PTECH announces framework for Windows; Newest version brings business modeling and code generation to Microsoft Windows NT and Windows 95.

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 20, 1996--(Object World West)--Ptech Incorporated, a leader in providing software tools and solutions for business modeling and code generation, today announced the availability of FrameWork 4.0 for Microsoft Windows NT and Windows 95 for shipment by the end of the year. A tightly-integrated set of object-oriented, model-driven application development tools, FrameWork enables business and technology professionals to use a single graphical interface to design and model business processes and generate the applications and code to support them. Ptech also announced in a separate release today an addition to its portfolio of code generators, the Abstract Code Generator (ACG). The ACG, available this fall, enhances FrameWork's code generation capabilities by enabling users to apply templates supplied by Ptech or third parties or templates of their own design to produce code in any language.

With sales of Windows NT tripling during the last six months and sales of Windows 95 approaching 40 million units this month, more companies than ever are seeking robust applications that leverage the power and capability of Windows to improve competitiveness and productivity. FrameWork for Windows delivers the ability to conceptualize, model, and implement processes and information technology in new application development efforts for maximum competitive alignment.

"Continuous improvement of existing business processes through designing and implementing best practices is a top priority for corporate management, " said Oussama Ziade, president and founder of Ptech. "And for business and information technology executives whose companies compete in fast-moving markets, the pressure to do this in a timely fashion, with minimum disruption, is enormous."

"FrameWork meets the needs of both groups of executives," Ziade noted. "Its flexible KnowledgeBase captures both business processes and the rules and logic that drive them."

About FrameWork for Windows

Highly scaleable, FrameWork for Windows can be used to "reinvent" single departments or streamline an entire corporation, enabling companies to model their business processes in any order, one at a time, as the vision of their business evolves. At the heart of FrameWork is its KnowledgeBase, which captures and stores both business models and software design.

The KnowledgeBase contains all the details needed to translate business models into automated systems. As users create models of their businesses on screen, the KnowledgeBase captures the underlying semantics of the models, in real time, and ensures that models are logical and consistent. This means a significant reduction in the time required for application development.

FrameWork's graphical interface allows users to design models from a number of different views. FrameWork provides modeling capability that captures the architecture of the business solution (Activity Modeling), as well as the information structure (Object Modeling) and the dynamics of the business processes (Process Modeling). FrameWork lets users extend these basic modeling capabilities to create new ones, with new tools and even new methodologies. Users can extend models infinitely, for example to add the functions of new departments formed as a business grows into new markets.

While they are constructing models, users can navigate the KnowledgeBase with FrameWork's interactive forms and queries and instantly view any piece of information about their businesses. In addition, users can generate reports in leading document management and word processing products and reuse existing models to build new models. Best of all, users can continually enhance their business processes by making improvements to their models or additions to the model set.

Using FrameWork with the existing Ptech companion code generators, users can generate C++ header and source code, Fort" class definitions, or JAVA or CORBA IDL code directly from business models, with a click of the mouse. For object-oriented databases, the code generator produces database schema definitions and the database-specific application code to best support the application being built. More importantly, when original business goals or requirements change, users can reflect those changes by modifying their business models and then simply regenerating code from the modified designs AF without having to recode the application.

FrameWork In Use

Andersen Consulting formed the Rapid Object Application Development (ROAD) consortium to execute a DARPA Technology Reinvestment Project (TRP) on the use of20 object technology for rapid software development and delivery. Andersen Consulting and ROAD participants Raytheon, CoGenTex, and Expersoft chose Ptech as the provider of business modeling and object-oriented analysis and design software.

"We have found that FrameWork is the only medium in the marketplace that is flexible and adaptable enough to fit a customer's business process," said Colin Scott, Associate Partner at Andersen Consulting. "All other tools we examined, including Rational Rose, Paradigm Plus, Object Management Workbench, and SilverRun, require users to modify their processes to fit the tool."

Technical Requirements

FrameWork for Windows runs on Microsoft Windows NT versions 3.51 and higher and on Microsoft Windows 95. It requires a minimum of 16-24 MB of RAM, 60 MB of disk space, and a high-resolution color monitor. FrameWork is also available for Sun Solaris, DEC Digital UNIX, and Hewlett Packard HP-UX, and Ptech also provides consulting for business model design, as well as software service and support.

For more information about FrameWork for Windows, contact Ptech at 617-577-7100 or visit its site on the World Wide Web at http://www.ptechinc .com. -0-

Founded in 1994, Ptech Inc. is a privately-held software company located in Boston, MA. The company's integrated product, FrameWork, provides a complete, scaleable "concept-to-code" solution for business modeling and automation. With FrameWork, businesses can quickly respond and continually evolve in the ever-changing business world. Ptech and the Ptech logo are trademarks of Ptech Inc. All other products mentioned are trademarked by their respective manufacturers.

CONTACT: Kathryn Hughes OR Karl Scholz

Ptech Inc. Sterling Hager, Inc.

617) 577-7100 X 302 617/259-1400 X 335

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