Micro Focus Helps iGuzzini Illuminazione Migrate COBOL Legacy Applications to Open Environment.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 27, 2003

iGuzzini Illuminazione adopts Micro Focus' Server Express and Revolve to Port Its ERP Solution to the Open Source UNIX Environment

Micro Focus International Ltd. (Micro Focus(R)), today announced that iGuzzini Illuminazione, one of the leading lighting and lighting fixtures companies in Europe, has selected Micro Focus Server Express(TM) and Revolve(R) solutions to port its COBOL legacy applications to the latest UNIX environment from HP. iGuzzini Illuminazione is gaining a competitive advantage and reducing the total cost of ownership of IT assets, by exploiting the most innovative technologies available, without having to invest in high-risk and costly development and deployment.

Prior to selecting Micro Focus, iGuzzini Illuminazione standardized on a proprietary, highly customized ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) solution. The ERP application, written in COBOL, manages all European subsidiaries' active cycle, from order entry to product delivery and billing. Porting the application from HP 3000 MPE to the new HP 9000 systems, based on the HP-UX operating system, required a COBOL development environment compatible with the application to protect current technology investments.

Following multiple verifications and tests performed by iGuzzini Illuminazione, the development environment proposed by Micro Focus ensured the highest level of compatibility with the company's enterprise applications. With Server Express, iGuzzini Illuminazione's pre-existing applications can be recompiled to run on HP-UX without requiring changes to the original source code, and in turn, dramatically reducing deployment times. The Server Express deployment environment, designed specifically for high volume transaction processing and the highest levels of performance and reliability, will be used by iGuzzini Illuminazione for the deployment of distributed applications over its WAN network.

Revolve will provide iGuzzini Illuminazione with deeper insight into how applications are impacted by any changes to their code, scheduling or data. Revolve also dramatically reduces the learning curve for new developers and those who work on multiple applications, resulting in reduced cost and freed resources for new development projects.

"Our decision to work with Micro Focus has placed us in an ideal position to innovate our architecture while maintaining high level performances with lower costs," said Emidio Alfei, information technology director at iGuzzini Illuminazione. "With Micro Focus, we can migrate our standard COBOL to the new environment without having to make any changes, while beginning to gradually, seamlessly and consistently adopt innovative technologies."

The porting is expected to proceed on a step-by-step basis, starting with the roll-out of select iGuzzini Illuminazione manufacturing procedures, to ensure smooth operations within a real-world production environment. The porting of the company's entire ERP solution is expected to be completed by the end of 2003.

"iGuzzini Illuminazione joins other world-class organizations who have identified Micro Focus as a way to address the increasing pressure to do more with less," said Ian Archbell, vice-president of product management for Micro Focus. "In today's economy, companies are seeking ways to leverage existing IT investments, while keeping pace with newer technology innovations."

About iGuzzini Illuminazione

Based in Recanati, Italy, iGuzzini Illuminazione is the leading manufacturer in Italy and among the major companies in Europe within the lighting and lighting fixtures segment. iGuzzini belongs to the FIMAG Group (Finanziaria Mariano Guzzini) together with the other Guzzini brand companies Fratelli Guzzini (household) and Teuco (whirlpools). In 2002 iGuzzini Illuminazione registered consolidated revenues of 145 million euros with 848 employees.

About Micro Focus

Micro Focus is the fastest, most effective way to migrate, extend, develop and deploy enterprise applications. As the industry standard for COBOL, Micro Focus bridges business-critical legacy assets with Web services, J2EE, XML and .NET, enabling organizations to reduce costs, increase agility and minimize risk for accelerated business success. The company's software products for COBOL are among the most widely used in the industry with an estimated 130,000 COBOL developers producing applications used by more than 3,000,000 people around the world. Founded in 1976, Micro Focus is a global company with principal offices in the United Kingdom, United States and Japan. For more information, visit www.microfocus.com.

Micro Focus is a registered trademark of Micro Focus International Ltd. All non-Micro Focus products mentioned in this announcement are property of their respective owners.