Palo Alto, CA May 18, 1992 -- With the release of the new Micro Focus Host
Compatibility Option for IBM Database Manager, business application
programmers can now develop and maintain IBM DB2 SQL applications through
IBM Database Manager (DBM) on a PC.

The Micro Focus Host Compatibility Option for IBM Database Manager is an
add-on package to Micro Focus COBOL Workbench or the newly announced Micro
Focus MVS/AD. It Provides DB2 development tools and EBCDIC data conversion
utilities for IBM's Database Manager. With this new package, mainframe
programmers can move DB2 SQL application development off the mainframe
onto the PC, saving mainframe resources and speeding up the development
process.

The Micro Focus Host Compatibility Option for the IBM Database Manager
allows developers to use a COBOL pre-processor to convert ASCII data
stored in DBM to EBCDIC and vise versa. Extended Services Database Manager
Version 1.0 provides for EBCDIC collating sequences to support SQL clauses
dependent on a collating sequence.

The package also allows developers to take advantage of an SQL
pre-processor that is integrated with Micro Focus COBOL and Advanced
ANIMATOR (the visual source-code debugger). When stepping through an SQL
program, developers see the original EXEC SQL statements, not the expanded
source statements. Statements inserted to convert the data between EBCDIC
and ASCII and to process the EXEC SQL statements are hidden from the
programmer.

In addition, the Micro Focus Host Compatibility Option for IBM Database
Manager includes a DCLGEN utility that creates a COBOL copy member with a
DECLARE TABLE statement and a host variable structure from the DBM table
definition. This utility can be run interactively or from the command line
for batch execution.

COBOL field names can be constructed as numbered field names or named using
the column name in the table. The COBOL names can be optionally prefixed
with the table name or any specified value.

A Data Definition Language (DDL) utility allows programmers to create
tables and view definitions in DBM from DB2 compatible statements.

The Micro Focus Host Compatibility Option for IBM Database Manager can be
used with EBCDIC versions of the Micro Focus IMS Option, the IMS
Production Option, CICS Option, CICS Production Option and batch EBCDIC
programs and is currently available directly from Micro Focus.

Micro Focus is the leading developer of COBOL compilers and programmer
productivity tools for business application development. Micro Focus
products are available on micro, mini and mainframe computer systems and
support many standard and proprietary operating systems. The company
developed the first National Bureau of Standards-certified ANSI'85 COBOL
compiler. Micro Focus COBOL also conforms to the IBM Systems Applications
Architecture (SAA) standard, the X/Open standard, and is FIPS PUB 21-2
compliant. Micro Focus is a member of the IBM International Alliance for
AD/Cycle.

Micro Focus Inc. 2465 East Bayshore Rd, Palo Alto, CA 94303
(415) 856-4161    Fax: (415) 856-6134

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