Objectivity Helps Joint Military Sites Plan And Execute Missions On The Web; BBN Technologies Selects Objectivity/DB for New Web-based Military Planning System.

Business/Government & High Tech Editors

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 10, 2000

Objectivity, Inc., the leading provider of distributed, scalable objected databases, today announced that BBN Technologies, a leading developer of military planning and execution tools, has chosen Objectivity/DB for Web Planner, BBN's new Web-based military planning system.

Web Planner replaces BBN's popular TARGET environment, which was also an Objectivity-based application.

BBN's Web Planner accelerates multi-staff coordination during the situation assessment, planning and execution phases of joint military operations, often supporting hundreds of simultaneous users. The primary impetus for the development of Web Planner was to deliver analysis tools on Web pages to accelerate collaboration during these phases. Objectivity's object-oriented database provides the response time and scalability required for this mission-critical application. Web Planner uses a client/server architecture developed in Java. Client tools are applets and applications that run on Solaris, Hewlett-Packard, Windows NT and Macintosh platforms. The server software currently runs on Windows NT.

Web Planner is the first fully integrated set of tools capable of supporting the military planning process in multiple sites. The Operations Planning Team (OPT) director includes templates for assembling and sharing plan information adapting plans to the current situation. The Course of Action Selection Tool (COAST) assists in developing alternative courses of action. Force Management Tool (FMT) helps identify readiness of forces, assign forces to plans and transmit force employment packages to deployment planning tools. Joint Assistant for Deployment and Execution (JADE) helps match force capabilities with tasks and generate force and deployment data. Turbo Planner produces joint plans, orders and messages.

"The ability of Objectivity/DB to provide the performance and scalability we required is key to its success," said Susan Banks, Division Engineer for BBN Technologies. "Military officers are among the most demanding software customers. They require instantaneous response at all times of the day."

"We have growing number of Government customers and military contractors that are building mission-critical applications on Objectivity/DB because of its unsurpassed reliability, performance and scalability," said David I. Caplan, president and CEO of Objectivity, Inc.

About BBN Technologies

For over 50 years, the name BBN Technologies has been synonymous with technical diversity and innovation. BBN Technologies has pioneered a number of firsts: the development of the ARPANET, the forerunner of today's Internet; the first packet switch; the first router; and the first network e-mail using the @ sign. BBN Technologies also designed, built and operated the Defense Data Network. Today, BBN Technologies, a part of Verizon Communications continues to conduct leading-edge research and development of advanced technology solutions. These technology areas include system integration; distributed, collaborative applications; speech recognition; wireless and satellite networking; network architecture and management; information security; structural acoustics; sensor signal processing; and real-time, multiprocessor systems. BBN Technologies received the 1999 IEEE Corporate Innovation Recognition Award for "pioneering contributions to computer networking technology through the development of the first packet switch, the ARPANET Interface Message Processor, and the Terminal Interface Message Processor." More information about BBN Technologies can be found at http://www.bbn.com.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ), formed by the merger of Bell Atlantic and GTE, is one of the world's leading providers of communications services. Verizon companies are the largest providers of wireline and wireless communications in the United States, with 95 million access lines and 25 million wireless customers. A Fortune 10 company with more than 260,000 employees and approximately $60 billion in 1999 revenues, Verizon's global presence extends to 40 countries in the Americas, Europe, Asia and the Pacific. For more information on Verizon, visit www.verizon.com.

About Objectivity, Inc.

Objectivity, Inc., is the leading provider of distributed, scalable object databases with unrivaled support for mixed-language development and mixed-hardware environments. Objectivity boosts developer productivity, shortens time to market and provides the ideal platform for mission-critical applications requiring continuous performance and adaptability to future technologies.

Objectivity, Inc., is headquartered in Mountain View, California, USA. For more information, contact Objectivity by e-mail at [e-mail], on the World Wide Web at http://www.objectivity.com or by calling [phone].

Note to editors: Objectivity/DB is a trademark of Objectivity, Inc. All other company or product names mentioned herein remain the property of their respective owners.