Crystal Announces Major New Release of Crystal Reports; Crystal Reports 5.0 expands reporting capabilities, adds new report types, enables communication of database information across the World Wide Web.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 14, 1996-- Crystal, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Seagate Technology, Inc. (NYSE:SEG) and a world leader in client/server database reporting solutions, today announced a major upgrade to Crystal Reports. Now in its fifth generation, Crystal Reports 5.0 adds new reporting capabilities to provide a single tool for developers and IT departments creating reporting and data-centric documents.

Available for both 16- and 32-bit platforms, the two key components of Crystal Reports 5.0 -- the Crystal Report Designer and the Crystal Report Engine -- boast increased, object-oriented flexibility, allowing the creation of unlimited new types of reports. Version 5.0 also adds broader database support and the ability to distribute reports to end-users via popular communications infrastructures, including Lotus Notes, Microsoft Exchange and the Internet.

"Information is the lifeblood of organizations today and reporting is a core technology for distributing database information to end-users," said Greg Kerfoot, Crystal president and head of Seagate Software Information Management Group. "Crystal Reports 5.0 cements our position as a technology leader in database reporting software. With this release, we have provided an open development tool which adds intrinsic value to the corporate or departmental database."

"According to our soon to be released 1996 Markets and Trends Report, Crystal is among the fastest growing software vendors in the end-user query and reporting tools market," said Michael Joseph, Analyst, International Data Corporation.

Crystal Reports 5.0 will be available in Professional and Standard editions by Q3`96. Customers who buy Crystal Reports 4.5 as of today are entitled to a free upgrade to the new release when it ships.

Reporting the Way You Want It With Crystal Reports 5.0

New Types of Reports

Crystal Reports version 5.0 allows users to rapidly create more types of reports than ever before. New types of reports include subreports, multiple detail-section reports, form style reports, mail merge reports, conditional reports, multiple summary cross-tab reports and Web-Ready reports. For example, Crystal Reports users can now quickly and easily produce financial statements by placing summaries of unrelated database information, i.e. revenues, expenses and receivables information, as subreports within a single report.

New Ways to Distribute Information

Reports can now be exported to over 20 different formats. Enhancements have been made to popular export formats such as Word and Excel. Reports can even be exported to HTML and distributed via the Internet or Intranet. Users can also use e-mail, Lotus Notes or Microsoft Exchange as a method to distribute reports.

New Ways to Design Reports

Crystal Reports 5.0 now features a drawing style report designer. Items placed on the report, such as text, database fields, graphs, even other reports, are treated as objects. These objects can be placed anywhere on the report and can be controlled and formatted using Crystal's powerful Format Editor. Over 15 Experts, including a graphing expert with over 80 graphing styles, and 100 ready-to-run finished report designs are now included to assist users in creating reports quickly and easily.

New Data Sources

Crystal Reports Professional 5.0 now reads from over 25 PC and SQL data sources, in both 16- and 32-bit. It is expected to include native drivers for Oracle, Sybase and Microsoft SQL Server and to be able to read from other new data sources such as Microsoft Windows NT event logs, Microsoft Exchange data and Web Server Activity Logs. Crystal Reports Standard 5.0, also in 16- and 32-bit, will provide access to PC data sources only.

RAD (Rapid Application Development) Reporting for Developers

Crystal Reports can be used within any Windows programming environment to dramatically reduce application development time. Crystal Reports 5.0 includes popular programming interfaces such as ActiveX (OLE) Control, Visual Basic Customer Control (VBX), MFC Class Library with AppWizard and Delphi Visual Component Library (VCL). Crystal's Report Engine DLL and open API allow developers to seamlessly integrate reports into their database applications. Crystal Reports Professional 5.0 will provide 110 Report Engine DLL calls. Crystal Reports Standard 5.0 will provide 35 Report Engine DLL calls.

Computer Based Training Available For Crystal Reports version 5.0

To help customers take advantage of the new Crystal Reports 5.0 toolset, Crystal is introducing a Crystal Reports 5.0 New Features Interactive Learning CD. Scheduled to be available in Q3'96, the New Features Interactive Learning CD, developed by Multimedia Learning Systems (a division of Compunnel Software Group), contains over four hours of detailed instruction and is intended to provide immediate productivity on Crystal Reports 5.0.

Pricing and Availability

Crystal Reports Professional 5.0 retails at an SRP of $US395 or an upgrade price of $US199. Crystal Reports Standard 5.0 retails at an SRP of $US195 and upgrades are available for an SRP of $US79. The Crystal Report Engine, which developers use to integrate reporting into their applications, can be distributed royalty free. The New Features Interactive Learning CD retails for an SRP of $US99. As of today, customers purchasing Crystal Reports 4.5 can register for a free upgrade to Crystal Reports 5.0 by contacting Crystal directly. Crystal software is available through Crystal's extensive network of resellers and distributors. For more information or an online product demo, visit Crystal's Web site at www.seagate.com/software/crystal or contact Crystal directly at 1-800-877-2340 or [phone].

Crystal, a Seagate software company

Established in 1984, Crystal shipped the first report writer for the Windows operating system in 1992. Crystal Reports is now the number one award-winning reporting tool with over two million units shipped, and is bundled with over 125 shrink-wrapped products including Microsoft Visual Basic 4.0 and Visual C++ 4.0. Crystal's product line includes Crystal Reports Standard and Crystal Reports Professional 5.0 (report writers), Crystal Info 4.5 (a three-tier reporting system), Crystal Reports 5.0 New Features Interactive Learning CD and Crystal's 101 Reports for Microsoft BackOffice CD. Crystal is located in Vancouver, B.C. Canada and operates as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Seagate Technology, Inc. (NYSE:SEG). Seagate Technology, Inc. is a data technology company that provides products for storing, managing, and accessing digital information on the world's computer and data communications systems. Seagate is the largest independent disc drive and related components company in the world. Seagate's home page address on the World Wide Web is http://www.seagate.com. -0-

NOTE: Copies of previous Crystal press releases and corporate and product information are available on Crystal's World Wide Web site, at http://www.seagate.com/software/crystal. Product and company information can also be found at the Crystal's CompuServe forum (GO REPORTS).

Seagate and Seagate Technology are registered trademarks of Seagate Technology, Inc. Seagate Software is a trademark of Seagate Technology, Inc. Crystal Computer Services is either a trademark or a registered trademark of Seagate Technology or one of its subsidiaries. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

CONTACT: Crystal

Matt Dion, 604/893-6329

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Janine Crawford, 604/893-6392

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