PLATINUM TECHNOLOGY TO ACQUIRE PRODEA, ADDS OLAP TOOLS TO COMPLETE BUSINESS
INTELLIGENCE SOLUTION SET

OAKBROOK TERRACE, IL, JANUARY 17, 1996. . . PLATINUM TECHNOLOGY, INC.
(NASDAQ:PLAT) today announced that it will be adding Online Analytical
Processing (OLAP) technology to its business intelligence product line by
acquiring Prodea Software Corporation, a leading provider of data
warehousing and business intelligence tools based in Eden Prarie,
Minnesota. The addition of ProdeaBeacon is a critical component in
PLATINUM's commitment to delivering the most comprehensive suite of
business intelligence tools on the market.

Prodea's Online Analytical Processing solution allows users to take a
multidimensional view of the information stored in their databases. Users
can examine information along common business "dimensions" such as
product, geography, time, organization, etc. and then drill down from
summary levels to finer levels of detail in each dimension. Users can
navigate through these data to uncover trends and exceptions that help
decision making.

PLATINUM will acquire the outstanding shares of Prodea at a cost of
approximately $36 million in PLATINUM common stock. Prodea will become a
wholly owned subsidiary of PLATINUM technology inc. The transaction,
expected to be completed by January 31, is subject to approval by Prodea's
shareholders and the satisfaction of conditions customary for transactions
of this nature. "Business people today are under intense pressure to
perform. Rapid access to corporate and system-wide data is a key factor in
their success. As a result, business intelligence is one of the fastest
growing segments of the software industry," said Andrew J. Filipowski,
president and CEO of PLATINUM technology, inc. "By adding the OLAP
capabilities of Beacon, PLATINUM continues to meet the needs of both
sophisticated business users and corporate IT organizations." "We believe
that our open approach to OLAP, working with the popular standardized
relational database management systems rather than a proprietary data
storage method, truly meets the needs of corporate IT managers and
business users," said Larry Barbetta, president and CEO of Prodea. "This
open approach also is consistent with PLATINUM's mission to provide open
solutions for enterprise computing. The combination of Prodea's products
and PLATINUM's exceptional channel network and comprehensive product
offering is a perfect match."

"With the addition of Beacon, our business intelligence product line now
provides full ad hoc query, reporting, and customization, as well as
multi-dimensional analysis, across a multi-tiered client/server
architecture," said Frederick W. Rook, Ph.D., vice president of the
PLATINUM technology Business Intelligence Group. "This enables us to serve
this market more effectively than any other query and reporting tool or
stand-alone OLAP vendor."

ABOUT PRODEA

Prodea provides innovative data warehousing, decision support and
application development software. Its products have been developed to more
effectively access and transform raw data into useable, relevant
information that can be shared throughout an enterprise. Prodea software
products are based entirely on open and industry standard technologies.

Prodea's Beacon is a next-generation decision support solution that
contains an analytical processing engine to handle user requests for
multidimensional views of data stored in relational database management
systems and to perform standard and custom calculations. Based on a
three-tier client/server architecture, Beacon brings rapid response and
enterprise scalability to the data warehouse analysis environment. The
three tiers of the product architecture are an industry standard
relational DBMS; the Beacon Application Server, which performs the
analytical processing functions and interacts directly with the RDBMS; and
the Beacon client, which includes tools for analysis, reporting, and
administration.

Founded in 1987, Prodea has from its inception focused exclusively on
software and related services that provide reliable information access to
support the decision-making process. Many key members of the company have
been involved in pioneering work that has helped to create today's data
warehousing and decision support markets.

PLATINUM'S BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE STRATEGY

PLATINUM's Business Intelligence operation offers an integrated toolset
that enables organizations to better leverage their corporate data
investments. Business intelligence enables end users to derive value and
insight from corporate information by facilitating the access, analysis,
reporting, and delivery of enterprise data.

PLATINUM's business intelligence tools address the entire spectrum of data
access, reporting, and delivery needs. Each product offers powerful
capabilities that can be used separately to meet specific needs, or as a
part of an integrated business intelligence solution. The PLATINUM
business intelligence solutions include InfoQuery, a powerful ad hoc query
builder; InfoReports, an ad hoc query and reporting tool; Forest & Trees,
an EIS/Interactive analysis tool; and InfoReport Facility, a
mainframe-based reporting tool.

PLATINUM's business intelligence operation is a critical component of the
company's Open Enterprise Management System (POEMS). POEMS is an
integrated, multi-tiered solution that encompasses business intelligence,
data warehousing, data management, systems management and application
development across the scope of the entire enterprise.

PLATINUM TECHNOLOGY, INC., delivers the payoff on information technology
(IT) investments by providing tools that enable organizations to
efficiently manage next-generation computing solutions while leveraging
existing and legacy systems. The company provides application development,
business intelligence, database administration, data warehousing, and
systems management software solutions for the Open Enterprise Environment
(OEE) -- the networked computing environment that incorporates mainframe,
desktop, and open systems.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE E-MAIL US AT INFO@PLATINUM.COM
 
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