Percussion Software Announces Upgrade Of Rhythmyx XML Application Server.

Business/Technology Editors

Spring Internet World 2000 (Booth #1773)

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 5, 2000

- Enhancements Increase Development Efficiency and Allow Creation

of Sophisticated, Data-Driven Web Applications Without Advanced

Programming Skills -

Percussion(R) Software today announced the upgrade of Rhythmyx(TM), a native XML Application Server that effortlessly allows the addition of dynamic content to browser-based applications. Rhythmyx 1.1 combines a completely graphical interface with leading-edge Web server technologies such as XML and Java, providing Web designers and developers with the power to quickly and easily create advanced Web applications. Percussion will be exhibiting Rhythmyx at booth # 1773 at Spring Internet World 2000.

With Rhythmyx, companies can create dynamic Web applications that bring Web server and browser technologies together with corporate databases to provide employees, suppliers and business partners with access to information via the Internet. By providing universal data access, companies will increase productivity, decrease costs and save project time.

"With Rhythmyx, we are able to develop our Intranet applications in-house and avoid the expense of having to hire a programmer," said Paul Tortora, Assistant Superintendent, West Haven (Conn.) Public Schools. "We have realized our vision of using our own personnel to develop and work online with our administrative applications. People located in any one of our 12 administrative buildings can not only connect with centralized information, but also easily work with any of the applications. Rhythmyx does exactly what it claims to do - provide fast and easy-to-use tools for creating customized online applications that can be accessed and used by individuals across the organization."

Rhythmyx can be used to easily create standards-based, dynamic information management applications to automate and simplify the creation, update and approval of Web content. This allows efficient management of the content publishing process and removes the need to funnel content creation and updating through technical Web site developers. As a result, developers can focus on more technical issues related to Web site development.

Rhythmyx converts HTML pages into the XML representations of content and format using XSpLit(TM), Percussion's patent-pending technology. Designers use any existing HTML editor or authoring tool to label content fields in HTML. XSpLit then parses the HTML, splitting it into an XML DTD (defining content) and an XSL style sheet (defining format). No data access logic is ever embedded into your HTML pages, allowing any HTML designer to edit them. This separation enables Web designers to change the look and feel of the application independent of how the back-end data translates into a Web page, and makes it easier to present it differently to various audiences. This unique approach streamlines application development and lowers the cost of maintenance over the life of the application.

"At Percussion, we constantly seek new ways to enable our customers to respond to the demands of the Web," said Barry Reynolds, president of Percussion Software. "The Web is evolving at a rapid pace and companies are quickly realizing the opportunities it provides to communicate with partners, suppliers and customers in real time, thereby enhancing business processes. Rhythmyx enables organizations to create, transform and manage dynamic content for a variety of Web applications, pulling them together for delivery to users."

Rhythmyx 1.1 offers the following new feature enhancements, all of which increase content management efficiency:

--New exit points that allow Java agents to be triggered before URL request processing and prior to sending results to the target;

--DTD editing that allows more control for repeated or required fields;

--Automatic DTD merge that combines element definitions from multiple sources into one DTD;

--Workbench enhancements such as arrowheads for improved readability;

--Style sheet selection that can be based upon results of data selection; and

--Additional User Defined Function support that enables more powerful conditional statements.

Platforms, Pricing and Availability

The Rhythmyx Server runs on Windows NT 4.0 or higher. The Rhythmyx Workbench runs on Windows 95/98 and Windows NT 4.0. Contact Percussion Software for pricing information.

Percussion Rhythmyx Version 1.1 is available now.

About Percussion Software

Percussion Software (www.percussion.com) delivers innovative software and services that help customers provide timely information and content to the Web. Built on Percussion's core competency of integrating structured data with unstructured documents, these solutions support industry standards such as XML, XSL and Lotus Domino(TM). Historically, the Company has focused on solutions that address corporations' critical Domino development and administration challenges. More recently, the Company has extended its offerings to help customers respond to the demands of e-business by enabling faster deployment of information to the Web.

Founded in 1994, Percussion is headquartered in Stoneham, Mass., with an office in Los Angeles, California, and European headquarters in London, England. Percussion is a Lotus Premier Business Partner, a Microsoft Certified Solution Provider and has development partnerships with SAP, Oracle, IBM, Sybase and Informix to provide a one-stop problem resolution environment for customers. The Company has a reputation for putting customers first and foremost and ensuring they are successful using its tools in their chosen environment. In 1999, Percussion was recognized as the fastest growing high-tech company in New England and ranked 16th nationwide in the Technology Fast 500 by Deloitte & Touche. In addition, the Boston bureau of internet.com, a news and information resource for Internet professionals, ranked Percussion second on its "20 for 2000" list identifying the greater Boston area's 20 most promising, privately-held start-ups.

Notes to Editors:Percussion is a registered trademark and Rhythmyx is a trademark of Percussion Software, Inc. Java and all Java-based marks are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries. All other software and hardware products mentioned by name may be claimed as trademarks by the companies that manufacture the products. It is not our intention to claim these names or trademarks as our own.