Dharma Systems and Secant Technologies Collaborate to Enable Application Servers to Integrate with Legacy Applications.

High Tech & Business Editors

NASHUA, N.H.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 12, 2000

Partnership Offers an Integrated, Cost Effective Solution For

Rapid Development of Web-based Initiatives

Dharma Systems, a developer and marketer of e-Business solutions that create online value from offline assets, announced today that it will partner with Secant Technologies, a provider of application server technology to enable Secant Extreme Enterprise Server to integrate with legacy applications.

Dharma System's eUnify(TM) solutions enable the business rules and information contained in existing legacy applications to be integrated into Secant's solution without custom coding. By extending the capabilities of the application server to integrate with legacy applications, Dharma eUnify simplifies the creation of new solutions that support e-Business initiatives. It is this capability that allows the creation of new online value from existing offline assets.

"Businesses want to leverage in-house applications and business processes for Web-based solutions, not exclude or abandon them," said J. Sasidhar, president of Dharma Systems "The key is maintaining consistency with existing business rules and processes while forging ahead with new e-Business applications. Dharma Systems and its Dharma eUnify offering--in partnership with Secant Technologies--offers an integrated, cost effective solution that complements the existing IT infrastructure with rapid development of Web-based initiatives."

"This partnership allows corporations to reuse existing systems when creating advanced software applications, and will significantly increase the efficiency and productivity of software development teams and reduce time to market," said John Pompeii, Secant CTO. "We are very excited about the benefits this brings to new and existing customers."

Dharma eUnify provides bi-directional access to applications via industry standard JDBC, XML and ODBC techniques. Most developers are able to implement immediately because the need for custom data access coding, knowledge of proprietary tools or learning complex application interfaces is eliminated. This significantly simplifies development and speeds deployment of the new applications. The Dharma eUnify approach also makes it easy to enhance these new applications with the incremental addition of new information sources.

"The average company has many critical applications and most need to be leveraged to implement e-business solutions," said Sasidhar. "Dharma eUnify makes access, integration and use as simple as if there was just one application."

About Secant Technologies

Secant Technologies, Inc. is the leading provider of application server technology for building, deploying, hosting and managing the most demanding e-Business applications. With an emphasis on object-oriented and Internet technologies, Secant provides a complete platform for enterprise-caliber technology based on open standards. Organizations that have recognized business benefits from the use of Secant's products include XOL.com, Lockheed-Martin, Siemens, Deutsche Bank, i2 Technologies, Detroit Edison, Triton Container, and Susquehanna Partners. Founded in 1995, Secant Technologies is headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio. More information is available at http://www.secant.com.

About Dharma Systems

Dharma Systems, is a leading supplier of e-Business solutions that create new online value from offline assets. Headquartered in Nashua, N.H., the company has offices in San Mateo, Calif., Raleigh, N.C. and a wholly-owned subsidiary in Bangalore, India. Current Dharma partners include Lucent Technologies, Agilent Technologies, Unisys, Objectivity, Versant and BMC Software.

For more information, please telephone Dharma Systems at 603-886-1400; fax [phone]; e-mail [e-mail], or visit http://www.dharma.com.

Secant Extreme and Extreme Enterprise Server are trademarks of Secant Technologies, Inc. All other products are trademarks of their respective rightsholders.