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News Release

March 31, 1998

World 1st Verification Test Successful

- DOPG confirms transaction level interoperability among CORBA products -

The Distributed Object Promotion Group*, which was established last October in Japan to promote distributed object technology and to verify the inter-connectivity of the member companies' products in this area, today announced that one of the working group: the Transaction Working Group (Chaired by Masahiko Narita, Fujitsu Limited) succeeded in the first verification test of the transaction level interoperability among member's products based on CORBA Transaction Service. This is the first attempt to prove the interoperability of products based on CORBA Transaction Service, although there have been many verification results of IIOP level interoperability among CORBA products.

* The Group's members are BEA, Systems Japan, Ltd., Fujitsu Limited, Hitachi, Ltd., IBM Japan, Ltd., Mitsubishi Electric Corp., NEC Corporation, Nihon Unisys, Ltd., OGIS-RI(Osasa Gas Information System Research Institute Company, Ltd., Oracle Corporation Japan, Sun Microsystems, Toshiba Corporation, Toyo Information Systems Co.Ltd.

The CORBA products used in this interoperability verification are "ObjectSpinner Transaction Service" of NEC, "TPBroker"* of Hitachi and "INTERSTAGE" ("ObjectDirector") of Fujitsu, and the interoperability test had 8 patterns for both normality and abnormality using 1 phase commitment. The result of this test will be reported at OMG Technical Committee Meeting at Manchester, U.K. on March 31 and OBJECT WORLD Japan '98 at Makuhari, Japan on April 7.

* TPBroker is a co-product by both Hitachi (TP monitor) and Borland (Visibroker)

Distributed Object technology will be used in mission- critical information systems where transaction reliability in a multi-vendor environment is a key concern, This Working Group has been established to address transaction service interoperability above the IIOP level. The Working Group studied various Client/Server models in a multi- vender environment, and selected the most realistic model, that used different CORBA products for the client and the server respectively, for the interoperability verification test.

Richard Mark Soley, Chairman and CEO of Object Management Group, Inc. says: "The rapid and successful results of the DOPG's interoperability testing project prove that OMG's IIOP and Object Transaction Service (OTS) are complete solutions, available today for building distributed enterprise applications requiring transactional semantics. More importantly, this amazingly fast result from the joint DOPG project shows the success of the DOPG membership in achieving consensus around important enterprise decisions."

The Working Group plans to feedback the result of this verification test to OMG, to extent the verification test with Java, and to have the next interoperability test with "SYSTEM V [nju:]" of Nihon Unisys, Ltd. and other members of the Group.

All company and product names mentioned are used for identification purpose only, and may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

For more information:
Press Contact
Fujitsu Limited
Toshiaki Koike, Scott Ikeda
Fujitsu Limited, Public Relations
TEL: +81-3-3215-5236 (Tokyo)
FAX: +81-3-3216-9365
E-mail: pr_mailbox@hq.fujitsu.co.jp

Hitachi, Ltd.
Emi Takase
Hitachi, Ltd.
TEL: +81-3-3258-2055
FAX: +81-3-3258-5480
E-mail: emi@cm.head.hitachi.co.jp

NEC Corporation
Chris Shimizu
NEC Corporation
TEL: +81-3-3798-6511
FAX: +81-3-3457-7249
E-mail:*@p10-22150.star.nec.co.jp

Nihon Unisys, Ltd.
Teiji.Ikeuchi
Nihon Unisys, Ltd.
TEL: +81-3-5546-4511
FAX: +81-3-5546-7851
E-mail: Teiji.Ikeuchi@unisys.co.jp

Customer Contact

Fujitsu Limited
Edward Christian
HAL Computer Systems, Inc.
TEL: +1-408-341-6318
FAX: +1-408-341-6407
E-mail: edc@hal.com

Hitachi, Ltd.
Shinpachi Ogata
Hitachi Computer Products (America), Inc. TEL: +1-408-588-3468
FAX: +1-408-727-0692
E-mail: s_ogata@hitachi.com

About OMG

With the support of its membership of over 850 software vendors, software developers and end users, OMG's CORBA is "The Middleware That's Everywhere. Since 1989, OMG has been "Setting The Standards For Distributed Computing" through its mission to promote the theory and practice of object technology for the development of distributed computing systems. The goal is to provide a common architectural framework for object oriented applications based on widely available interface specifications. OMG is headquartered in Framingham, MA, USA and has international marketing offices in the UK, Germany, Japan, Italy, Australia, India and Bahrain. Additionally, OMG is a sponsor of the COMDEX Enterprise series of Trade Shows and Conferences.

DOPG's Members

BEA, Systems Japan, Ltd.
BEA Systems Japan, Ltd. founded in Yokohama in May '96 is the 100% capitalized subsidiary company of BEA Systems, Inc. (headquarter in Sunnyvale, CA), a leading provider of cross-platform middleware solutions for enterprise applications. In Japan, BEA TUXEDO and other BEA products have been distributed by 7 major firms such as CTC, DEC, Fujitsu, IWI, NEC, Oki Electric Industry and Unisys. BEA Japan provides complete solutions through its extensive partner network, and a full range of services including consulting, training and support. By the acquisition of the Object Broker from DEC in February '97, BEA comes to provide transactional, messaging, and distributed object- based software for developing and deploying these enterprise applications.

Fujitsu Limited
Founded in 1935, Fujitsu Limited is an international leader in information technology, telecommunications, semiconductors and other electronics devices. The Fujitsu Group of over 400 technology, software and service companies posted global revenues of more than 36 billion dollar in the fiscal year ended March 31, 1997.

Hitachi, Ltd.
Hitachi, Ltd., headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is one of the world's leading global electronics companies, with fiscal 1996 (ending March 31, 1997) consolidated sales of 8,523 billion yen (68.7 billion dollars*). The company manufactures and markets a wide range of products, including computers, semiconductors, consumer products and power and industrial equipment. For more information on Hitachi, Ltd., please visit Hitachi's Web site at http://www.hitachi.co.jp.

* At an exchange rate of 124 yen to the dollar.

IBM Japan, Ltd.
IBM Japan began its business operations in Japan in 1937 as a wholly owned subsidiary of IBM, now a corporation doing business in over 160 countries worldwide. Based on the current spread of the Internet and intranets, IBM Japan continues to develop its business energetically as it moves to solidify its leadership in the area of network computing. In 1996 the company recorded its third consecutive year of increased income and profit, with income of 1,425,069 million and profit of 112,111 million.
As of April 1, 1997, IBM Japan had 20,689 employees. In the future, demand is expected to expand still further in the information industry.

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
Mitsubishi Electric Corporation is a leading manufacturer of electrical and electronic equipment, that is developing and manufacturing reliable, high-quality products to work toward its aim of creating a harmonious relationship between society and the field of high technology. Its areas of business range from information processing and communication systems, space equipment, semiconductors and electronic devices to consumer products, building and automation equipment, industrial products, energy-related equipment and transportation systems.

NEC Corporation
NEC Corporation (NASDAQ: NIPNY) pioneered the concept of C&C, the integration of Computers and Communications, and is the only company in the world to be counted among top ranking corporations spanning the wide range of fields essential for this vision of multimedia: computers, communications and electron devices. Employing in excess of 150,000 people around the world, NEC saw net sales in fiscal year 1996-97 amount to 4,948 billion yen (approx. US 40 billion dollar). For further information visit our home page at: http://www.nec-global.com

Nihon Unisys, Ltd.
Nihon Unisys, Ltd., headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, founded in 1958 is the joint venture of Mitsui & Co., Ltd. and Unisys Corp. with fiscal year 1996 consolidated sales (ending March 31, 1997) of dollar 2.6 billion. The company provides products and services, including mainframe computers, personal computers, software, system related and network related services.

OGIS-RI (Osaka Gas Information System Research Institute Company, Ltd.)
Founded in 1983, Osaka Gas Information System Research Institute Company, Ltd., is a wholly owned subsidiary of Osaka Gas Company, Ltd. OGIS provides information systems solutions to Japanese companies and, since 1993, has provided training, consulting, systems integration, and a full range of object technology products to Japanese customers through its Object Technology Center.

Oracle Corporation Japan
Oracle Corporation Japan was established in 1985 as a subsidiary of Oracle Corporation, which is the world's leading supplier of software for information management and the world's second largest software company. With annual revenues of 5.7 billion dollars, Oracle Corporation offers its database, tools and application products, along with related consulting, education and support services, in more than 140 countries around the world.

Sun Microsystems
Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision, "The Network Is The Computer TM," has propelled Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ "SUNW") to its position as a leading provider of hardware, software and services for establishing enterprise-wide intranets and expanding the power of the Internet. With more than 9 billion dollars in annual revenues, Sun can be found in more than150 countries and on the World Wide Web at http://www.sun.com.

Toshiba Corporation
Toshiba, a world leader in high technology, is a manufacturer of products spanning information/ communications systems (computer systems, telecommunications equipment, social automation systems, medical electronics equipment, space-related products, etc.), information equipment & consumer electronics (personal computers, word processors, copiers, storage devices, video products, household appliances, etc.), power systems & industrial equipment (industrial apparatus, power generating plants, transportation equipment, elevators & escalators, etc.) and electronic components & materials (semiconductors, electron tubes, optoelectronic devices, liquid crystal displays, batteries, printed circuit boards, etc.). With know-how developed over 121 years, Toshiba is today one of the world's largest integrated manufacturers of electric and electronic equipment, has over 186,000 employees worldwide, and enjoys annual sales of over US 48 billion dollars.

TIS (TOYO INFORMATION SYSTEMS CO.,LTD.)
TIS is the Japanese reseller and systems integrator of Orbix, and leads IONA's presence in this important market. TIS has 2,000 employees worldwide and net sales exceeding US 604 million dollars. It has been providing total information solutions since 1971 through a blend of systems integration, services, consultancy, software development and network services. In 1995 Toyo chose to resell Orbix through its Object Technology Business Department. But the relationship between the two companies has been more than a simple reselling deal. IONA has helped train TIS' employees and has provided TIS with dedicated back-up services. Access to product and sales information has allowed TIS to make informed decisions both for themselves and for their clients. The companies view each other very much as partners and know that what is good for one is good for the other.


WRITTEN BY Secretary's Office
All Rights Reserved, Copyright (C) 1998, Hitachi, Ltd.