Progress Software and McCamish Systems Extend Financial and Insurance Applications to Equitable Life Insurance

Top Insurance and Benefit Plan Administrator Deploys ASP Application For Client Tracking and Reporting

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--September 11, 2000-- Progress Software Corporation, a leading supplier of technology for building E-Business solutions, today announced another Application Service Provider (ASP) customer success with McCamish Systems, a leading provider of state-of-the-art administrative services and enterprise software for financial institutions. An early member of Progress Software's ASPEN™ Program, McCamish developed a Progress®-based financial tracking application and has made it available through the ASP model. It is currently being implemented by The Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States, a respected leader in the insurance and annuity industry.

"McCamish is proving that the ASP model is an effective way to deploy high-end financial applications to customers quickly and easily. Their success validates the strength of Progress Software's ASPEN Program, which provides independent software vendors (ISVs), such as McCamish, with the technology and business resources they need to quickly and cost-effectively ASP-enable their applications," said Robert Palumbo, vice president of ASP Market Development for Progress Software. "By offering its leading-edge financial application over the Internet on a subscription basis, McCamish is able to leverage the ASP model with large customers such as The Equitable and generate incremental revenue."

McCamish hosts the Variable Products Administration System (VPAS®), a sophisticated Progress-based financial tracking application, for its customers. The VPAS software is designed specifically to accommodate the unique requirements of variable annuities, life insurance products and non-qualified employee benefit plans. The Equitable is currently using the VPAS Benefit Plan Administrator product to track investment transactions and provide electronic confirmations.

"Our customers are demonstrating that they are willing to use the Internet as a reporting tool for their accounts," said Bill DiMuzio, vice president at Equitable. "Our relationship with McCamish offers us the opportunity to expand products and services to our client base without having to expand our IT operations. Their expertise and delivery of Progress Software's sophisticated product offerings allow us to focus on our core competencies and devote the necessary resources to servicing our clients."

"Progress Software and the ASPEN Program provide us with a solid platform to offer business solutions quickly to our customers," said Tom Fricano, director of Systems Architecture for McCamish. "Progress Software continues to be the technology platform of choice here at McCamish because of its ease of use, quickness of development and growing acceptance in the market."

McCamish began its relationship with Progress Software in 1989 by building its application on Progress version 7.3. Since joining the Progress Software ASPEN program in late 1999, McCamish has leveraged Progress Software's expertise in the ASP market to deploy their applications via the Internet.

A channel pioneer, Progress Software has long been recognized for its ability to give ISVs the technology and services they need to meet the rigorous requirements of middle market, resource-constrained environments and to deliver industry-specific solutions more quickly, more tightly integrated and at a low total cost of ownership. With its strategy, the company is now at the forefront of the ASP market, providing an established infrastructure for bringing 2,000+ ISVs and their more than 5,000 Progress-based applications to this new distribution channel.

Progress Software's ASPEN Program offers business planning assistance, technology, services, partnerships and industry recognition to help ISVs quickly and easily transform Progress-based applications into ASP-enabled applications. These new applications, available on a subscription basis and accessed over the Internet rather than purchased, allow organizations to more quickly and economically gain access to application functionality previously unavailable to them. ASP-enabled applications reduce traditional IT infrastructure costs because they are developed and maintained by service providers rather than an internal IT staff.

Progress Software's ASPEN Program now boasts a worldwide membership of more than 150 partners, from 20 different countries around the world, representing the leading-edge of the ASP wave and the world's largest network of ASPs and related strategic partners. The program consists of more than 60,000 end-user seats including organizations such as General Mills, Beirsdorf and The Equitable, that rely on Progress-based ASP applications for improved profitability and competitive advantage. For more information about the ASPEN Program please visit www.ASPconnections.com.

About McCamish Systems

Headquartered in Atlanta, Ga., McCamish Systems offers world-class administrative services and state-of-the-art enterprise software to financial institutions that distribute life insurance, annuities and non-qualified employee benefit plans. The VPAS® Benefit Plan Administration product is ASP and client/server based and supports the transactional delivery, maintenance and reporting of Non-Qualified Benefit Plans, SERP Plans and Split Dollar Plans.

About Progress Software

Progress Software Corporation is a global supplier of software products and services for developing, deploying and managing business applications moving to the Internet. We offer messaging servers, application servers, databases, and application development and management products. Our partners include more than 2,000 application service providers and independent software vendors who supply annually over $5 billion in Progress®-based applications and related services. Our products are used by over 10,000 organizations across 100 countries worldwide, including 60% of Fortune 100 companies. For more information, visit www.progress.com or call 1-781-280-4000.

Progress is a registered trademark and ASPEN is a trademark of Progress Software Corporation. VPAS® is a registered trademark of McCamish Systems, L.L.C. Any other trademarks and/or service marks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.

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For more information about McCamish Systems, please contact our Sales & Marketing group at Solutions@McCamish.com or call 800.366.0819.