Sterling Software Ships VISION:Flashpoint 3.2; New version dramatically improves the speed of development.

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 31, 1995--Sterling Software Inc. (NYSE:SSW) today announced the shipment of VISION:Flashpoint 3.2, the first product shipped by the newly formed Applications Engineering Division since the acquisition of KnowledgeWare by Sterling Software on December 1, 1994.

Formerly known as KnowledgeWare's Flashpoint, VISION:Flashpoint sets a new standard for legacy extension and GUI development tools for ease of use and productivity.

VISION:Flashpoint is a Windows-based tool for creating graphical user interfaces for existing applications, as well as integrating a variety of applications at the desktop. With VISION:Flashpoint, developers can integrate applications from host, LAN and workstations into a single user-oriented desktop, extending the value of host-based systems while maximizing the benefits of client workstations.

"In today's competitive business environment, organizations are looking for solutions that protect their investments in existing applications," said Carole Morton, president of the division. "VISION:Flashpoint 3.2 offers an immediate, efficient way to leverage the information and processes residing in existing host systems."

New Developer Desktop

The new developer desktop in VISION:Flashpoint 3.2 allows easier access to editors and other design and development tools. Each editor now puts context-sensitive help and tools at the developers fingertips. Standard interface and navigation methods consistent with other Microsoft Windows 3.1 tools enhance design capabilities and boost productivity. Robust, customized interfaces can be created quickly and easily using point-and-click development techniques.

To streamline and accelerate development, a Multiple Document Interface allows for several VISION:Flashpoint editors to be open at the same time. As a result, multiple application components, such as panels, scripts and tables, can be accessed simultaneously. This provides developers with much-needed concurrent access to all elements affecting interface development.

Other significant new features include menu bar enhancements that result in a consistent, intuitive tool interface. An icon-based toolbar has been added to provide point-and-click access to common tools and object-level menus, and to streamline the definition of panel, control and desktop attributes. Fine-tuning the developer interface is easier with robust context-sensitive help and improved editing capabilities.

With VISION:Flashpoint, developers can save any panel as a template for reuse on other screens, preserving the links and behavioral properties of panels and controls. In addition, visual design elements such as color, text and pushbuttons can be added simultaneously to multiple panels to ensure consistency and eliminate repetitive editing operations.

Prior to the acquisition of KnowledgeWare, Sterling Software's Operations Management Division (OMD) conducted an extensive evaluation to select a tool which would accelerate development of new graphical user interfaces for their SOLVE:Central family of products. They chose VISION:Flashpoint to improve end-user access to information and increase developer productivity. Reusable panel templates were key in customizing their applications and in providing consistency throughout development.

"VISION:Flashpoint significantly enhanced the navigation and usability of our products. It also gave our developers a power tool which enabled significant new features to be added in the Windows client," said Tony Kelly, vice president of marketing for OMD. "As a result, SOLVE:Viewpoint has come to market in half the time it would have taken using traditional coding methods."

Communications Enhancements

VISION:Flashpoint supplies a variety of communications drivers which eliminate the need to create and maintain several versions of the same program for different connectivity requirements. VISION:Flashpoint 3.2 adds more communications drivers for TN3270 and VT220 environments and an asynchronous mode of communication for better access to remote sites. The drivers are packaged as objects so they can easily be assigned by point-and-click methods. As a result, developers are insulated from having to learn communications code; they simply provide communications objects and the end user selects the environment from a pull-down menu.

"The new user interface and associated functionality enhancements have caused developers at our beta sites to describe VISION:Flashpoint as a brand new product," Morton said. "Developers find it dramatically more intuitive, and learning curves are minimized or eliminated altogether."

The developer edition is available now for $9,500. VISION:Play, the deployment component, is priced from $195 to $395. A VISION:Flashpoint package option that includes three licenses of VISION:Develop and twelve licenses of VISION:Play is offered for $27,500. For information on VISION:Flashpoint, please call 800/587-1002.

Sterling Software's Applications Engineering Division incorporates the ANSWER software quality and information management products, previously marketed through the Applications Management Division, and KnowledgeWares software maintenance and redevelopment product lines. The division is part of the Applications Management Group, headquartered in Atlanta, with more than twenty offices throughout the United States and Canada. Sterling Softwares's Applications Engineering Division provides industry-leading software products and services for discovering and extracting the maximum value from applications portfolios and corporate data.

Sterling Software, headquartered in Dallas, is a worldwide provider of software products and services for electronic commerce, applications management and systems management, as well as highly technical professional services for the federal government. Sterling Software is one of the 10 largest software companies in the world with estimated 1995 revenue in excess of $600 million, approximately 3,500 employees, 75 offices worldwide and an estimated installed base of almost 40,000 customer sites.

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Note to Editors: This press release refers to numerous products by their trade names. In most cases, these designations are claimed as trademarks or registered trademarks by their respective companies.

CONTACT: Sterling Software, Atlanta

Amy Curry, 404/551-8300, ext. 3260 (press)