DaimlerChrysler Services Management Awarded 'Best Service' for Progress-Based Application With SonicMQ Integration.

Business/Technology Editors

BEDFORD, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 15, 2002

Award-winner Uses Progress(R) OpenEdge(TM) for Front Office Systems,

Integration, and Web-enablement; Cited for Functionality,

Transparency, User-friendly access, and Ease of Customization

The Progress Company, a business unit of Progress Software Corporation (Nasdaq:PRGS) and a leading supplier of technology for building e-business solutions, today announced DaimlerChrylser Services Fleet Management (DCSFM), the enterprise multi-brand leasing division of automotive giant DaimlerChrylser Group, has selected the Progress(R) OpenEdge(TM) platform for their front office systems and to develop an innovative extranet site for users. DCSFM is also using Sonic Software's SonicMQ(R) messaging backbone, the integration component of OpenEdge, to integrate their Oracle, Prolog, and Progress-based business applications. For its work with Progress Technology, DCSFM has recently been named "Company of the Year: Best Service" by L'Automobile et L'Enterprise, the leading industry magazine in Europe.

Fleet owners, industry experts and professional journalists voted on the best offerings, with DCSFM beating out GE Capital Fleet Services and Fiat-owned Midas for the top spot in the `Best Service' category. The criteria for the award included functionality, transparency, user-friendly access, and the capacity to be customized, the very attributes on which Progress has built its reputation. Specializing in the long-term leasing of auto fleets to corporations, DCSFM has developed four different Business to Consumer (B2C) and Business to Business (B2B) applications to simplify the management of auto fleets. This includes applications from Progress independent software vendor (ISV) Car Systems, which supports administration, leasing management and maintenance monitoring. In the future, these innovative new Progress technologies will allow the fleet manager to communicate with the driver through onboard computers in the car. DCSFM's extranet site, which allows managers to track key indicators for their fleets, was also developed using the Progress OpenEdge platform.

For Car Systems, the leading supplier of technology for the European fleet leasing industry whose 150 customers includes Europcar, Budget and Rent-a-Car, the decision to build on the Progress OpenEdge platform was easy. "The Progress database is versatile enough to function on a PC or a large Unix server with very reasonable licensing fees," said Pascal Blanc, commercial director for Car Systems. "In addition, Progress has always made good strategic decisions, especially with regards to Windows NT and Internet technologies."

Progress OpenEdge is a comprehensive platform that provides all of the tools and technologies that companies need to build highly scalable and flexible e-business applications. The Progress database and its integrated development environment offers end users the lowest visible cost of ownership (http://www.progress.com/releases/2002/011402.htm) and enables application developers to concentrate on delivering business value through domain expertise. DCSFM quickly realized it needed to integrate its different applications in order to avoid replicating or losing data when transferring information from one system to another, which is unproductive and leaves a wide margin of error. They looked at several different options and decided on Progress OpenEdge because of its ease of use, high scalability, and secure standards-based Internet middleware.

"We selected OpenEdge because it is based on open standards and offers the easiest system to implement and administer," explains Cristof Thomas, IT manager at DCSFM. "It is ideally suited to our needs and will easily scale as those needs grow."

About Sonic Software Corporation

Sonic Software enables reliable interoperability of software applications within and across enterprises based on Web services and Internet messaging standards. Sonic products provide advanced security capabilities, unmatched performance and scalability, and guaranteed delivery of mission-critical information.

Sonic is the world's fastest growing Internet middleware company and counts leaders in financial services, energy, telecommunications and manufacturing among its over 500 customers. Sonic is an independent operating company of Progress Software Corporation (Nasdaq: PRGS), an over $250 million software industry leader with customers in over 100 countries. Headquartered in Bedford, Mass., Sonic Software can be reached on the Web at sonicsoftware.com or at [phone] or 1-866-GET-SONIC.

About the Progress Company

The Progress Company is a global supplier of software technology and services for developing, deploying, integrating and managing e-business solutions. The company provides a comprehensive suite of products that includes application development tools, application servers, messaging servers, and the industry's most widely used, lowest-cost-of-ownership embedded database.

The Progress Company's partners include more than 2,000 independent software vendors (ISVs) and application service providers (ASPs) who supply annually over $5 billion in Progress(R)-based applications and related services. Over 50,000 organizations across more than 100 countries--including 70 percent of the Fortune 100--rely on Progress-based applications. The Progress Company, an operating unit of Progress Software Corporation (Nasdaq: PRGS), is headquartered in Bedford, Mass., and can be reached at 1-781-280-4000 or on the Web at www.progress.com.

Progress and OpenEdge are trademarks or registered trademarks of Progress Software Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. SonicMQ is a registered trademark of Sonic Software Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. Any other trademarks or services marks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.