IBM and development partners unveil new software technology in Music City, USA; Three thousand software developers convene for IBM Technical Interchange.

NASHVILLE, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 23, 1996--Three thousand software developers from around the world today converged on the home of country music for the IBM Technical Interchange '96 (April 23-26).

An Annual conference, Technical Interchange offers software developers the opportunity to explore the latest in software technology and discuss the best way to apply that technology to match the requirements of today's business environment.

"Technical Interchange is a gathering of the best and the brightest software developers from around the world," said Gian Carlo Bisone, general manager of software marketing, Software Group, IBM. "Strong independent software support is crucial to the success of our products and we are delighted with the level of attendance. IBM has two priorities this week: to share our new technology with developers and to listen and learn so that we continue to make it easier for these companies to do business with IBM."

Reflecting its importance, the Technical Interchange is a major forum for new product announcements showcasing application development and systems management as well as speech recognition and Internet access and support.

IBM hit the headlines today with a range of new products and programs all designed with a common purpose: to make computing in a complex and highly-networked world easier for developers, users and information technology managers.

Tires of pecking at a computer keyboard? IBM brings relief with the 'tell-your-computer-what-to-domagic' unveiled in an early copy of the next version of OS/2 Warp, code-named Merlin. With built in speech navigation and dictation capabilities, the new operating system takes the concept of ease-of-use to another level for personal computer users around the world. Other improvements include a user interface incorporating an enhanced version of Lotus SmartCenter and easier-than-ever Internet access.

Demonstrating leadership in enabling the integration of heterogeneous networks and applications, IBM continued its roll out of the Enterprise Communications family of server and clients. The Communications Server for OS/2 and AIX, part of the recently announced IBM Software Servers, represent a leap forward in communications solutions.

To help small to mid-size System/390 users upgrade to new technology, IBM announced new enterprise computing hardware and software offerings that reflect an open, total solution approach to business problems. These include a new server called R/390, which combines a RS/6000 computer with an integrated S/390 processor card, providing customers with the flexibility to exploit both S/390 and UNIX capabilities in the heterogeneous world of network computing.

And a Year 2000-ready version of the VSE/ESA operating system which provides companies with the tools they need to make the necessary systems modifications so that date changes are not problematic on January 1, 2000.

Designed to help commercial solution developers grow their business and benefit from teaming with IBM, the company announced the Solution Developer Program. This new program streamlines and improves support for companies, large and small, writing applications and programs that run on IBM hardware and software platforms.

Contributing to the growth of component commerce, which makes it easier for developers to build and maintain applications, IBM announced that software developers can now download SOMobjects Version 2.1 from the Internet at no charge. This enables developers to take advantage of standards-based System Object Model (SOM) technology for creating and using component software. In addition, IBM announced the early availability of the next release of SOM, SOM 3.0 for OS/2, as well as a new World Wide Web site for SOMobjects support and information -- SOMware on the WEB is at http://www.software.ibm.com/objects/somobjects.

Making it easier for AIX users to access the Internet, IBM announced the latest release of its AIX operating system (Version 4.2) which includes new features that enhance portability, scalability and usability, while adding significant new Internet capabilities and packaging options.

The following software development partners will also be making announcements: Computer Data Strategies, Development Technologies, MGI, Softouch Systems, Stardock Systems, Pinnacle Technology, Syntegration and T4 Systems.

For more information on IBM Technical Interchange and the excitement in Nashville this week, visit the show's web site at http://www.austin.ibm.com/developer/conferences/ti_96.

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