#9999 - Part 14 - Communiqués et informations

Taligent to Become IBM Subsidiary

Move Will Accelerate Delivery of Object Frameworks

CUPERTINO, California--December 19, 1995--Apple Computer, Inc., IBM Corporation and Taligent, Inc. today announced that Taligent will become an object technology development center, a wholly owned subsidiary of IBM.

The new center will continue development of Taligent technologies and accelerate their integration into IBM's complete range of cross-platform products, including IBM VisualAge C++, System Object Model (SOM), Distributed SOM (DSOM), and OpenDoc. The center will also work to ensure that the Taligent technologies are fully compliant with industry standards. The new technology center will be located at Taligent's headquarters in Cupertino, California.

"Taligent's pioneering technology is an important element in our object-oriented software strategy for enterprise-wide distributed computing," said Steve Mills, general manager, IBM Software Solutions Division. "Today's announcement will allow us to accelerate delivery to our customers. It reinforces our aggressive drive to provide software developers with powerful, cross-platform, object-oriented software that adheres to industry standards and meets enterprise needs."

IBM will assume responsibility for marketing and distribution of all future Taligent products, enabling the center to focus on its core expertise of object-oriented framework development. Apple and Hewlett Packard, who along with IBM were principal investors in Taligent, will retain licensing rights to Taligent technologies.

Commenting on the announcement, David Nagel, Apple senior vice president of worldwide research and development, said, "Taligent has delivered superior technology, allowing others to create software for managing complex computing and collaborative environments. We're confident that the Taligent technology will continue to flourish under IBM's stewardship. We look forward to continuing our excellent working relationship with IBM on object- oriented technologies."

Bernard Guidon, HP vice president and general manager of the Computer Systems Group, said, "We're pleased with the work that's been done at Taligent. We plan to continue working with IBM to improve the accessibility of object technology for our customers."

As one of the original architects of the Taligent frameworks, Mike Potel, vice president of technology, Taligent, commented, "Customer feedback has been enthusiastic about our framework-based programming model. The new center allows Taligent to concentrate on its leading-edge framework development efforts, which will accelerate the resulting object-oriented technology and products into IBM's cross-platform Open Class and VisualAge product families."

Taligent was formed in 1992 by Apple and IBM to develop a new application system based on object-oriented technology. HP became the third investor in 1994. Taligent has operated as an independent company. It's first product, CommonPoint for AIX, shipped in July 1995. CommonPoint is a complete, integrated, software platform composed of more than 100 object-oriented frameworks. It providesdevelopers with a powerful platform-independent model that supports interactive collaboration.
Multiple users can share and update compound documents and data in real time even though their CommonPoint systems are running on different platforms.

IBM also announced that CommonPoint for OS/2 is now available. Apple plans to deliver CommonPoint on Mac OS.

Apple Computer, Inc., a recognized pioneer and innovator in the information industry, creates powerful solutions based on easy-to- use personal computers, servers, peripherals, software, online services, and personal digital assistants. Headquartered in Cupertino, California, Apple (NASDAQ: APPL) develops, manufactures, licenses and markets products, technologies and services for the business, education, consumers, scientific and engineering, and government markets in over 140 countries.

IBM, the world's largest software provider, creates, develops and manufactures the industry's most advanced information technologies, including computer systems, software, networking systems, storage devices, and microelectronics. IBM's Software Solutions Division provides data management, application development, multimedia and workgroup solutions for mission- critical applications on PCs, workstations, LANs and large servers.

© Mactivity Estonia 1996