Mainsoft's Technology Selected to Bring Windows Media Player 6.3 to Solaris

SAN JOSE, Calif., Aug. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Mainsoft Corporation today announced that Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT - news) has selected MainWin®, a Windows platform for UNIX and Linux, to meet customer demands for a Solaris adaptation of Windows Media Player. This announcement underscores the commitment of both Microsoft and Mainsoft to provide an application migration and interoperability solution for UNIX and other operating systems. The Solaris version is available now, enabling customers to enjoy a full range of high-quality Windows Media digital technology.

"Working with Mainsoft has helped us to deliver Solaris customers the high-quality audio and video available with the Windows Media Player," said Kevin Unangst, group product manager for Microsoft's Digital Media Division. "Our collaboration provides the best in the next-generation of digital media over the Internet or intranets to customers who require advanced streaming technology in a cross-platform environment."

Since 1996, Mainsoft has worked closely with Microsoft to meet the growing and complex software needs of Internet-based businesses operating Windows technology on UNIX platforms. By leveraging Mainsoft's technology, leading Microsoft applications, such as Internet Explorer and now Windows Media Player, have been ported to the UNIX environment, providing Microsoft with a clear time-to-market advantage. MainWin enables Microsoft to release leading Windows-based applications, like Windows Media Player, to corporate customers using Mainsoft's cross-platform Web infrastructure technology.

"Mainsoft's Windows platform for UNIX is being chosen by more and more businesses for Internet-based applications because of its seamless process to port Windows code to multiple platforms, such as Solaris, with little effort. The availability of Windows Media Player for the Solaris operating environment will provide businesses with more choices and continue to deliver the latest in Microsoft's technology," said Yaacov Cohen, president of Mainsoft. "We look forward to our future collaborations with Microsoft to provide cross-platform Web infrastructure solutions."

Windows Media Player sets the new standard for audio and video quality on the Web, including:

• Industry leading quality. Windows Media Player for Solaris 6.3 offers exceptional video quality at all data rates, and its unmatched audio compression offers CD-quality audio at half the size of MP3.
• Exceptional functionality. Windows Media Player for Solaris 6.3 offers cross-browser support and provides network administrators with a variety of options regarding transmission protocols, usage statistics and user interface controls.
• Superior bandwidth management. Windows Media Player for Solaris 6.3 offers many ways to manage bandwidth while preserving quality. Multiple Bit-Rate Encoding allows multiple bit-rates to be encoded in the same file, while Microsoft's Intelligent Streaming technology ensures that the users receive the highest quality their network connection will allow. Support for multicasting gives network administrators even greater flexibility.

About MainWin

MainWin is Mainsoft's Windows platform for UNIX systems including Linux. MainWin includes the implementation of Win32 APIs and Windows-based services on UNIX. Through strategic agreements with Microsoft, Mainsoft has access to Windows NT- and Windows 2000-based source code. Mainsoft has incorporated several million lines of original Windows-based source code into MainWin. This ensures that applications developed with C, C++ and Dynamic HTML for Windows will run on UNIX as it does on Windows. To date, the company has deployed more than one million end-user licenses of MainWin. For example, some of the leading business applications re-hosted to UNIX and Linux with MainWin include: Microsoft Internet Explorer; Microsoft Outlook Express; Computer Associates' OpenRoad; Alcatel's X-Vision Enterprise and Magic's Enterprise Edition V.8.

About Mainsoft Corporation

Mainsoft provides a Windows platform for UNIX, including Linux. Its flagship product MainWin allows developers to create applications and deploy the software code to several different operating environments simultaneously.

Mainsoft's corporate headquarters is located in San Jose, California, with sales offices in Boston, Washington D.C., London and Israel. Mainsoft's customers include Fortune 1000 companies including ISVs, corporate enterprise software developers, government agencies and OEMs. In 1999, a strategic alliance was formed with Crystal Systems Solutions, who took a controlling interest in Mainsoft, to leverage financial and synergistic business opportunities in the corporate IT marketplace. For additional information on Mainsoft Corporation, call 408-544-1400 or visit their Web site at www.mainsoft.com.

About Crystal Systems Solutions

Crystal Systems Solutions Ltd. (Nasdaq: CRYS - news) has been providing proprietary software technologies and services for Fortune 1000 companies since 1987. Crystal's solutions include e-Business enabling for legacy systems, cross-platform migration and IT mergers and consolidations. Crystal supports its customers, both directly and via its partners, offering end-to- end solutions through consultancy, assistance and service in conjunction with its wide variety of proprietary software tools.

Crystal Systems Solutions is a member of the Formula Group. The Formula Group (Nasdaq: FORTY - news) is an international information technology company principally engaged, through its subsidiaries and affiliates, in providing software consulting services developing proprietary software products, and providing computer-based solutions.

NOTE: MainWin is a registered trademark and Mainsoft and Mainsoft Corporation are trademarks. All other company and product names are trademarks of their respective owners.