PeerDirect announces technology for 100% Linux-distributed database apps

PEERDIRECT ANNOUNCES NATIVE LINUX SUPPORT FOR PEERDIRECT DISTRIBUTED ENTERPRISE
 
For the First Time, Organizations Can Deploy 100 Percent Linux Distributed
Database Applications, Resulting in Significant Cost Savings and Radically
Improved Application Quality of Service 
 
BEDFORD, Mass. --January 20, 2003 -- PeerDirect Corporation, an operating
company of Progress Software Corporation (Nasdaq: PRGS), today announced
that its flagship product suite, PeerDirectT Distributed Enterprise, now
provides native support for Linux. As a result, companies can
cost-effectively decentralize and distribute database-driven business
applications to thousands of locations across the enterprise using
Linux-based application servers and databases. 
 
The PeerDirect Distributed Enterprise suite lets companies decentralize
their business applications by automatically and bi-directionally
synchronizing, distributing and replicating corporate data and applications
across multiple locations, desktops and mobile devices, while providing
centralized tools for easy administration. By distributing applications in
this way, companies can eliminate the latency and outages associated with
traditional centralized application deployment, while radically improving
employee productivity by ensuring that vital applications and data are
always available to them, whether they are online or offline. 
 
With native Linux support, PeerDirect Distributed Enterprise now lets
companies keep deployment costs to a minimum because they can use a pure
Linux infrastructure with popular open source databases and application
servers. 
 
"Running PeerDirect on Linux servers is an ideal distributed application
solution for TeamShare because we can ensure that critical business
information is consistently available to the people who need it most, at a
cost that is substantially lower than it would be if we were using
non-Linux servers for remote deployment," said Greg Burnell, chief
operating officer at TeamShare, a leader in enterprise solutions for
software development and product lifecycle management. "With PeerDirect, we
can take advantage of the benefits of decentralization without
relinquishing control or threatening the integrity of our data. The
addition of native Linux support means PeerDirect delivers a huge return on
investment by enabling a true distributed application architecture across a
low-cost Linux infrastructure." 
 
Deployed by customers in industries as diverse as retail and aircraft
maintenance, PeerDirect Distributed Enterprise is based on patented
technology that allows automatic bi-directional data synchronization
between any combination of databases, including products from Oracle,
Microsoft, Progress, IBM, Sybase and Informix, as well as the PostgreSQL
open source database. This support for heterogeneous database environments
means that companies can choose Linux as their remote deployment platform,
even if they are running Windows or UNIX in their data centers. 
 
"With native Linux support, PeerDirect Distributed Enterprise now
eliminates both the technical and financial hurdles to deploying
decentralized business applications," said Lorne Cooper, president of
PeerDirect. "Now, companies can justify mass deployments of this type of
technology. Companies are able to deliver vastly improved performance,
availability and functionality to distributed offices and remote workers
across a low-cost Linux infrastructure." 
 
About PeerDirect Corporation
PeerDirect Corporation is a supplier of advanced, patented technology for
distributed application deployment and management. The company's flagship
product suite, PeerDirect(TM) Distributed Enterprise, allows companies to
centrally manage distributed applications with fully synchronized databases
deployed across widely distributed locations. PeerDirect Distributed
Enterprise accomplishes this with a core technology that replicates,
distributes and synchronizes data and application components across
multiple locations, giving customers more responsive and reliable
applications with less dependency on network connectivity to a central data
center. 
 
Based in Bedford, Mass., with additional development operations in Toronto,
Canada, PeerDirect Corporation is an operating company of Progress Software
Corporation (Nasdaq: PRGS) and provides customers with a comprehensive
range of enterprise technical support, consulting and training for
PeerDirect products. More information on PeerDirect can be found at
www.peerdirect.com, or by calling +1-781-280-4080. 
 
About Progress Software Corporation 
Founded in 1981, Progress Software Corporation, or PSC (Nasdaq: PRGS) is
the parent organization for the Progress Company operating unit, Sonic
Software Corporation, NuSphere Corporation and PeerDirect Corporation. PSC
provides industry-leading technologies for all aspects of e-business
development, deployment, integration and management. Progress Software
Corporation is headquartered in Bedford, MA, and can be reached at +1-781-
280-4000 or on the Web at www.progress.com.  
 
PeerDirect is a trademark or registered trademark of PeerDirect
Corporation's affiliate PeerDirect Company in the U.S. and Canada. Any
other trademarks or service marks contained herein may be the property of
their respective owners. 
******************
Leah Barrett Demers
SparkSource, Inc.
1666 Massachusetts Avenue
Lexington, Massachusetts  02420
p: 781-274-6061 x. 207
f: 781-274-6065
e:  ldemers@sparksource.com
www.sparksource.com

Winner, "Best High-Tech Launch"
The Publicity Club of New England's 2002 Bell Ringer Awards