CoCreate Introduces Version 8.0 of ME10, its Design, Drafting and Documentation Software; Professional Design Solution Provides Web Technologies for the Integration of Peripheral Areas, Pixel Capabilities and Usability Enhancements.

FORT COLLINS, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 20, 1997--Continuing to build on its industry-leading professional design solution, CoCreate Software Inc., a subsidiary of Hewlett-Packard Company, today announced Version 8.0 of ME10, its design, drafting and documentation software.

Version 8.0 has been improved in three major areas: better integration of peripheral departments through advanced Web and licensing technologies, integration of pixel/raster capabilities, and usability enhancements both for novice users and experienced ME10 professionals.

"Version 8.0 has been designed to support further the concept of shared-space design and CoCreate's mission to provide the product-generation environment that motivates and supports people from various departments -- or even different entities -- to create superior products," said Ulrich Mahle, director of CAD operations for CoCreate. "ME10 Version 8.0 has focused on leveraging knowledge into the design process and making it accessible to the various individuals involved in the generation of a product."

INTEGRATION OF PERIPHERAL AREAS -- WEB TECHNOLOGIES

By integrating peripheral departments such as manufacturing, quality assurance, technical documentation or sales offices into the design process, companies can leverage information-sharing throughout the entire enterprise or even with suppliers.

ME10 Version 8.0 supports advanced Web and licensing technologies. Every ME10 license is shipped with Netscape Navigator 3.0, which can be used for monitoring server licenses because the license server incorporates an HTML front end. To provide higher stability and flexibility in terms of licensing procedures on the company intranet, ME10 Version 8.0 permits users to define multiple-license servers. To make efficient use of engineering resources, ME10 now supports floating licenses, both on the PC and workstation platform.

In addition, now that they have been converted into HTML format, the context-sensitive online help and manuals are now Web-enabled. This gives users on the entire network easy access to ME10's help tools from within the Netscape browser.

PIXEL CAPABILITIES

ME10 Version 8.0 provides a new capability for working with pixel or raster data. ME10 now can import pixel information in the TIFF format and perform editing commands such as rotate, move, scale, delete, bring to the top or send to the back. In addition, extra data can be added at anytime -- with regular ME10 commands -- to the pixel data. This leads to a highly integrated hybrid (pixel and vector) data format, which can be stored and plotted.

Companies can scan paper drawings from a supplier and leverage this data into the design process. The new version of ME10 allows users to increase the information content of drawings by making a screen dump of a 3-D model with CoCreate's SolidDesigner and pasting it into the drawing or simply by pasting a company logo onto the drawing. Another aspect of the pixel capability is expected to be a great benefit to the many companies that have old, deteriorating paper drawings. With the capability of loading and viewing raster information, ME10 can access historical paper drawings that have been converted into an electronic format. This allows companies to archive historical drawings and have them readily available for use or reuse in ME10.

USABILITY ENHANCEMENTS

ME10 also has new usability enhancements that benefit novice users as well as experienced ME10 power users. These enhancements contribute to overall productivity for users working with ME10 on a daily basis.

As part of the new usability enhancements, ME10 has added new functionality to the mouse. Dynamic zooming and panning enable users to navigate through drawings the way SolidDesigner does. The customizable mouse buttons also allow faster access to frequently used commands. It now is possible to have quick access to commands or complete macros with the click of a mouse button.

The improved file browser now has the capability to preview files before loading them and provide a file history list of the previously loaded drawings. CoCreate believes that the improved overdraw function alone could result in time savings of up to 50 percent.

ME10 users on a PC platform will benefit from the new installation process, with state-of-the-art features such as a de-installation button, or from the support of Wintab-compatible tablets on Microsoft(R) Windows(R) 95 and NT.

ME10 Version 8.0 supports companies by enhancing their ability to explore more design ideas based on increased available knowledge and enabling them to capitalize on breakthrough innovations. ME10 8.0 makes a milestone contribution to a product-generation environment that allows people to work together -- to co-create.

ME10 8.0 beta software and the ME10 7.2 demo software are available to a wide range of customers through CoCreate's download service on its Internet homepage.

CoCreate Software Inc. is a software subsidiary of Hewlett-Packard Company. It develops mechanical computer-aided-design and product-data-management software that supports the concept of shared-space design. The software includes SolidDesigner for product-modeling design; ME10 for design, drafting and documentation; DDS-C for electro-mechanical design; and WorkManager for product-data and workflow management. CoCreate solutions are known for high quality, ease of use, customization capability and support of industry standards. They are available in 10 languages and are installed on more than 100,000 systems in design, engineering and manufacturing organizations worldwide.

Information about CoCreate and its products can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.cocreate.com . -0-

Microsoft is a U.S. registered trademark of Microsoft Corp. Windows is a U.S. registered trademark of Microsoft Corp.

CONTACT: CoCreate

Gary McCormack, 970/206-8067

[e-mail]

or

CoCreate, Europe

Sally Auch, [phone]

[e-mail]