IBM Expands Data Warehousing Program to New Platforms, Partnerships, and
Data Access Sources

ORLANDO, FL, February 6, 1996 . . . IBM today announced new platforms
supported by Visual Warehouse and partnerships with the Metadata Coalition
and Cognos, Inc., as well as new data access sources, in moves designed to
further IBM's leadership position within the data warehousing arena.

Visual Warehouse will soon allow customers to maintain and create data
marts on Windows NT, HP-UX, and Sun Solaris platforms, in addition to
OS/2, AIX, and OS/400 platforms supported since the product's introduction
last May.

According to Tim Negris, vice president of sales and marketing, IBM
Software Solutions Division, "This range of open platforms gives customers
the flexibility to build and manage data marts wherever they choose."

Customers can now access new data sources -- Informix and Microsoft SQL
Server databases, as well as the award-winning DATABASE 2 (DB2) family,
Oracle, Sybase, VSAM, IMS and a variety of host and LAN-based flat files.
The new data mart platforms and data sources will be available Q1 96.

IBM also announced its membership in the vendor-neutral Metadata Coalition,
initiated in October 1995 by the META Group to develop standards that will
help users interchange metadata stored in multiple locations and formats.
Metadata is the information used to track the content of a data
warehouse.

"The future of data warehousing lies in users' ability to inquire,
interpret and discover value from their data that may otherwise have lain
hidden, as well as employing multi-dimensional analysis of that data,"
said Negris. "Participating in the Metadata Coalition will help ensure
that IBM achieves its metadata objective."

IBM also announced the addition of Burlington, MA-based Cognos, Inc. to its
growing data warehouse alliance program. Announced last October, the
alliance program focuses on two key areas of data warehouse technology --
multi-dimensional analysis for end-users, and ensuring the accuracy,
quality, and consistency of data. As a result of the program, users will
be able to view metadata within Arbor Software's Essbase, Business
Objects' tool of the same name, Business Objects, Information Advantage's
DecisionSuite, Pilot Software's LightShip and Vality Technology's
Integrity, and now Cognos' Impromptu and PowerPlay -- enterprise-wide
interactive database reporting and multi-dimensional analysis tools.

"Cognos is pleased to be part of IBM's data warehousing alliance program,"
said Jean Pierre Jauvin, director of business development, Cognos, Inc.
"Impromptu 3.0, Cognos' award-winning data access tool, and IBM's DB2
family of products together provide the most comprehensive solution
available to customers today."

As well as integrating the Impromptu tool, Cognos will be working with IBM
to integrate its PowerPlay metadata with IBM's DataGuide.

IBM's Software Solutions Division provides data management, application
development and workgroup solutions for mission-critical applications on
personal computers, workstation, LANs and host systems. For Internet
users, IBM offers complete information about the company, its products,
services and technology on the World Wide Web. The IBM home page is
accessible via http://www.ibm.com. The fastest, easiest way to get
information about IBM software is to go to the IBM Software home page at
http://www.software.ibm.com.

Please Note:

Questions about the content or currency of this press release should be
directed to your local IBM representative.
 
 =========================================================
 From the 'New Product News' Electronic News Service on...
 AOL (Keyword = New Products) and Delphi (GO COMP PROD)
 =========================================================
 This information was processed from data provided by the
 company/author mentioned. For additional details, please
 contact them directly at the address/phone# indicated.
 Trademarks are the property of their respective owners!
 =========================================================
 All submissions for this service should be addressed to:
 BAKER ENTERPRISES,  20 Ferro Dr,  Sewell, NJ  08080  USA
 Email:   rbakerpc@aol.com   --or--   rbakerpc@delphi.com
 =========================================================
