COGNOS ADDS OSF/1 SUPPORT; Additional Component in the Cognos Migration Story.

BURLINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--November 28, 1994 -- Cognos (NASDAQ:COGNF;TSE:CSN) today announced the immediate availability of PowerHouse, Cognos' Fourth Generation Language (4GL), with support for Digital Equipment Corporation's OSF/1 operating system, Digital's implementation of the UNIX operating system. This release is a key part of the Cognos client/server migration strategy and further extends the company's reach into the open marketplace. With this announcement, Cognos becomes one of the leading application development vendors to provide a tool for all three Digital open platforms, OSF/1 for Alpha AXP, OpenVMS for Alpha and VAX. In fact, Cognos has tested PowerHouse on Digital's latest version of DEC OSF/1, version 3.

PowerHouse applications can co-exist on different Digital platforms and easily migrate between them. Current PowerHouse applications can also be extended by adding a Windows interface. This provides a client/server-ready solution which becomes the first step toward the new Cognos graphical application development environment, Axiant. Axiant will also support OSF/1.

"This is just another example of Cognos' commitment to the migration strategy we laid out earlier this year," said Cognos vice president, Application Development Tools, Rob Ashe. "We are providing our customers with a strategic path to the future which utilizes their legacy systems.

"Our customers are also benefiting from years of close ties between Cognos and Digital," said Ashe. PowerHouse is the number one selling advanced application development language for OpenVMS VAX and AXP systems with more than 8,000 licenses worldwide. "Our support for OSF/1 is critical to our large base of Digital customers, who are benefiting from the open systems expertise available from both Cognos and Digital."

"The long-standing Digital and Cognos partnership provides Digital customers with an optimum solution in terms of reliability, flexibility, and openness" says Digital Equipment Corporation vice president, UNIX Marketing, John O'Keefe. "Cognos was one of the first with its 4GL on Alpha and now, with the release of OSF/1 support, Cognos will be instrumental in the success of DEC OSF/1 as well. Cognos is delivering on its commitment to offer flexible, open solutions to Digital users."

Customers Praise PowerHouse With OSF/1 Support

Cognos customers are using PowerHouse support for OSF/1 in their migration from proprietary to UNIX platforms, with enterprise client/server as their ultimate goal. OSF/1 support is critical for Digital customers, especially for Cognos Partners who are meeting demands for OSF/1 support from their own customers.

Visibility Corporation (Wilmington, MA), a Cognos Value- added Reseller (VAR), provides advanced information systems and services that enable make-to-order manufacturers to manage the complex process of designing and building customer-specific products. Visibility is currently utilizing PowerHouse with support for OSF/1 in the development of the new version of its VISIBILITY suite of manufacturing applications.

"Based on customer feedback, we anticipate a continued movement to UNIX-based applications in the manufacturing market," said David Caruso, Visibility's vice president of product marketing. "With support for OSF/1, PowerHouse is improving the ease-of-development and speed for releasing the VISIBILITY product on this platform."

Pricing and Availability

PowerHouse with support for OSF/1 (PowerHouse 7.33) is available immediately, directly from Cognos, at 1-800- 4COGNOS (1-800-426-4667). Prices for development licenses start at $3,000 (USD). PowerHouse runs on a number of UNIX and proprietary environments including: HP-UX, MPE/iX, MPE V, OpenVMS (VAX and AXP), AS/400 and RS/6000, DG AOS/VS, DG/UX, SCO UNIX, SunOS, Solaris, and BULL DPX/20.

Cognos develops, markets and supports -- both directly and through resellers worldwide -- advanced client/server development and reporting tools on a wide range of open and proprietary platforms, including UNIX and the Microsoft Windows desktop. Cognos is a publicly held company with dual headquarters in Ottawa, Canada and Burlington, MA.

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Axiant, Cognos and PowerHouse are registered trademarks of Cognos Incorporated. Other product or company names mentioned in this document may be registered, trademarked or service marked by their respective owners.

CONTACT: Roberta J. Carlton or

              Robert B. Greene
              Cognos Corporation
              617/229-6600