Press Releases - 1999

SAN MATEO, CA, June 8, 1999 — PointBase, the company lead by Oracle Corporation co-founder Bruce Scott, today announced that two new embedded databases have passed the rigorous Java Check™ 3.0, showing that they conform to the PersonalJava™ API Specification. The PointBase Mobile Edition and Network Server are 100% Pure Java™ object-relational multi-user embedded database solutions that enable true distributed platform- and device-independent computing at a low cost of ownership on the PersonalJava platform. The PointBase family of products enables a new class of Java-based networked applications to support e-commerce, Web-based mobile workers, and Internet devices such as set-top boxes.

"Devices implementing the PersonalJava platform can now take advantage of the Java™ technology-based persistent storage solution offered by PointBase," said Curtis Sasaki, director, Product Marketing, Sun Microsystems. "By writing database applications to the PersonalJava API, PointBase has enabled their products to run on a wide range of PersonalJava technology-enabled devices. PersonalJava technology addresses the needs of embedded developers designing consumer-oriented devices such as set-top boxes, web phones, and other networked products."

Bruce Scott, CEO of PointBase, added, "We are focused on bringing the capabilities formerly reserved for large corporate databases down to the small platforms that define the class of Internet appliances. We're committed to a standards-based solution, and that's why we chose Java technology as our implementation language and PersonalJava technology as our deployment platform. We believe that PointBase is the first 100% Pure Java, object-relational database to have passed JavaCheck and thus developers writing content on the PersonalJava platform can now take advantage of PointBase's small footprint Java-enabled persistent storage, with the added benefit of corporate database synchronization."
 

Industry Momentum
All three of PointBase's target markets — e-commerce; mobile workers; and Web-based appliances, devices and set-top boxes — are on the high-growth path. These robust markets are driving the increasing need for embedded databases to support the applications that enable e-commerce, workforce mobility, and Internet appliance computing. Dataquest has noted that the overall market for embedded databases is expected to grow at a 40 percent clip through 2002. And because many of the applications will be built with Java, the opportunity for Java-based embedded databases is great.
 

PersonalJava Technology
PersonalJava™ is a Java™ Application Environment (JAE) specifically designed for building network-connectable applications for consumer devices for home, office, and mobile use. It comprises the Java virtual machine (JVM) and a subset of the Java Application Programming Interface (API), including core and optional APIs and class libraries. In addition, the PersonalJava API includes specific features required by consumer applications in resource limited environments.
 

The PointBase Mobile Edition and Network Server
The PointBase Mobile Edition is an embedded database for applications that support mobile workers and Internet appliances such as PDAs, set-top boxes and potentially such devices as car navigation systems. The PointBase Network Server is an embedded database for networked applications and is especially suited to e-commerce and Java servers.
 

About PointBase
The PointBase family of 100% Pure Java embedded data management products enables a new class of Java-based networked applications to support e-commerce, Web-based mobile workers, and Internet devices such as set-top boxes. PointBase provides the lowest cost of ownership by delivering robust, platform-independent data storage with breakthroughs in ease of use, data replication, near-zero administration, and portability.

PointBase was established in 1998 by Bruce Scott, co-founder of Oracle Corporation and Gupta/Centura Software, and Jeff Richey, one of the key developers of the Sybase SQL database server. The management team includes industry veterans from IBM, Oracle, Sybase, Hewlett-Packard and Sun Microsystems. More information about PointBase is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.pointbase.com or at JavaOne, Sun's Worldwide Java Developer Conference being held June 15 - 18 in San Francisco (for more information regarding JavaOne go to http://java.sun.com/javaone/).
 

For details, contact:

Chris Lalli
UpStart Communications
(510) 457-3113
clalli@upstart.com

Vladimir Ivanovic
PointBase
(650) 294-7238
vladimir.ivanovic@pointbase.com