Sequoia Software Wins Microsoft Health Care Award.

COLUMBIA, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 25, 1997--

Medstar Eases Health Care Data Development, Maintenance, Transfer,

and Access

Health care solutions - tangible benefits to health care organizations - are what managers and executives were looking for at the recent meeting of the Microsoft(R) Healthcare Users Group (MS-HUG) Conference in Las Vegas last week.

And a panel of the industry's leading experts singled out the work of Sequoia Software Corp. and seven other health care solution developers, from among hundreds eligible, as the best of 1997. Columbia-based Sequoia grabbed the top honor in the Managed Care category of Microsoft's Industry Solutions Awards (ISAs) for its trend-setting Medstar(TM) product.

Judges noted that the software substantially eases data development, maintenance, transfer, and access over widely dispersed users of disparate information management systems. Medstar is an SGML-based architecture that allows the seamless flow of data across different platforms throughout distributed health care networks.

"Consolidation of health care in general, and managed care in particular, is accelerating the pace at which providers and business partners in widely scattered locations must share information often collected and stored in wildly different systems," said Sequoia President Mark Wesker.

"Our solution is a new architecture for health care data management systems - a health care transaction server - which allows these dissimilar entities to function together using the language of the Internet," he added.

The Microsoft recognition signals even greater momentum toward the SGML language as the standard for makers and users of health care data management systems. These transaction servers can be used by health care organizations as their technical foundation or can be embedded in new equipment by Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs).

According to Anil Sethi, Sequoia's chief technology officer, "The people who make and sell almost every kind of technology-driven health care product, from anaesthesia equipment to billing and claims processing software, must confront the reality of multiple platforms. That's where the technology behind Medstar can be put to work for them and their customers.

"It's not just an enabling product, its genuine freedom from some of the most costly data management issues facing the industry," he said.

The final judging panel included 10 leading experts chosen by the nonprofit Microsoft Healthcare Users Group, an independent Ann Arbor, Mich.-based industry forum for exchanging ideas, promoting learning, and sharing solutions for information systems using Microsoft technologies.

Information about Medstar can be obtained from white papers on the subject through Sequoia's Website at www.sequoiasw.com .

CONTACT: Sequoia Software Corp.

Jeff Mason, 410/715-0206 ext. 226

[e-mail]

or

Cornerstone

Rich Badmington, 410/727-2131 (day), 410/296-6989 (eve)

[e-mail]