SHORT TAKES

LSI JOINS COMPAQ’S PCI-X GOLDEN MASTER PROGRAM

Milpitas, CALIF. — LSI Logic Corporation, a leading supplier of communications chips and storage network solutions, announced today that it has joined the Compaq Computer Corporation PCI-X Golden Master Program. As part of this innovative program, LSI Logic will obtain early access to the benefits of Compaq’s PCI-X core development technology to produce competitive storage solutions that compliment LSI Logic’s Fusion-MPT (Message Passing Technology) architecture for high-performance I/O products. “LSI Logic is proud to be supporting the Golden Master Program, which is yet another example of Compaq and LSI Logic working together to provide timely, low-risk solutions for future computing platforms,” said John D’Errico, executive vice president of Storage Components for LSI Logic. “By adopting Compaq’s PCI-X core as a component of our Fusion-MPT architecture, we ensure compatibility with industry-leading solutions in a high-performance market.”

As the leader in development of PCI-X technology, Compaq introduced the Golden Master Program to provide best-in-class PCI-X solutions to the industry. Golden Master Program members include industry leading vendors, selected by Compaq, who are licensing Compaq’s PCI-X technology and providing value added solutions to best serve their customer’s needs. Compaq provides Golden Master participants with valuable tools and information that will simplify and accelerate industry adoption of PCI-X based products. “With the introduction of the PCI-X Golden Master Program, Compaq continues to lead in enabling PCI-X product development and integration for the industry,” said Ken Jansen, Director of Technology Development, Industry-Standard Server Group, Compaq Computer Corporation. “We are pleased that LSI Logic has joined Compaq’s Golden Master Program and we look forward to working closely with them in the development of PCI-X-based solutions.”

UNIGRAPHICS TO ACQUIRE ENGINEERING ANIMATION

Ames, IOWA — Unigraphics Solutions Inc., a leading provider of collaborative product development software and services, and Engineering Animation, Inc., a developer of world-class visualization, collaboration and analysis tools, announced that they have reached a definitive agreement allowing UGS to acquire EAI in a cash tender offer. The total purchase price, which also includes other acquisition-related costs, is expected to be about $205 million. The agreement calls for shareholders of EAI to receive $13.75 cash for each share of EAI common stock owned. The agreement has been approved by both companies’ boards of directors. Bringing together the complementary solutions and market strategies of these two world-class organizations represents a major strategic event for both companies. This business combination provides significantly expanded market opportunities and positions UGS to become a leader in Internet-enabled product development collaboration solutions.

UGS will maintain the independent nature of the EAI product set, ensuring that all current and future EAI customers – including UGS competitors – will continue to experience a high degree of interoperability with EAI technology. In doing so, UGS expects to establish the de facto standard for visual collaboration and interoperability solutions, becoming the manufacturing industry’s leading supplier of these products. This event represents the next logical step for two organizations that have been working closely together since 1998 and is expected to yield immediate benefits for several of UGS’ existing marketing activities, while providing increased distribution opportunities for EAI software products.

CONNECTCOM ANNOUNCES ALLIANCE WITH FINISAR

San Jose, CALIF. — ConnectCom Solutions, Inc., a technology leader providing SCSI, 1394 Firewire and Fibre Channel system on chip, board and software connectivity solutions, announced a comprehensive technology alliance with Finisar, for joint development and exchange, on a royalty free basis, of specific circuitry and microcode making possible the development of high performance semiconductors. ConnectCom and Finisar each have exclusive rights to the technology in question for the respective markets of each company. The first products resulting from the alliance are expected to be brought to market within the next year. “We are thrilled with the strategic partnership we have formed with Finisar, the leading Fibre Channel test system company,” said Chet Brown, CEO of ConnectCom Solutions, Inc. “This alliance utilizes the combined resources of both companies for the development of new and revolutionary I/O technology that will push the state-of-the-art in high performance integrated circuit design.”

“We are pleased to be working with ConnectCom Solutions. By applying their many years of expertise with SCSI integrated circuits, we feel we can expand the SCSI capabilities of our test systems,” said Jerry Rawls, CEO of Finisar Corporation. Earlier this year, ConnectCom leveraged its extensive experience in developing advanced SCSI solutions to expand into the Fibre Channel market. The company’s first Fibre Channel product, a PCI host adapter, provides a turnkey solution for Storage Area Network (SAN) applications and addresses the growing need for high data throughput with a competitively priced, easy-to-use hardware and software solution. ConnectCom has an aggressive product roadmap for the SAN market, and the technology exchange with Finisar is expected to contribute to this development.

POINTBASE LICENSES PART OF ITS DATABASE TO SUN

Mountain View, CALIF. — PointBase, Inc. announced that Sun Microsystems, Inc. has licensed the right to include PointBase’s industry-leading database in Sun’s Forte for Java integrated development environment (IDE). The database meets the 100% Pure Java certification standard. The agreement gives Forte for Java products an embedded pure Java technology-based database, helping boost the productivity of Java developers writing database applications. “With the addition of PointBase, the Forte for Java IDE is now a total solution that permits Java platform developers to write database applications right out of the box without engaging a database administrator,” said Bill Moffitt, product line manager for Forte for Java at Sun Microsystems. “We selected PointBase because it had everything we were looking for in a database that meets the 100% Pure Java certification, including JDBC(TM) technology adherence, standard SQL compliance, ease of use, a small footprint for deployment on mobile devices and strong concurrency capability for supporting multi-threaded Java technology-based applications.”

The new PointBase-enabled IDE is anticipated to support a wide range of applications on enterprise networks, the Internet and mobile device systems. “We are thrilled to be working in such close cooperation with the inventors of Java technology, ” said Bruce Scott, founder and CEO of PointBase, the leader in mobile wireless data management and synchronization products that meet the 100% Pure Java certification. “The real beneficiaries, though, are Java platform developers worldwide, who will get a significant productivity boost by developing applications and their databases simultaneously, in one environment.” It is anticipated that both the Forte for Java IDE Tools Enterprise Edition and the Forte for Java IDE Tools Internet Edition will ship with a 5 megabyte version of the PointBase Embedded Server beginning in the third quarter. Upon licensing with PointBase, developers have the option to upgrade to a full working version at any time.

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