Sterling Commerce and Levi, Ray & Shoup partnership opens the floodgates for mainframe print data to pour out to distributed environments, including AS/400 and Windows NT.

DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 31, 1996--Sterling Commerce (NYSE:SE) and Levi, Ray & Shoup have teamed up on a product set that will move and manage print data from the mainframe out to multiple platforms, including AS/400 and Windows NT Server-based LANs between internal departments or offices and external customer or trading partner locations.

Mainframe operating systems, such as IBM's OS/390 (widely known as MVS), continue to feel pressure to be more flexible and communicate with emerging client/server platforms. One of the strongest, yet simplest, points of contention has been how to effectively and automatically distribute information from the Job Entry Subsystem (JES) spool to locations throughout the extended enterprise.

Key Players Provide Unparalleled Print Distribution

Known as the file transfer experts, Sterling Commerce and its CONNECT(TM) line of products owns 46 percent market share for data communications, according to the analyst firm the Gartner Group. Known as the enterprise print management experts, Levi Ray & Shoup's VTAM Printer Support (VPS) print distribution software is used by a majority of Fortune 1,000 companies.

In addition to the Windows NT and AS/400 platforms, the joint solution allows for JES spool files to be copied or moved between OS/390, VSE, UNIX, DEC, Tandem, NetWare, OS/2 and MS-DOS platforms.

"Many companies have a keen interest in such a product because it allows the MVS data center manager the flexibility and management control to better utilize network resources," said Ken Fitzpatrick, director of product marketing for the Sterling Commerce Communications Software Group. "And because of our companies' penetration in the Fortune 1000 market, many data centers already are using VPS and CONNECT:Direct(TM) software -- so the coupling of the two was a simple yet strategic decision."

Levi, Ray & Shoup also has a vested interest in ensuring the data center manager's success. "With fewer and fewer people in the data center, the time to explore new products and concepts is limited," said John Howerter, Levi, Ray & Shoup's vice president of product marketing. "This product requires no new knowledge and no re-training: it's simply the combination of print distribution and file transfer in a single management package."

Technical Benefits

The end result is two products that, when paired together, give MVS users a powerful new capability to manage the export and import of MVS JES spool files. Further, both JES2 and JES3 environments are supported. The products are: 1) CONNECT:Direct for MVS JES Spool Transfer Option from Sterling Commerce, and 2) the VPS/CONNECT:Direct Interface from Levi, Ray & Shoup.

An example of how the two products will be used is for credit card billing statements. A large financial institution may have more than 1 million lines of print that must be sent each night to six regional mail fulfillment houses. The VPS system recognizes the creation of those files, processes them and forwards the information through the VPS/CONNECT:Direct Interface from Levi, Ray & Shoup to the CONNECT:Direct for MVS JES Spool Transfer Option from Sterling Commerce. CONNECT:Direct then automatically executes a process for each designated location and copies the print files to the proper destination -- without human intervention.

The new products are capable of helping to maximize valuable network resources by pooling the capabilities of CONNECT:Direct and VPS. Further, the combined CONNECT:Direct and VPS system means transfers to and from the JES environment can be automatically initiated, eliminating manual intervention. The system also provides highly automated functions such as job start, process scheduling, checkpoint/restart, auto-error recovery and management of JES storage space.

The new interface option connecting VPS and CONNECT:Direct will be available from both companies Aug. 5.

Levi, Ray & Shoup (LRS) is an information technology services firm with headquarters in Springfield, Ill. LRS develops and markets the industry's leading MVS print management package, VPS. VPS has been installed on more than 4,500 MVS systems worldwide and is part of a family of products for managing print services across the enterprise. LRS is located at 2401 West Monroe St., Springfield, IL 62704 and can be reached at 217/793-3800. LRS also can be reached via its World Wide Web site at www.lrs.com or via e-mail: [e-mail].

Sterling Commerce is a subsidiary of Sterling Software (NYSE:SSW) and has its executive offices in Dallas. Sterling Commerce is a leading, global provider of electronic software products and network services that enable businesses to engage in business-to business electronic communications and transactions. Sterling Commerce has been providing electronic commerce solutions for over 20 years, and has more than 20,000 customer sites worldwide and over 1,100 employees. Sterling Commerce can be reached at 800/311-9775 or at www.csg.stercomm.com.

Sterling Software and its subsidiaries provide software products and services worldwide for electronic commerce, applications management and systems management, as well as highly technical professional services for the federal government. Sterling Software, with its headquarters in Dallas, is one of the 10 largest software companies in the world with 3,600 employees, 75 offices worldwide and an installed base of almost 40,000 customer sites in over 60 countries.

CONTACT: Sterling Commerce, Dallas

Grace Mazar, 214/868-5335

[e-mail]

or

Levi, Ray & Shoup, Inc., Springfield

Mark Brudnak, 217/793-3800, ext. 762

[e-mail]

or

MCC, Dallas

Bridget Cavanaugh, 214/480-8383, ext. 231

[e-mail]