction processing monitor, BEA M3 is designed to suit the needs of the world's largest, widely distributed, quickly changing telecommunications enterprises.

Global telecommunications companies face an array of challenges including global deregulation and privatization, integration of new computing and networking technologies, and rapid deployment of new customer services. Component-based technology offers a highly efficient environment for developing solutions to these problems. Until now, objects have not been widely deployed in high volume, mission-critical applications due, in large part, to the lack of a reliable platform that could both scale across large client/server environments and integrate with existing computing systems. BEA M3 is designed to provide such a platform and answer the stringent requirements for robust development and deployment of objects that telecommunications companies demand.

"Global telecommunications companies need a development infrastructure that enables mission-critical, scalable, transactional performance coupled with programming ease and rapid application deployment in heterogeneous environments," commented Fred Crary, vice president and general manager for worldwide telecommunications markets. "BEA M3 helps provide an evolutionary path to objects allowing users to continue to leverage their existing technology infrastructure."

"Given BEA TUXEDO's long heritage in the telecommunications industry, we believe BEA M3 is important to many telco users, since object technology has many applications in that industry and since BEA M3 is designed to help users undertake such projects at lower risk and less cost," said John Mann, vice president of research for UK-based MiddlewareSpectra, a quarterly journal focused on middleware.

BEA M3

BEA M3 sets a standard for component-based middleware that scales reliably, can be deployed in mission-critical environments within large enterprises, and has extensive industry support services behind it.

BEA M3 was built to provide the same proven software infrastructure as BEA's market-leading BEA TUXEDO procedural-based transaction processing (TP) monitor. Whether procedural or component-based, transactional middleware helps maximize the flow of messages or transactions from the client to the server and back allowing a stable platform for reliably developing, deploying, and managing scalable, multi-tier distributed applications. As the industry's first and only mission-critical object transaction manager (OTM), BEA M3 combines the production-ready runtime and transaction management environment of a traditional TP monitor with the programming ease and software reuse of object-oriented technology.

With BEA M3, BEA simplifies the transaction, messaging, back-up, fail-over, and recovery elements of mission-critical application development by transforming them into object-based components. By providing programmers with transaction-oriented services to drop in, developers in the telecommunications industry can focus on creating the specialized and differentiated applications that their markets demand.

BEA M3 is based on the industry standard Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) standard for maximum flexibility and interoperability. BEA M3 also supports other object technologies and standards, including Java, ActiveX, and DCOM.

An Evolutionary Path to Objects

Telecommunications companies face a unique array of highly complex technical challenges. One of the most important of these challenges is implementing the next generation of enterprise infrastructure while leveraging legacy systems and minimizing the disruption to existing services.

BEA M3 helps provide an evolutionary path to objects. BEA M3 can be used together with BEA TUXEDO, allowing developers to utilize either procedural or object-based programming, or incorporate both as needed. This dual approach allows IT managers to build object technology as they need to without disrupting current environments, an absolute necessity in the high-volume, transactional environment of the global telecommunications industry.

BEA M3 Meets Key Needs of Telecommunications Industry

Component-based programming platforms, such as BEA M3, help to enable developers to create business objects that much more closely match a company's strategic direction. With BEA M3, developers create objects that encapsulate not only data, but the business processes that the data refers to. For example, in BEA M3, a single object could include all of the processes related to customer account, such as services, call records, and billing history. These processes serve as the interface between the client and the data. With the business processes married so closely to application development, the traditional chasm separating the technology and business strategy sides of the house can begin to be bridged. This ability makes BEA M3 a superior development platform for strategic applications such as customer care and call center automation.

"BEA M3 is an important solution for enabling high-performance, scalable, enterprise object technology," says Tim Terry, director of architecture for Ameritech's Customer Contact Solutions Group. "Using BEA M3, we can centralize business rules from diverse systems and platforms, whether these rules are being accessed by a service representative, a customer over the Web, or through an interactive voice response system. With BEA M3, we are able to serve a wide array of customer needs and, over time, protect our business rules from changes in technology."

BEA M3 also provides an excellent match for the development of Telecommunications Management Network-oriented applications. BEA M3's interoperability with BEA TUXEDO helps enable developers to integrate new Telecommunications Management Network solutions with legacy systems while utilizing off-the-shelf systems management products. In addition, because the software objects created in BEA M3 are reusable, this helps enable the development of third-party, plug-and-play Telecommunications Management Network components.

Comprehensive Services Solutions for BEA M3

BEA Professional Services has established a broad suite of consulting services for BEA M3, ranging from mentoring to assessment. In addition, a full range of BEA M3-specific educational courses have been designed to accelerate learning and increase programmer productivity. All offerings are staffed by professionals with leading-edge skills and experience in component-based middleware. These services offer help with proof-of-concept through deployment and management of BEA M3, and are available in locations worldwide. (For further information on BEA's worldwide support services for BEA M3 please see the related press releases on the BEA Web site).

To further strengthen BEA's core services offering, BEA has established an Authorized Service Partner (ASP) program for BEA M3. This program is a strategic sales and marketing effort geared to deploying world-class consultants, trainers, and systems integrators in the widest array of BEA M3 technology implementations. The BEA M3 ASP program offers qualified consultants and systems integrators training, licenses, support, corporate marketing, and field engagement for BEA M3, enabling them to provide a rich set of services to customers who wish to design, develop, and deploy mission-critical, enterprise, component-based middleware solutions. ASP partners for BEA M3 cover a broad spectrum of service areas and geographies and include: Component Systems, Concept5, Gamma, Genesis, ISG, Object Space, PSW Technologies, Tanning Technologies, and Visual Edge.

Worldwide Technology Partners Pledge to Support BEA M3

To ensure the customers take full advantage of the power of BEA M3, BEA has established relationships with leading tools and technology vendors. Partners include leading tools vendors Compuware, Dynasty, Mercury Interactive, Optimal Networks, Prolifics, Rational Software, RogueWave, Segue, Select Software Tools, Symantec, and Visual Edge. BEA is working with other technology partners like Ardent, Informix, and Versant on product integration. Several key "Built on BEA" partners including Clarify, Mincom, PeopleSoft, and Unisys have endorsed BEA M3. The quality and breadth of these partnerships provides customers with a powerful combination of industry-leading vendors and their technologies, helping customers leverage components as the building blocks for their mission-critical applications.

A selection of leading technology platform vendors have endorsed BEA M3's mission-critical, scalable, component-based platform. These vendors recognize that with BEA M3, BEA helps provide the means for a larger audience of telecommunications developers to take advantage of the evolutionary advantages of object programming while leveraging their existing legacy applications and environments.

Platform vendors supporting BEA M3 include: Bull HN, Digital, Hewlett -Packard, Sequent, Sun Microsystems, and Unisys.

BEA Systems, Inc.

BEA Systems, Inc., is a leading provider of cross-platform middleware solutions for enterprise applications. BEA's products and services enable mission-critical, distributed applications that work seamlessly in client/server, Internet, and legacy environments. BEA provides transactional, messaging, and distributed object-based software for developing and deploying these enterprise applications. In addition to its product line, BEA provides complete solutions through its extensive partner network, and a full range of services including consulting, training, and support. BEA is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif., and has 50 offices in 24 countries around the globe. The company's common stock trades on the Nasdaq National Market under the symbol "BEAS." Additional information on BEA is available on the Internet at http://www.beasys.com

BEA M3 is a trademark of BEA Systems, Inc. BEA is a registered trademark of BEA Systems, Inc. TUXEDO is a registered trademark in the U.S. and other countries. All other products or company names mentioned are used for identification purposes only, and may be trademarks of their respective owners.

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