ORACLE INTEGRATES CRYSTAL REPORTS PROFESSIONAL INTO ORACLE POWER OBJECTS


OEM Agreement Establishes Crystal Reports as Preferred Report Writer For (to be included) Forthcoming Release

REDWOOD SHORES, Calif./VANCOUVER, BC, May 28, 1996-Oracle Corp. and Crystal, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Seagate Technology, Inc., today announced a product bundling agreement that will combine Oracle Power Objects, Oracle's software development environment for the workgroup, with Crystal Reports Professional, Crystal's industry-leading workgroup report writer for databases.

This strategic alliance and licensing agreement establishes Crystal as the sole third party reporting tool to be included in the forthcoming Oracle Power Objects 2.0 release. As Oracle's Power Objects continues to gain marketshare, users can now preserve and leverage existing skills and reports when migrating from other visual programming tools.

As part of the agreement, Crystal will port its report writer to the Macintosh PowerPC platform where Oracle Power Objects is a leading workgroup solution. The two tools will be bundled for Windows 3.x, Windows 95, Windows NT and PowerMac, giving organizations cross-platform support on the leading desktop environments. Crystal Reports for the Macintosh will be available in the immediate future only as part of Power Objects.

"This OEM agreement confirms Oracle's position as the technical leader in all categories of database centric development tools," said Sohaib Abbasi, senior vice president for the Oracle Tools Division. "Traditionally Oracle has set the standard for transaction oriented tools, and our partnership with Crystal now confirms both our open approach and commitment to provide the best development tools for workgroup information systems. The integrated offering provides an ideal solution to enhance applications with user-friendly reports."

"This agreement is a natural fit for Crystal," said Greg Kerfoot, president, Crystal. "It officially acknowledges and leverages Oracle's and Crystal's substantial mutual customer base. The combination of Crystal and Oracle Power Objects technology provides a formidable drag and drop environment for rapid client/server database application development."

"Additionally, Crystal Reports now includes new Web-enabling technology which allows Crystal report files to be converted to HTML for distribution via the Internet or corporate Intranet," Kerfoot added. "This adds a whole new mechanism for Power Objects developers to distribute database information throughout the enterprise at the click of a button."

Both companies stressed that this bundling agreement was inspired by user demands. PRC Aviation of Tucson, Arizona, has already combined OPO with Crystal Reports to develop an application for the computerized planning and control of aircraft maintenance procedures. Sold to the Douglas Aircraft Company, a division of McDonnell Douglas Corporation, PRC's "Technical Engineering And Maintenance System" (TEAMS) is expected to be rolled out by thirty airlines worldwide.

"With the combined strengths of Oracle Power Objects and Crystal Reports, we were able to write the TEAMS application in less than four months," said R. Dixon Speas, president of PRC Aviation. "By bundling Power Objects and Crystal Reports together, Oracle is giving us the best of breed client/server and reporting tools in a single box, allowing us to leverage all of our existing skills."

The integrated offering will be available this fall when Oracle Power Objects 2.0 starts shipping. Pricing has not been finalized yet, but the bundle is expected to be significantly lower than the two products bought individually.

Oracle Power Objects is Oracle's visual client/server development tool to enable Windows and Macintosh developers to rapidly build robust workgroup information systems. It combines strong database integration with established industry standards such as BASIC and OLE, new techniques such as visual object orientation, and a unique drag and drop metaphor for ease of use.

Crystal Reports provides broad data access, report and query capabilities for creating graphical, presentation quality reports and distributing them to end-users via popular communications infrastructures. Crystal Reports has more than two million units shipped worldwide and is bundled in more than 125 shrink-wrapped products from leading organizations, now including Oracle Power Objects.

Established in 1984, Crystal shipped the first report writer for the Windows operating system in 1992. Crystal's product line includes Crystal Reports Standard and Crystal Reports Professional (report writers), Crystal Info (three-tier reporting system) and Crystal 101 Reports for Microsoft BackOffice DC. Crystal has more than 125 strategic partnerships with noted software companies including Oracle, Microsoft, Borland, PeopleSoft, and Great Plains Software. Crystal is located in Vancouver, B.C. Canada and operates as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Seagate Technology, Inc. (NYSE: SEG). Seagate is the largest independent disk drive and related components company in the world. Crystal software is available through Crystal's extensive network of resellers and distributors. For more information contact Crystal directly at 1-800-877-2340 or (604) 681-3435, or visit Crystal's Web site at www.seagate.com/software/crystal.

Oracle Corporation is the world's largest supplier of software for information management, and the world's second largest software company. With annual revenues of more than $3.5 billion, the company offers its database, tools and application products along with related consulting, education and support services, in more than 90 countries around the world.

For more information about Oracle, please contact Oracle's headquarters at (415) 506-7000. Oracle's World Wide Web address is (URL) http://www.oracle.com/.

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