Corporations can now develop strategic, Java-based enterprise applications for the first time; new version of NetDynamics takes corporate development for the Web to the next level.

MENLO PARK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 2, 1996--NetDynamics Inc. has today launched a new version of its flagship product which, for the first time, allows corporations and enterprises to develop Java-based strategic business applications for the World Wide Web.

Until now, the Web has been used for departmental and single-function applications. With the launch of NetDynamics 3.0, corporations and enterprises can now develop Web-based applications which can serve a broad-based strategic and enterprise-wide role such as supply chain management, enterprise resources planning and human resources.

Specifically, NetDynamics 3.0 continues to provide the most powerful and comprehensive Java business application development solution and includes:

-- Extension of core corporate applications to the Web, including PeopleSoft and SAP

-- Integration of the Web with legacy corporate data and enterprise services through CICS and Gradient DCE

-- Simplified tools that allow corporate developers to easily apply their years of existing development expertise to Java-based applications for the Web

"Up till now, while we have been able to develop powerful departmental applications for the Web, we have not been able to develop applications which are closely integrated to our core enterprise applications and legacy data," said Mike Onders, vice president of Key Services, KeyCorp's data services and software development division. "With this new version of NetDynamics, we can now use the Web as a strategic business tool both to run our business and build on new business opportunities. Using NetDynamics, KeyCorp now offers its commercial customers the ability to view their trust portfolio over the Internet.

Zack Rinat, NetDynamics president and CEO explained, "Our vision of the Web has always focused on its power to change the way companies do business at their core. The Web is much more than a new way to communicate with consumer markets and share information around a corporation; rather, it represents a way to directly impact a company's bottom line. We have hundreds of customers who are already demonstrating this."

Now, Rinat explained, this new version of NetDynamics allows companies not only to develop innovative applications for departments but can tie together business information, core applications and transactions throughout the entire organization and connect to the World Wide Web.

Leverage of Existing Data and Applications is Key to the Power of the Web

"For the past several decades, our customers have been gathering masses of computerized information that contributes on a minute-to-minute basis to their businesses. They have also become dependent on a variety of key business applications," said Rosalia Bacarella, CEO for Interactive Corporate Communications, an Internet software development firm in New York.

"One such customer, a AAA rated commercial financing subsidiary of a Fortune 500 corporation, needed to tie into their PeopleSoft environment to provide their 45,000 employees key online applications. We selected NetDynamics as our Web development tool for this project because it offers the ability to seamlessly tie into existing core business applications and data, like PeopleSoft, to make the Web a strategic business tool for our customers."

NetDynamics 3.0 allows access to key strategic data and applications inside of organizations through extensions to the NetDynamics Development Studio and NetDynamics Application Server. With these extensions, this new version of NetDynamics is designed to easily integrate with and extend strategic business applications to the Web. For example:

-- PeopleSoft: a complete suite of enterprise solutions for accounting, materials management, distribution, manufacturing, and human resources. PeopleSoft provides industry-specific enterprise solutions to customers in select markets including financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, higher education, the public sector, and the U.S. federal government.

-- SAP: applications to manage comprehensive financial, manufacturing, sales and distribution, and human resources functions. SAP's R/3 is accepted as the standard in industries such as oil, chemicals, consumer packaged goods and high tech/electronics.

-- Future versions of NetDynamics will offer integration with other core business applications in areas such as finance, sales force automation and customer service.

NetDynamics 3.0 also provides access to robust enterprise services and middleware, such as CICS and DCE, uniting corporate computing infrastructures proven for high volume and scalability with this new generation of Web applications. Now businesses can leverage their investments and expertise in enterprise class applications leading to more strategic business use of the Web.

Important future applications which will take advantage of this enterprise-level infrastructure include transaction processing and other real-time business applications on the Web.

NetDynamics Technology Foundation Gives Corporate Developers Instant Java-Expertise

"Java has become a critical new language for corporate Web developers," said Wayne Jackson, director of the emerging technologies division for Noblestar Systems Corporation, a professional services firm with headquarters in Virginia. "We are known in the industry for our expertise in developing business logic, application design, and our comprehensive understanding of database architecture.

"However, Noblestar's primary business goal is not learning new programming languages but to provide our customers with solutions to their business problems. Because NetDynamics leverages our existing developer knowledge base and provides such a high degree of Java automation, our consultants are able to concentrate primarily on the business logic requirements of our customers' Web applications and less on how to code them."

NetDynamics was one of the earliest development products which used Java for Web-native development, and pioneered the use of server-side Java for multi-tiered Web applications which enables applications that can grow or scale with usage.

In order to make it easy to use Java, NetDynamics' Studio development tool offers a rich set of predefined functional objects, delivered through over 200 Java classes and over 2500 Java methods. These are used to automate session control, state management, database access, application messaging, GUI display and security. NetDynamics provides one of the richest and most robust Java business application platforms.

In addition, this new version of NetDynamics offers nearly three times as many "Wizards" to automatically generate Java programming for corporate web applications. This means that corporate developers can easily leverage their existing skills to create Java Web applications and do not need to learn all the complexities of Web development first.

Also, because NetDynamics is one of the most experienced users of Java, this version of the NetDynamics applications server uses programming techniques to provide an increase in application performance as much as ten times faster than earlier programs developed with NetDynamics.

NetDynamics 3.0 is available immediately. The single developer NetDynamics Studio Developer System, which includes a single user application server, starts at $1,295. NetDynamics Application Servers start at $5,000. This pricing applies to both Windows and UNIX operating systems.

NetDynamics Inc. (formerly Spider Technologies Inc.) is a leading provider of solutions for enabling Web-centric businesses to grow their bottom line -- through cost reduction and increased revenues -- using the Net.

NetDynamics is being used by hundreds of companies as diverse as AT&T, Harvard, Key Corp., Service Merchandise, Newbridge Communications, Wells Fargo, Toys 'R Us, GE Capital, and many others. Other NetDynamics partners include Hewlett Packard, Gradient Technologies, Informix, Microsoft, Netscape, Oracle, Silicon Graphics, Sun Microsystems, Sybase, many systems integrators and value added resellers, and others.

Based in Menlo Park, the company was founded in 1995 and is funded by venture capital firms Hummer Winblad and U.S. Venture Partners and a major corporation. The company's URL is http://www.netdynamics.com. -0-

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The text of this release as well as additional background information may be downloaded from our Website at http://www.roederj.com

CONTACT: Roeder-Johnson Corporation (press info)

Abigail Johnson or Mike Brogan, 415/802-1850

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NetDynamics Inc. (customer info)

415/462-7600

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http://www.netdynamics.com