BEA TUXEDO Now Available On Tandem's Mid-Range Integrity S4000 UNIX System-Based Servers; BEA's middleware provides companies with new open transaction processing options at the enterprise level.

CUPERTINO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 29, 1997--Tandem(R) Computers Incorporated (NYSE:TDM) and BEA Systems, Inc., today announced that BEA will release its BEA TUXEDO(R) enterprise transaction middleware product to run on Tandem Integrity(R) S4000 series of UNIX(R) system-based fault-tolerant servers, enabling customers to extend their options for running open distributed mission-critical applications.

BEA TUXEDO for the Tandem Integrity S4000 server, a port of BEA TUXEDO middleware Version 6.2, will be sold and supported by BEA.

Tandem's Integrity S4000 servers, first shipped in December 1995, are increasingly being used for high-performance, mission-critical applications within the telecommunications, wireless communications, and messaging market segments. BEA TUXEDO middleware supplies the underlying transaction control, messaging, application management, and global system administration needed to develop and deploy scalable, open, distributed applications.

With this release, customers will be able to leverage their existing investments in BEA TUXEDO middleware when moving transaction processing applications from other UNIX system-based platforms to the high performance Integrity S4000 server platform, and when creating applications that interoperate between Integrity S4000 servers and other servers.

"By combining the world's most widely deployed open transaction environment with our highly scalable, high-throughput Integrity S4000 servers, we are able to provide customers with an extremely powerful transaction processing solution that extends their options for mission-critical applications," said Bill Saulnier, director, UNIX System marketing at Tandem.

"Integrity S4000 servers are well-positioned to build on Tandem's traditional leadership in high-end transaction processing applications," said Jeri Edwards, vice president of strategy and product planning for BEA. "With the availability of BEA TUXEDO middleware on Integrity S4000 servers, Tandem customers now have BEA's open, distributed middleware platform available across all Tandem computing systems, providing a robust, scalable infrastructure for mission-critical enterprise applications no matter what the environment."

Integrity S4000 servers were the first products to incorporate Tandem's revolutionary ServerNet technology, which is used for implementing a system area network (SAN), as its core system architecture. With ServerNet technology's any-to-any system interconnect, servers can start small and scale up flexibly to meet escalating application performance requirements.

Cross-platform interoperability

Today's announcement builds on a long relationship between Tandem products and TUXEDO technology. The BEA TUXEDO transaction software is already supported on Tandem's fault-tolerant Integrity FT series, as well as on Tandem's Himalaya(R) massively parallel processing servers (as NonStop(R)) TUXEDO middleware).

In August 1996, the two companies announced an agreement to deliver a high-throughput, high-reliability transaction processing environment called ServerWare TUXEDO for Windows NT-based applications and Himalaya servers. BEA TUXEDO middleware for the Integrity S4000 server is planned to interoperate with ServerWare TUXEDO middleware when it is delivered in the later half of 1997.

Pricing and availability

BEA TUXEDO middleware for the Integrity S4000 server is available now from BEA. BEA TUXEDO middleware for the Integrity S4000 server is priced on a per-user model basis.

Founded in 1974, Tandem Computers Incorporated designs and delivers technology solutions that companies rely on to compete in a business that runs 24 hours a day. A US$1.9 billion company headquartered in Cupertino, Tandem has offices, strategic partners, and providers in more than 50 countries around the world. Tandem press materials are also available on NEWSdesk International on the World Wide Web at http://www.newsdesk.com.

BEA Systems, Inc., is a leading provider of cross-platform middleware solutions for enterprise applications. BEA's products enable mission-critical, distributed applications that work seamlessly in client/server, Internet, and legacy environments. BEA provides a transactional and messaging software platform based on BEA TUXEDO for developing and deploying these enterprise applications. In addition to its product line, BEA provides complete solutions through its extensive partner network and broad range of professional services. BEA is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif., with offices around the globe. Additional information on BEA is available on the Internet at http://www.beasys.com. -0-

Note to Editors: Tandem, Himalaya, NonStop, ServerNet, ServerWare, and the Tandem logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Tandem Computers Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. "System Area Network" and the acronym "SAN" are being used by Tandem as generic descriptive terms and neither is intended to be interpreted as trademarks of Tandem. Third parties are encouraged to use these terms as they are generic and descriptive. TUXEDO is a registered trademark of Novell, Inc. UNIX is a registered trademark in the United States and other countries, licensed exclusively through X/Open Ltd. All other brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

BEA is a trademark of BEA Systems, Inc. TUXEDO is a registered trademark in the United States and other countries. All other company and product names may be trademarks of the company with which they are associated.

CONTACT: Tandem Computers Inc.

Eileen Quinn Smith, 408/285-6722

[e-mail]

or

BEA Systems, Inc.

Birdie Fenzel, 908/580-3146

[e-mail]