Press Releases - 2000

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., April 24, 2000 – PointBase, the leader in wireless mobile and 100% Pure Java data management products, today announced that jCatalog™ Software AG is offering embedded PointBase databases as part of its solution for supporting "media-neutral" catalog and portal applications. With jCatalog advanced catalog management solutions, corporate enterprises and system integrators can create and maintain catalogs and portals for marketing products and services on the Web, and for sharing data through corporate intranets and mobile networks. jCatalog selected PointBase Server and Mobile Editions as the only database in its solution because they are pure Java databases that run on multiple platforms and link seamlessly with databases in today's corporate information technology environments.

"Traditional databases support only a limited number of environments, but we want jCatalog to support a wide market," said Stephan Albers, chief operating officer of jCatalog Software AG. "So we looked for a 100% Java database solution that would ensure across-the-board compatibility, require little maintenance, and enable full data synchronization and use of multiple languages for international markets. PointBase is an excellent product, and it was the only database we found that met all our criteria."

"We expect PointBase to help drive a projected 50 percent annual growth in our catalog management business, so it is a critical part of our future," Albers said.

"The e-commerce boom has fueled tremendous interest in marketing products and services over the Web with electronic catalogs and in distributing internal information, such as equipment maintenance schedules and bills of material, over intranets," said Bruce Scott, president and CEO of PointBase, who also co-founded Oracle Corporation. "jCatalog and PointBase share a vision for enabling these productivity-enhancing services and for further improving the processes by migrating them to mobile platforms."

About jCatalog Solutions
jCatalog catalog management solutions enable users to create, update, publish and distribute catalogs containing media-neutral data and visuals, such as technical drawings and diagrams. These catalogs support a range of display options, including the Web, via standard protocols such as HTML and WAP/WML (Wireless Application Protocol/Wireless Markup Language), and output on CD-ROMs or paper via desktop publishing applications.

jCatalog prospects and customers range from pre-press and Web design service providers using Apple Macintosh computers and software such as QuarkXPress, Adobe FrameMaker and InDesign, to corporate customers running large databases on UNIX, Sun Solaris or Linux platforms. Customers have a choice of integrating jCatalog with their existing database or acquiring a version that incorporates the standards-based, pure Java PointBase database to operate seamlessly with a wide variety of corporate computer environments.

"Targets for the PointBase version include mid-range companies, which appreciate its low maintenance requirements and operational stability, and mobile applications", Albers said. "PointBase Mobile Edition permits smaller versions of the enterprise's centralized database to be used on laptops and portable appliances. With the PointBase synchronization functionality, which jCatalog plans to incorporate soon, sales reps and other mobile users will be able to modify data on the road and then synchronize it back to the centralized database."

Other benefits that jCatalog receives from PointBaselude e-commerce style licensing terms to support affordable pricing, and support of multiple languages for international markets. PointBase complies with Unicode, the ISO (International Standards Organization) standard that permits use of a single code for all possible languages.

jCatalog software has been available in Europe and the Pacific Rim since late 1999 and will be available in North America by the end of the year.

About jCatalog
jCatalog Software AG, based in Dortmund, Germany, was founded in 1991 as Albers & Frommberger, a developer of information systems for midrange manufacturers and Fortune 500 companies. Today the company is pioneering the jCatalog™ family of electronic catalog management solutions for enterprises to create and maintain catalogs of complex products or services over their Web sites, WAP or pre-press environments, and for system integrators to produce catalogs for Fortune 500 and mid-sized firms. For more information, visit www.jcatalog.com.

About PointBase
PointBase, the leader in wireless mobile data management, creates the technology for organizing and synchronizing enterprise data among wireless devices, internet appliances, mobile applications, PDA's, and networked servers. The company's 100% Pure Java products solve the problem of managing data for applications deployed globally across a diversity of platforms.

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.
 

Note to Editors—Java, and 100% Pure Java, are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries.