Ericsson Opts for IONA's Orbix as International CORBA Standard

Market leading CORBA implementation to speed software development at
Ericsson

Dublin, Ireland, January 10, 1996: International telecommunications giant
Ericsson AB., has signed a contract with IONA Technologies, Ltd to use
IONA's Orbix as the company-standard CORBA implementation throughout the
world. Initially Ericsson Radio Systems AB., Cellular Systems-American
Standards, is using Orbix to develop its Cellular Management Operations
System (CMOS) based on the Telecommunications Management Network (TMN)
architecture. Ericsson expects to use the software in a number of similar
large scale projects in 1996 and beyond.

Orbix is IONA's implementation of the Object Management Group's CORBA
(Common Object Request Broker Architecture) specification. With Orbix,
programmers can rapidly develop distributed, object-oriented applications
following a consistent and straightforward, standards-based model.

This is one of the first times in the telecommunications industry that TMN
standards and CORBA have been used extensively to build a network
management product. In order to maintain the leading position in an
increasingly competitive global telecommunications market, Ericsson is
focusing on its core business in switching, radio and network management,
and is relying more on strategic suppliers to provide common products and
components. IONA Technologies has been chosen as a strategic supplier that
enables Ericsson to focus on its core business.

Orbix was selected as the best implementation of CORBA in the market. The
large range of platforms for which Orbix is available, its outstanding
performance and its attractive features (e.g. support for unshared
servers) are some of the significant reasons that motivated Ericsson to
select Orbix.

"The Telecom's industry understands the value of standards in improving the
quality and timeliness of software delivery. Few other industries have
exacting requirements of the telecoms sector for scalability and
robustness. Today's announcement endorses IONA and the OMG's assertion
that CORBA can be the cornerstone for major software development
projects," says Annrai O'Toole, vice president development at IONA
Technologies.

Ericsson Research Canada based in Montreal, a division of Ericsson Radio
Systems AB, will be the first Ericsson organization to use Orbix in CMOS.
The project started at the end of 1995 and the product will be available
in 1996. CMOS provides a family of tools which allow an operator to plan,
operate and maintain a high-quality CMS8800 based cellular telephone
network. CMOS's user-friendly graphical interface enables operators to
increase their productivity and efficiency in many tasks.

Based in Dublin, Ireland and Boston, MA., IONA Technologies is the world's
leading provider of CORBA conforming solutions. Its principal product,
Orbix was launched in June 1993 as the first full and complete
implementation of the Object Management Group's (OMG's) Common Object
Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) standard. With Orbix, programmers can
develop distributed, C++, object-oriented applications following a
consistent and straightforward, standards-based model.

Orbix currently runs on 20 operating systems from a single code base.
Platforms include: Windows 3.1x, Windows NT, OS/2, Macintosh System 7.5,
twelve different Unix systems, OpenVMS AXP and the real-time operating
systems VxWorks, QNX and LynxOS. Orbix for Windows and Windows NT include
powerful integration allowing OLE-enabled applications to transparently
invoke remote and local CORBA objects. IONA has integrated Orbix with
ODI's ObjectStore object-oriented database, Isis Distributed Systems'
reliable distributed computing technology and Novell's Tuxedo on-line
transaction processing system, together with a variety of third-party
middleware and tools.

Orbix is used by thousands of developers world-wide in large and small
corporations including: Boeing Commercial Aircraft Group, IRIDIUM and
Chemical Bank. All versions of Orbix interoperate seamlessly. Reviewers,
Editors and other industry-knowledgeable judges at Unix Review magazine
picked Orbix as one of the outstanding products of 1995 in the December
issue of the magazine. IONA is partly owned by Sun Microsystems
subsidiary, SunSoft, Inc.

Ericsson is one of the world's leading telecommunication companies. This
position is based on leading edge technology, advanced systems know-how,
international experience and the ability to meet specific customer
requirements.

Ericsson's over 80,000 employees are active in more than 100 countries.
Their combined expertise in switching, radio and networking makes Ericsson
a world leader in telecommunications.

For Further Information Contact: Tom Golden or Tara O'Sullivan

IONA Technologies, Inc.      IONA Technologies, Ltd.
55 Fairbanks Blvd.,          8-34 Percy Place,
Marlboro, MA 01752           Dublin 4, Ireland

Tel: 508-460-6868            +353-1-6686522
Fax: 508-460-6099            +353-1-6686573

In the USA or Canada call I-800-orbix4u (1-800-672-4948)
email: tgolden@iona.com
 
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