Imperial Software Technology introduces new rapid Java application development tool; Visaj gives developers increased productivity, maximum portability across multiple platforms.

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 2, 1997--Imperial Software Technology, maker of X-Designer, the popular and powerful Motif-to-Java GUI builder, today introduced its first full Java application development tool, called Visaj -- IST's Java Designer.

Visaj is a new breed of Java development tool that is written in Java, in contrast to most other Java development environments which consist of retrofitted C++. This results in the ability to run applications written with Visaj on any platform, including Java-only devices, such as the Network Computer. Visaj enhances developers' productivity by providing a point-and-click environment and an advanced layout editor for rapidly building pure Java applications.

Visaj is from the same design team that produced X-Designer, the leading Motif GUI builder. The same design elements that led X-Designer to worldwide success in the Motif market have been applied to Visaj. The rapidity and flexibility inherent in the builder shortens development times significantly, cutting time to market.

In addition, the family resemblance to X-Designer will have users of that tool up and running with Visaj faster than any comparable competitive Java builder. Visaj will integrate with all the leading Java IDEs (integrated development environment), regardless of hardware platform, further protecting users' investment in engineering skills since Java is not only a user's universal platform but also a developer's.

"We've taken our experience in developing an intuitive GUI builder and applied that to creating a tool that makes designing powerful Java applications easy," said Derek Lambert, president and CEO of Imperial Software Technology. "We also have given Java developers the most sophisticated, yet easy-to-use, layout editors. And, most importantly, by choosing to build Visaj as a pure Java tool, the resulting applications are completely cross- platform and integrate with any vendors that have written Java components," Lambert said.

Visaj allows developers to reuse components built by third- parties or in-house. This improves productivity and increases the quality of the applications. Developers write an application once using Visaj; the application then runs on any platform without a recompile. And, true to IST's commitment to its customers, Visaj preserves companies' investment in legacy Motif applications by using X-Designer to port their Motif applications to Java.

Applications built with Visaj are fully compliant with the Sun Microsystems Java Developer's Kit v. 1.1. Major features of Visaj include:

-- Pure Java: Visaj is itself written in Java, which means it can run on any platform supporting JDK 1.1 from UNIX to Microsoft Windows and, in the future, the Macintosh and other Java platforms. In addition, Visaj generates pure Java code.

-- Rapid Application Development: A fast point-and-click interface allows users to build Java applications using components based on the JavaBeans standard.

-- Full JDK 1.1 and JavaBeans Support: Visaj uses the latest JDK to provide the full advantage of Java's improved event model, and the full benefits of JavaBeans, Sun's component standard.

-- AWT Editor: The Visaj AWT (abstract windowing toolkit) wizard delivers fast construction of Java user interfaces. By providing a point-and-click palette of components, and a design tree showing the containment hierarchy, users can rapidly build the interface they want. The AWT editor fully supports all the AWT components, and any third party components based on AWT.

-- Layout Editors for AWT: Much of the flexibility of Java's visual components comes from the powerful editors and layouts. Visaj provides editors for GridBag and Border layouts, among others. It also provides a sophisticated Event editor which simplifies setting up event handling in an application. Visaj is even able to reflect the newly-created event binding in the dynamic display.

-- Granule View: The top level view presented by Visaj shows granules. These are the pieces of code which form the basic building blocks for a Java application.

-- Class Builder: The class builder, where the code is structured, makes it easy to restructure an application with drag-and-drop support.

-- Component Integration: Visaj includes Diamonds, its set of essential JavaBeans components. In addition, Visaj supports and integrates most of the leading component suppliers for Java. Visaj can make use of any third-party classes, both JDK 1.0 and 1.1 class files. This gives the developers the greatest range of choice of JavaBeans-compliant components.

"Through our collaborative efforts IST and Thought Inc. (http://www.thoughtinc.com) will provide free integrations with the CocoBase product family with Visaj," said Dan Wilson, VP of sales and marketing for San Francisco-based Thought Inc. "CocoBase will allow developers to use Visaj to preserve their code investment without recompile, as they migrate their applications from the Intranet to the Enterprise Intranet/Extranet."

Pricing and Availability

Visaj will be priced at $995 for the first license and will be available in June 1997. For more information on obtaining Visaj, contact [e-mail], or call the U.S. sales office at 415/688-0200.

Imperial Software Technology

Founded in 1982 by members of the University of London Imperial College, IST is a software engineering company recognized internationally for its exceptional technology. Its flagship product, the GUI builder X-Designer, is installed at leading corporations throughout the world including Motorola, which uses X- Designer through a worldwide corporate license, and NCR, which holds multiple site licenses.

IST also provides workbench technology to OEMs and is a leader in the development of advanced visual programming tools. The company is based in Reading, England, and Palo Alto, California. For further information, visit IST at http://www.ist.co.uk .

Thought, Inc., is a privately held company based in San Francisco. Thought Inc. has extensive experience in providing consulting expertise in relational object technologies for the past several years. Recognizing the potential of the Java language for real world distributed client/server solutions, Thought, Inc. shifted focus to Java programming to provide multi-tier, non-GUI Java based components and solutions as well as Java Training. Thought, Inc. provides the most advanced and complete solutions to tie together the development environment, CORBA/RMI object protocols and JDBC database drivers as a complete and seamless internet/intranet database access solution. -0-

X-Designer is a registered trademark and IST and the IST logo are trademarks of Imperial Software Technology Limited. Visaj is a trademark of Pacific Imperial Incorporated. Visual WorkShop, Java and all Java-based trademarks and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc., in the U.S. and other countries. Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Other companies, products and service names mentioned herein are trademarks of their respective owners.

CONTACT: Imperial Software Technology

Derek Lambert, [phone]

[e-mail]

http://www.ist.co.uk

or

Martin Communications

Andrea Martin, 415/668-2678

[e-mail]