Netron's Fusion, Renovator awarded "A-List" status by Open Systems Advisors.

TORONTO, Canada--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 31, 1997--

Customers say Netron's development technology eliminates pain

for large Cobol shops

Netron Fusion and Netron Renovator have achieved the prestigious "Crossroads A-List" status from Open Systems Advisors.

The designation is applied to technologies that are newly-proven in the marketplace as helping customers deliver systems of significant business value.

Netron Fusion is an application construction technology that provides developers with unparalleled productivity through high levels of reuse. Based on Netron's 16 years of component-based application development success, Netron Fusion utilizes application frameworks to rapidly build mainframe, client/server and Internet- enabled applications in large enterprises around the world.

Netron Renovator is a "re-architecting" tool that uncovers reusable functions and business rules hidden in legacy systems, extracts them for reuse, and maps them into a modular, standardized application architecture such as the frameworks provided in Netron Fusion.

Andy Staniewski, president of Netron, said, "Raw technology doesn't have any real value until it is proven in the marketplace. Netron prides itself on our customer successes. It is rewarding, though not surprising, that our customers confirm that Netron Fusion and Netron Renovator are delivering value to their enterprises."

Numbered among the key customers who use Netron's products are AT&T, The Chase Manhattan Bank, Barclaycard and Hudson's Bay.

As part of the process of designating certain technologies for its "A-List," Open Systems Advisors, an independent Boston-based consultancy, interviewed Netron executives and customers.

Its report praised Netron's technology for facilitating the construction and deployment of Cobol applications. According to the report which Open Systems Advisors has posted on its World Wide Web site (http://www.crossroads-osa.com), "Customers say Fusion reflects an intimate understanding of the needs of a large Cobol shop under pressure to cut the Gordian knot of backlog... Fusion is a change that eliminates the pain and adds pleasure to the life of a hard- working Cobol shops."

The combination of Netron Fusion with Netron Renovator, the report adds, "allows customers to re-architect the internal structure of mission-critical Cobol applications while adding needed functionality and expanding the range of supported user interfaces."

More information on Netron Fusion and Netron Renovator is available at www.netron.com .

The A-List designation for Netron Fusion and Netron Renovator was announced in conjunction with OSA's annual "Crossroads" conference, attended by hundreds of senior information technology executives.

Netron is a leading developer of application frameworks that harness the power of software reuse to achieve breakthrough results in development productivity. Organizations rely on Netron products to develop business systems that are productive, durable assets and to move existing systems into a truly open, adaptable and modular architecture. Netron has offices in the U.K., Canada and the U.S., and distributors worldwide.

CONTACT: Netron

Andy Staniewski, 416-636-8334 x260

[e-mail]

or

Edward J. Bride, 413/442-7718

[e-mail]