Ravel Software Launches Suite of Euro Conversion Tools.

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 30, 1998--Ravel Software, Inc.,(TM) a leader in applications software maintenance tools and services, today announced the first of its UNRAVEL euro tools, with immediate support for Oracle Forms, PL/SQL, Oracle Reports and Cobol.

These tools are complete shrink-wrapped solutions developed to identify and analyze the impact of currency-related variables on financial applications. All companies with business in Europe will need to handle the new EMU and native currencies beginning January 1, 1999.

Similar to the UNRAVEL 2000 suite of products, the euro tools are designed for simple installation on Windows 95 or NT systems. The tools are also based on a powerful parsing engine and include an easy-to-use "walk-though" wizard interface that will be familiar to all users of Ravel's family of client/server Y2K tools. Programmers will be guided through impact assessment, pre-change analysis, reporting, and project planning.

Automatically generated project plans will answer MIS' key concerns such as: -0-

--   Which of my programs are currency dependent?

--   Which variables, functions and lines of code are affected?

--   What will it cost in time and manpower to update the programs?

-0-

Ravel's euro offering takes an approach different from other maintenance workbench tools. The product is divided into two, separately sold modules for each language environment: impact assessment and remediation. The low-cost impact assessment tools will report all the details of the code analysis and allow management to decide how to proceed with modifications.

The second set of tools, compliance editors, will allow for insertion of business-specific code to handle the transition from national to euro currencies, and allow the company to continue operations during the dual currency phase. Ravel software will release these second-phase tools later in the year after customer testing is complete.

"The day when companies will be required to implement the euro is fast-approaching, and Ravel Software is well positioned to address the MIS needs not only of Europeans but also of any organization trading with Europe. I am confident that our approach to the complex currency situation will quickly and efficiently be resolved with the euro conversion tools we offer, allowing our customers to focus on the more important issues of running their business," said Dave Ghosh, CEO of Ravel Software.

According to Dr. Bill Cureton, chief architect of the UNRAVEL euro tools, the conversion to the EMU is substantially a more complicated issue than that of the Year 2000: "You can't just take your average scanner and look at code for currency symbols. It takes a rather sophisticated understanding of languages and financial transactions to understand how large a task the conversion will be." In addition to currency variables, the UNRAVEL euro tools identify literals, rounding functions and comments.

The UNRAVEL euro family builds on the experience of Ravel's Y2K offerings. These tools have a similar user interface to that found in the C/C++, Visual Basic, PowerBuilder and Unix Shell products (sold under Viasoft's OnMark brand name) as well as the UNRAVEL 2000 products for Oracle Forms, Oracle Reports, Perl, SQL, FoxPro, SQR, JAM and Cobol. The new UNRAVEL euro tools are priced at $2,995 each per seat.

About Ravel Software, Inc.

Ravel Software, Inc. is a privately held application software tools and services provider with headquarters in San Jose, Calif. Founded in 1995, Ravel is a leader in shrink-wrapped Y2K tools, enterprise integration tools and application migration services.

Serving both client/server and mainframe environments, Ravel offers tools for 19 languages designed to aid organizations in impact assessment through remediation of their Year 2000 problem, maintenance tools to handle the euro conversion, and migration/integration tools for Oracle environments.

Ravel distributes their products directly, through major OEM's such as Viasoft, through strategic relationships such as the Oracle Millennium Provider program, and through a worldwide set of alliance partners. They may be reached at 408/955-1990 or at www.unravel.com on the Internet.

    CONTACT:  Ravel Software, Inc.
               Kathleen Means, 408/955-1990 x5922
               [e-mail]
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               Michelle Alexander, 650/653-2775
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