SAN JOSE, California – September 2, 1998 – Fujitsu Software Corporation today unveiled Fujitsu COBOL Version 4.0, Enterprise Edition. Fujitsu COBOL Version 4.0 is the fastest, most reliable Windows-based COBOL and seamlessly integrates legacy COBOL programs with Microsoft® Visual Basic™, Visual C++™, Visual J++™, and Visual InterDev™

Fujitsu COBOL 4.0 Enterprise Edition features a number of significant performance and productivity enhancements that will help make enterprise developers more efficient and end-user solutions faster and more flexible. Advanced features such as ActiveX®-based COBOL component creation capabilities will allow more than 3 million developers using Microsoft Visual Basic to integrate, access, and reuse legacy COBOL code in Microsoft’s component architecture.

Using Fujitsu COBOL with Visual Basic allows you to access COBOL logic from Visual Basic, where you can make dynamic calls to COBOL. Passing data between Visual Basic and Fujitsu COBOL is easy and you can even debug Visual Basic and Fujitsu COBOL code at the same time.

"Fujitsu’s commitment to seamless integration with Microsoft Visual Studio and strong support of the Windows platform was key to our decision to work with Fujitsu," said Paul Gross, vice president, developer division, Microsoft Corp. "We are confident that Fujitsu’s expertise in the high-performance, mission-critical business application market will benefit the large installed base of Microsoft customers who are looking to integrate their legacy COBOL systems with Microsoft Visual Studio."

Enterprise companies worldwide have standardized on COBOL as the cornerstone of their mission-critical computing solutions. As customers adopt Microsoft Windows-based solutions in ever-increasing numbers, they are looking for ways to integrate their existing legacy COBOL systems. Fujitsu COBOL’s high performance and mission-critical environment are tightly integrated with Microsoft Visual Studio and key technologies, including Microsoft Visual Basic, Visual C++, and BackOffice™, Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM), and ActiveX technologies.

"The combination of Microsoft’s visual development tools and Fujitsu COBOL opens new deployment options for legacy COBOL applications. Programmers can now reuse legacy COBOL programs as components in multi-tier client/server or Internet applications," said Yoshiyuki Tanakura, General Manager of Middleware Division, Software Group, Fujitsu Limited. "As a Microsoft Enterprise Development Partner, we want to ensure that Fujitsu COBOL not only fully supports Microsoft’s advanced technologies but fully exploits those technologies across the entire enterprise and provides the fastest COBOL with unmatched reliability and scalability for the Windows platforms."

Fujitsu COBOL Enterprise Edition provides development teams with the tools to design and build multi-tier solutions that tap the opportunities of the Internet and integrate with their existing software and hardware investments.

"Fujitsu COBOL leverages our existing COBOL programs by enabling full support for Windows based client/server computing and providing the most reliable COBOL environment on Microsoft Windows operating systems", said Jay Johnson, chief executive officer of Advanced Logics Corporation.

Fujitsu COBOL Version 4.0 Enterprise Edition is immediately available. For more information on the Fujitsu COBOL family of products visit the Fujitsu COBOL Web site at www.adtools.com/4

Fujitsu Limited is a leading provider of information technology products and solutions for the global marketplace. Founded in Japan in 1935 as a telephone equipment maker, the Fujitsu Group had consolidated revenues of $37.7 billion in the fiscal year ended March 31, 1998.

With over 500 group companies, including Amdahl Corporation, and ICL PLC, Fujitsu is one of the world's largest suppliers of computers and information systems solutions, telecommunications and semiconductor products, software and services. The Fujitsu Group has over 180,000 employees worldwide and operations in more than 100 countries.

Fujitsu Software Corporation (FSC) and Fujitsu Limited are trademarks or registered trademarks of Fujitsu Limited of Tokyo. Microsoft, Visual Basic, Visual C++, Visual Studio, Windows, Windows NT, BackOffice, FrontPage and ActiveX are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.