Monday October 2, 6:11 pm Eastern Time

Mainsoft Enables Windows Developers to Write on Windows, Deploy on UNIX

SAN JOSE, Calif., Oct. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Mainsoft, the e-porting company, today announced the general availability of Visual MainWin, the first application porting platform allowing developers -- with no UNIX expertise -- to write on Windows and port simultaneously to UNIX. Visual MainWin, which is available for a free thirty-day evaluation, can be downloaded at www.mainsoft.com.

Industry analyst, IDC, reported that in 1999, Windows represented 30% and UNIX represented more than 50% of the $5.8 billion in Internet server sales. In order to tap the Internet server markets, independent software vendors (ISVs) and Internet infrastructure providers must deploy on both Windows and UNIX.

Mainsoft's customers, who include both ISVs and Internet infrastructure providers such as Microsoft, PTC, Siebel Systems, UUNET, and Wind River Systems, have tapped Mainsoft's application porting platform to meet their increasing cross-platform challenge. Mainsoft's software and services enable developers to focus on their core competency, rather than platform availability; decrease ulti-platform time-to-market from years to months; and reduce R&D costs for UNIX versions by up to 95%.

"ESRI was looking for a way to make our Windows applications available on a UNIX platform. ESRI has one of the largest COM implementations in the world," said Clint Brown, Director of Software Products at ESRI. "With Visual MainWin, ESRI has ported much of ArcInfo and ArcView to Solaris, greatly reducing people-hours and development resources needed for this enormous undertaking. We thank Mainsoft for helping us easily address our Sun market by enabling us to efficiently port our COM applications to Solaris."

The e-Porting Company

Through its e-porting initiative, Mainsoft is redefining the way companies develop applications for multiple platforms by building the cross-platform foundation for the Internet economy. Despite robust demand for UNIX applications, the Windows API remains the software development environment of choice in the industry. Increasing numbers of large and small e-businesses require identical Windows and UNIX versions of software.

"In today's fast-paced Internet economy, skilled IT resources are scarce, and competitive advantage depends on efficient deployment of these resources," said Yaacov Cohen, president of Mainsoft. "Mainsoft's products allow companies to meet time-to-market requirements with their existing development talent."

Mainsoft maintains a unique relationship with Microsoft through strategic agreements that have provided Mainsoft with access to Windows source code, including Windows 2000. Mainsoft has incorporated several million lines of original Windows source code into Visual MainWin. Mainsoft also works closely with other vendors, including Sun Microsystems, Hewlett Packard, Intel and IBM, to extend the operability of applications to the UNIX platforms.

"We are pleased that Mainsoft is shipping Visual MainWin which integrates with Visual Studio," said Yuval Neeman, vice president of the developer division at Microsoft. "Visual MainWin provides Visual Studio customers with a great cross-platform solution."

Visual MainWin

Visual MainWin is the first implementation of Mainsoft's e-porting initiative. With this release, for the first time ever, the entire porting process can be completed from any PC with no direct interaction with a UNIX machine. By providing seamless integration with Microsoft Visual Studio 6 and the Visual C++ Studio graphical user interface (GUI), Visual MainWin eliminates the need for UNIX development expertise. Visual MainWin allows developers to use a single source code for Windows and UNIX. Features include:

• XML support for server applications: Visual MainWin includes implementation of the MSXML server APIs, allowing server applications to parse and process XML data.
• ODBC integration: Accessing and using databases through the standard ODBC interface is now easier than ever thanks to a tight integration between Visual MainWin and DataDirect ODBC by Merant, the leading ODBC product for the UNIX market.
• Visual MainWin Plug-in support: This new feature enables linking a Visual MainWin ported DLL with a native UNIX application such as a web server application.
• Java-COM bridge: Visual MainWin's Java-COM bridge technology enables any Java application, in particular JSP and Java Application Servers, to directly activate COM components from within Java.

Pricing and Availability

The Visual MainWin software developer's kit (SDK) includes one developer license and three additional QA licenses to test and debug the resulting application. One year of e-mail and Web-based technical support is provided. Additional support levels are also available. Pricing is $2,495 per developer. Additional licensing is required prior to deploying each Visual MainWin ported application.

Visual MainWin is currently available for the Solaris platform. Versions of Visual MainWin for the other major operating systems will be released in early 2001. Please contact Mainsoft's Worldwide Sales at 800-MAINWIN (624-6946) for more details.

About Mainsoft Corporation

Mainsoft Corporation, the e-porting company, provides companies operating in today's demanding Internet economy with a Windows platform for UNIX and other platforms. Its flagship product, Visual MainWin, allows developers to create applications and deploy the software code to several different operating environments simultaneously. Mainsoft is committed to redefining porting by focusing cross-platform application and migration on Internet-enabled technologies and Web services. 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 such as e-businesses, ISVs, corporate enterprise software developers, government agencies and OEMs. In 1999, Crystal Systems Solutions formed a strategic alliance with Mainsoft by assuming controlling interest in the company, allowing Mainsoft and Crystal Systems Solutions to leverage financial and synergistic business opportunities in the corporate IT marketplace. For additional information on Mainsoft Corporation, call 408-544-1400 or visit the Mainsoft 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 (Nasdaq: FORTY - news). The Formula Group 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: Mainsoft and Visual MainWin are trademarks or registered trademarks of Mainsoft Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries. Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. All other company and product names are trademarks of their respective owners.