SHORT TAKES

CONSYSTANT ANNOUNCES PARTNERSHIP WITH GOAHEAD

Kirkland, WASH. — Consystant, provider of the next generation software development environment for reusable software components and designs, announced a key design partnership with GoAhead Software, the leading provider of service availability software for Internet infrastructure. Consystant and GoAhead will work toward providing advanced development environments that will enable the rapid integration of service availability solutions into Internet and network infrastructure equipment. These development environments will enhance GoAhead’s efforts in providing reliable, comprehensive and cross-platform solutions to their customers, of Internet and telecommunications infrastructure equipment manufacturers. As part of the agreement, GoAhead will provide Consystant with technical reviews and product testing.

The Consystant software development environment goes beyond Java, beyond UML, even beyond object-oriented design. This technical achievement is based on the Hines-Ortega methodology, which directly supports reusable software elements, distributed architectures, and multiple operating systems. The benefit to all software developers is a multi-fold improvement in productivity. “The Consystant team is proud to play a part in bringing the GoAhead high-reliability solution to their clients,” said Don Carter, president and CEO for Consystant. “We’re excited to be working with the world leader in the service availability market and are looking forward to leveraging many new market opportunities.” GoAhead SelfReliant 7000 is a comprehensive management software solution for network infrastructure. It consists of a set of high-performance, integrated availability functions that monitor and manage all hardware, OS, and application resources across all nodes of a system. These functions capture data from system resources in real time, dynamically reconfigure the system as required to maintain service availability, and provide such services as fault management, availability management, and access and administration. The product supports industry-standard, high-availability communications platforms such as CompactPCI and works with a number of key operating systems, including Linux 2.2, LynxOS 3.1, Solaris 8, VxWorks, WindowsNT 4.0, and Windows2000.

SUN AND VISIONTEK ENTER INTO AGREEMENT

Gurnee, ILL. — VisionTek, a leading manufacturer of high-capacity memory upgrades for workstations and servers, announced the company has entered into a patent license agreement with Sun Microsystems. VisionTek licensed from Sun Microsystems limited rights to seven current United States patents relating to memory technologies. Exact terms of the agreement are confidential. The agreement allows VisionTek to engineer and manufacture memory products targeted for Sun server and workstation systems that fall within the scope of the licensed patents. VisionTek’s memory product line for Sun workstations and servers is available immediately.

“This agreement reinforces our position as a leading provider of quality memory upgrade solutions,” said Ric Lewis, executive vice president of business development for VisionTek. “For more than 12 years, OEMs and resellers have relied on VisionTek to deliver PC and server memory that is engineered, manufactured and tested to meet their stringent quality standards for performance and reliability. Now, having reached a patent license agreement with Sun, we are able to extend our high-capacity memory module offering to Sun workstation and server users.” VisionTek’s memory modules for Sun workstations and servers will be manufactured and tested at VisionTek’s U.S.-based facilities, which provide 100 percent in-system testing for VisionTek’s EnterprisePro line, coupled with a lifetime warranty on all memory products. For more information on VisionTek’s memory and graphics products, please call 800-726-9695, or visit the company’s Web site at http://www.visiontek.com/ .

MATHSOFT TEAMS WITH IBM

Cambridge, MASS. — MathSoft, Inc., the provider of a broad line of technical design, calculation and analysis software for business and academia, announced its preferred partnership with IBM to enhance the publication of math, science and engineering content on the Web using the MathML standard. This quarter, the companies will work together to broaden the availability of high-fidelity, interactive and dynamic math content on the Web. MathSoft will bring this new technology to markets it currently dominates, including secondary and higher education, and corporate engineering and technical research organizations. Under the terms of this deal, MathSoft becomes a preferred IBM partner and will work directly with IBM Research to integrate IBM techexplorer 3.0 in MathSoft’s own patented technology for mathematical calculations. The first development effort, which will be distributed by MathSoft, will enable the publishing of interactive technical documents as HTML with MathML, giving users a complete solution for posting interactive math content on the Internet. As part of the agreement, the largest ever techexplorer distribution contract, MathSoft will license one million copies of IBM techexplorer Hypermedia Browser 3.0.

“This ambitious partnership with MathSoft has the potential to change the face of math publishing on the Web,” said Mimi Jett, techexplorer evangelist at IBM. “Our technologies have a powerful synergy built upon the MathML standard, and we anticipate that together we will build a solution that will become a natural extension of today’s Web standards and a vast improvement in the overall quality of communication on the Internet.” Today, technical authors and educational content providers can publish on the Web, but only in a static and cumbersome format, which has prevented them from tapping into the Internet’s reach for meaningful dissemination of interactive, quality math content. “So many publishers, professionals, and educators have long struggled with these limitations of the Web,” said Chris Randles, general manager of MathSoft’s Engineering and Education Products Division. “The advent of the MathML standard for publishing math on the Web has opened a window of opportunity. Not only does it make possible new authoring tools for creating such content conveniently, but it also provides the means to deliver a dynamic, interactive math Web experience to virtually all 250 million Web users from within their browsers.”

UNIGRAPHICS BUYS ENGINEERING ANIMATION

St. Louis, MO. — Unigraphics Solutions Inc. announced that it has completed the acquisition of Engineering Animation, Inc. Effective today, each outstanding share of EAI common stock has been converted into the right to receive $13.75 in cash, without interest. EAI will cease to be traded on the Nasdaq National Market as of the close of business. EAI shareholders who hold their own stock certificates will receive instructions in the mail for surrendering their shares for cash. Shareholders whose shares are held through banks or brokers will receive information about their holdings from those institutions.

Unigraphics Solutions Inc. is focused on improving the entire product life cycle for design and manufacturing companies through the delivery of software and consulting service solutions that address process and productivity enhancements. Its open solutions for product design, manufacturing, visualization, data management and e-Business are designed to promote interoperability and collaborative product commerce (CPC) through incorporation of today’s most advanced technology, emerging industry standards and intelligent use of the Internet. Headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, UGS has been providing software solutions to engineering and manufacturing companies for over 25 years and is the first company in its industry to earn the ISO 9001/TickIT certification. Please contact UGS via the World Wide Web at http://www.ugsolutions.com .

EUROLOGIC LAUNCHES LINK ALLIANCE PROGRAM

Boxborough, MASS. — Eurologic Systems, a leading worldwide provider of network storage solutions for storage area networking (SAN), OEM solutions, and vertical market applications, announced the launch of an initiative focused on developing and promoting storage solutions configured to be interoperable from the component level through the solution level. Eurologic’s LINK Alliance Program enables OEM and vertical market application providers to reduce the time and costs associated with storage network deployment and to provide their customers with pre-tested, interoperable storage solutions designed from end-to-end to meet specific application requirements. Eurologic’s LINK Program goes beyond component interoperability testing by encompassing application requirements. By providing a “comprehensive view” of the entire storage solution, the LINK Program helps assure storage application configurations are optimized and are interoperable throughout the complete solution.

The LINK Program covers the entire spectrum of a network storage solution, from infrastructure hardware and software to operating systems and application environments. LINK addresses key areas such as connectivity, operating systems, and applications. Individual programs within LINK focus on each area of the configuration, enabling customers to choose the level of interoperability they require. “For our OEM and vertical market solution provider partners, and their customers, Eurologic’s LINK Program enables technologies to be matched to desired levels on multiple parameters, including capacity, performance and reliability, giving them greater options in ensuring their network storage solution is designed to meet their specific requirements,” said Nick Thickins, Director of Applications Marketing for Eurologic Systems. Through LINK, Eurologic works closely with its alliance partners at all stages of the product and technology cycle – from product development through component testing – to ensure interoperability and to optimize storage configurations for the unique and demanding requirements of a wide variety of applications.

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