ClientSoft Announces ServiceBuilder Web Services Consumption 2.0; Solution Enables Mainframe Applications to Consume Web Services From Distributed Platforms.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 29, 2004

ClientSoft, the leader in secure, high-performance legacy integration solutions for Microsoft .NET, Java and Web services environments, today announced the general availability of ServiceBuilder Web services Consumption (WsC) 2.0. A member of the ServiceBuilder product suite, ServiceBuilder WsC offers enterprise developers a comprehensive tool set that enables mainframe applications to consume Web services from more modern service-oriented architectures (SOA).

"Mainframe-based enterprises can increase their flexibility and reduce their risk by restructuring established systems around a Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA)," states Gartner Analyst Dale Vecchio. "Mainframes can provide a robust SOA platform that should be thought of as both a publisher and consumer of Web services. This approach provides the strongest leverage of an existing application portfolio as well as the strong quality of service of the platform."

ServiceBuilder WsC empowers the mainframe within more modern service-oriented architectures, allowing developers to not only publish mainframe transactions as Web services, but also permit the mainframe to consume service-centric functionality residing on distributed platforms such as J2EE or Microsoft .NET. Key features of ServiceBuilder WsC include:

-- Rich development environment integrated with Visual Studio

2005

-- Integrates with a wide variety of mainframe languages /

environments including COBOL, Natural, CA-IDEAL, ASSEMBLER,

FORTRAN, and PL/1

-- Automatic parsing of Web services into COBOL copybooks

(WSDL-First Development)

-- Generation of runtime infrastructure

-- Generation of COBOL programs from copybooks

-- Generation of JCL for compilation and testing of new COBOL

programs

Therefore, by enabling mainframe applications to easily communicate with Web services, ServiceBuilder WsC provides the mainframe community with seamless access to a wide array of Web service data sources - CRM systems, ERP applications, and distributed databases to name a few.

"By enabling the mainframe to effectively consume Web services functionality," adds Angelo Renna, Vice President of Information Technology at Electric Insurance, "ServiceBuilder WsC gives us an impressive level of architectural agility as we truly incorporate the mainframe into the service-oriented world."

To date, ServiceBuilder WsC has enjoyed success with a number of ClientSoft customers. With ServiceBuilder WsC, these organizations are allowing the mainframe to leverage Web services that provide capabilities for such things as:

-- Terrorist threat level assessment

-- Email address validation

-- Insurance policy rating

-- Faxing

-- Database Access

-- SWIFT transformation

By permitting the mainframe to reuse the functionality of more modern systems via Web services, ServiceBuilder WsC allows enterprise organizations to enhance the viability of the mainframe platform as a whole. Other benefits of ServiceBuilder WsC 2.0 include enhanced security features, increased performance metrics and scalability, as well as a reduction in mainframe cycles and overall footprint on the mainframe.

About ClientSoft

Founded in 1987, ClientSoft is the leader in secure, high-performance legacy integration solutions for Microsoft .NET, Java, and Web services environments. ClientSoft customers include, Allstate, BearingPoint, Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina, Carrefour, Credit du Nord, Do it Best Corp., R.J. Reynolds, Federal Express, GE Capital Bank, Motorola, Sara Lee, The State of California, The Singapore Stock Exchange, Miami-Dade County, and Wells Fargo. More information is available at www.clientsoft.com or 1-888-716-1007.

Other product or service names mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners.