STARTech Adds BigiSoft Inc., Developer of Vertex 2000 Software; Center's Fifth Start-Up Provides Y2K Solution for IBM MVS Mainframe COBOL.

RICHARDSON, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 13, 1999--STARTech(TM), the Richardson-based Business Development Center, announced today the admission of BigiSoft Inc., a nine-month-old company providing Year 2000 software tools for organizations with mainframe computers. STARTech has admitted five high-tech start-up firms in the past year.

BigiSoft (pronounced bih-gee-sahft) is a Richardson-based software company focused on global organizations - commercial, federal, educational, U.S. and international - with IBM MVS mainframe COBOL applications that require testing, contingency planning or remediation to solve their Year 2000 problems.

The firm's Vertex 2000 software and the associated patent-pending technology are the brainchild of BigiSoft Chief Scientist Bob Bemer, creator of the ASCII text standard, the method by which small computers translate letters and numbers from the keyboard into digital language they understand.

"BigiSoft is a welcome addition," said Matt S. Blanton, president of STARTech. "The firm will benefit in multiple ways from relationships with our tremendous network of stakeholder companies, mentors, venture capital firms and service support firms," Blanton emphasized. "Our VC firms now have more than $3 billion in funds under management."

Speaking at a recent meeting of STARTech's Stakeholders Advisory Board, BigiSoft Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Ron Brittian said: The lights will not go out on Jan. 1, 2000, but they "will flicker in a few places." Brittian acknowledged the Y2K problem "has been overblown, but there are a number of specific instances where it will be a problem."

BigiSoft's tactical approach to the "millennium bug" is a strategic alternative that includes:

-- A unique testing capability that allows compliance testing with

aged data, independent verification and validation (IV&V) of

previously remediated systems and a higher confidence level of

readiness.

-- A risk-managing contingency solution to provide a backup plan for

remediation of Tier 2 or Tier 3 applications, and for unexpected

failures in mission-critical applications.

The Vertex 2000 software corrects the Y2K problem by fixing the data, compressing four-digit year fields into existing two positions without making changes to the program source code. This solution works at machine speed rather than requiring the traditional manual source program changes. Millions of lines of code can be accurately remediated in days and weeks instead of months.

BigiSoft has raised about $3 million in private equity financing to help develop sales and marketing and hopes to attract an additional $1.5 million to accelerate market entry of its product. The firm has begun signing up resellers and distributors to handle Vertex 2000 and expects to double it staff to 30 employees by the end of 1999.

"The management team at BigiSoft is comprised of seasoned executives with backgrounds in vendor software businesses, start-ups and venture capital, a prime reason for entry into STARTech," noted Blanton. "The key individuals have worked together in previous businesses."

Brittian has 35 years experience in the software industry with such firms as Texas Instruments; Sevin Rosen Funds, where he was a partner in the Dallas VC firm, and UCCEL. Brittian was a co-founder of Citrix Systems (Nasdaq:CTXS), an enormously successful maker of computer-server products. The Florida firm had a market capitalization of $3.7 billion at year-end 1998, with shares trading in the $87 range.

Additionally, Bemer also developed the escape sequence which helped in the development of laser printers and cursor movement, and even coined the name "COBOL," a computing language in which the year 2000 problem is often found.

STARTech expects its entries to do $50 million a year in revenues after five years. Brittian believes BigiSoft will have Y2K bug work long after the key date, since many firms are simply "patching the problem with a temporary fix, and will need a long-term solution."

Overview

STARTech has attracted more than 20 Stakeholder companies. The for-profit Technology Business Development Center helps with introductions to leading technology firms in the Telecom Corridor(R) and North Texas. It provides start-up capital from a $4 million seed fund generated by member venture capital firms. STARTech can provide counsel and assistance when a firm seeks first-round venture funding.

A broad array of services is available from the STARTech Stakeholders, including accounting, banking, legal, public relations/marketing, real estate, recruiting and engineering/technology firms. STARTech is actively soliciting business plans for evaluation with the objective of identifying firms with significant growth potential.

For more information, contact STARTech at 972/664-0999; fax [phone] or on the Web at www.startech.org. Contact BigiSoft Inc. at 972/671-5999, or visit www.bigisoft.com.

For print or broadcast interviews contact: Preston F. Kirk, Sr. Associate, PRTek, Inc., 972/690-8446, [e-mail], or Cynthia Stine, President, PRTek, Inc., 972/276-5724, [e-mail].

For BigiSoft, contact Roy Miller, [e-mail], or Matt Ricketts, [e-mail], Michael A. Burns & Associates PR, 214/521-8596.