Viasoft Launches OnMark 2000 -- Comprehensive Year 2000 Solution for PCs and Distributed Computing Environment.

PHOENIX--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 24, 1998--

Industrial-Strength Suite of Tools Inventories, Assesses, Changes

and Tests Desktop Applications

Viasoft Inc. (Nasdaq/NM:VIAS), a leading provider of business solutions to help companies manage and evolve their information assets, Tuesday announced the launch and general availability of OnMark 2000(tm).

The OnMark family of software technology is Viasoft's new end-to-end suite of products designed to address each phase of year 2000 conversion on personal computer (PC) desktops and client/server applications.

The OnMark 2000 solution allows corporations to inventory their PC hardware and software assets using OnMark 2000 Survey. Using OnMark 2000 Assess, customers can assess desktop spreadsheets, databases and data files for year 2000 problems and fix compliance issues on the PC basic input/output system (BIOS).

Corporations can then use the OnMark 2000 Workbench for Excel for discovery and impact analysis of complex Microsoft Excel spreadsheets and the OnMark 2000 Client/Server Workbenches to analyze, fix and verify their C/C++, Visual Basic, PowerBuilder and UNIX shell script applications.

Industry analysts predict that the desktop year 2000 problem will cost between $10 billion and $42 billion to correct, for the estimated 240 million PCs worldwide.

"The launch of the OnMark 2000 family of software ushers in an exciting, new era for Viasoft," said Chief Executive Officer Steve Whiteman.

"Recognizing that our customers needed a year 2000 solution for their desktops in addition to their mainframes, and realizing that no comprehensive, industrial-strength offering was available in the market, Viasoft decided to step up to the challenge and address the issue.

"During the past six months, Viasoft has aggressively analyzed the market and entered into relationships to offer the most advanced, end-to-end PC desktop year 2000 solution in the marketplace."

Whiteman continued: "The new OnMark distributed product line, coupled with Viasoft's industry-leading mainframe software, gives our Global 5000 customers a year 2000 solution for their entire enterprise.

"In addition, the new desktop product line positions Viasoft to take a leadership role in euro currency conversions and information asset management (IAM) for both mainframe and distributed platforms."

William Ulrich, president, Tactical Strategy Group, and a noted expert and author on the year 2000 problem, said: "Companies need to address the century date problem on the desktop as aggressively as they are on the mainframe. The desktop problem is at least 15 percent of the total year 2000 problem; it's highly complex and potentially more dangerous.

"The reason: with applications such as spreadsheets and databases, users can easily move applications from desktop to desktop, to servers, to LANs and back again with many manipulations. So, it's difficult to track down where the problems reside.

"This can be especially problematic for auditors, financial managers and stock analysts where there is widespread use of user-generated spreadsheets and databases."

BC Rail, Canada's third-largest railway, recently purchased OnMark Assess, the PC risk assessment product. "We have found the software to be a very dependable, useful tool for determining date problems within spreadsheets and databases throughout our enterprise," said Judy Nielsen, senior product specialist, Information Services, BC Rail.

The Viasoft OnMark 2000 Solution

Viasoft's distributed year 2000 solution is composed of five main components, which can be purchased separately:

-- OnMark 2000 Survey automates year 2000 PC hardware/software inventory;

-- OnMark 2000 Assess conducts a thorough risk assessment of hardware and desktop software, including spreadsheets, databases and data files, to determine the severity level of all systems at risk and for fixing the hardware BIOS;

-- OnMark 2000 Workbench for Excel provides discovery and impact analysis for year 2000 problems in complex Excel spreadsheets;

-- OnMark 2000 Client/Server Workbenches analyze, plan and help to remediate year 2000 problems in client/server applications written in C/C++, Visual Basic, PowerBuilder and UNIX Shell Scripts;

-- VIA/AutoTest(tm) delivers automated, multi-platform, functional equivalence testing of changed applications before and after they are placed back into production.

Pricing and Availability

OnMark 2000 products are available now. All products include significant price breaks on large volumes. OnMark Survey prices per PC start at $60. OnMark Assess prices begin at $95, per PC. The Excel Workbench price starts at $3,000 per license.

The C/C++, PowerBuilder, Visual Basic and UNIX shell script workbenches start at $5,000 per license. VIA/AutoTest is priced on a per-seat basis, with a minimum license of five seats, and starts at $44,500.

About Viasoft

Viasoft is a leading provider of business solutions, consisting of integrated technology and specialized professional consulting services, designed to enable customers worldwide to cost-effectively manage and evolve their information technology assets.

With headquarters in Phoenix, Viasoft provides sales and service through regional offices in the United States, Europe, the Asia/Pacific region and a growing network of international subsidiaries and distributors. For more information on Viasoft's products and services, visit the company's World Wide Web site at www.viasoft.com. -0-

The statements made in this news release that are not historical facts contain forward-looking information that involves risks and uncertainties. Important factors that may cause actual results to differ include, but are not limited to, the impact of competitive products and services, risks associated with results and timing of technology development and commercialization, the company's ability to manage growth and acquisitions of technology or businesses, the effect of economic and business conditions, including risks inherent in international operations and the ability to attract and retain technical personnel, and other risks detailed from time to time in the company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings.

CONTACT: Viasoft Inc., Phoenix

Judy L. Redman, 602/667-2849

[e-mail] (e-mail)