WINTER CORP LAUNCHES DATABASE SCALABILITY PROGRAM

Database Scalability Program for organizations with large data volumes and workloads has been launched by Waltham-based Winter Corporation, a leading consulting firm whose research examines the critical impact of large-database technology on e-business, business intelligence, and other major trends. This year, for the first time, the program has been opened to corporate sponsorship.

Database Scalability Program 2000 is a survey-based global research effort with two objectives. First, it analyzes the technical and business characteristics of the world's largest databases, which contain from hundreds of gigabytes to many terabytes of data. Second, it examines databases supporting the world's largest workloads -- those that make possible the highest transaction rates and the largest volumes of online data-warehouse query. These vast data repositories are at the heart of e-commerce, business intelligence, supply-chain management, customer relationship management, resource management, and other business-critical applications.

Winter Corporation is seeking corporate sponsorship from suppliers of hardware, software, storage and services for the implementation of large-scale databases; suppliers of tools and applications used with large databases; and suppliers of infrastructure products for e-business, where database scalability is a major requirement. Three levels of corporate sponsorship for Database Scalability Program 2000 are available, furnishing wide publicity and research findings to the sponsors. Announcement of the grand prize awards will be made at a special session, hosted by Winter Corporation, at a leading industry event.

According to Richard Winter, president of Winter Corporation, his company's clients rely on Database Scalability Program findings to make informed technology decisions, build fact-based business cases, and realize the potential of their electronic commerce opportunity. He stated:

"Companies are becoming more focused on electronic business every day. Internet-oriented products and services have become essential components of their future growth. E-businesses have to feel confident that their architectures have the performance, reliability, and scalability required for successful e-commerce operations. Sponsoring the Database Scalability Program gives suppliers a unique way to identify their products and services with success and know-how in database scalability."

Among the program's early sponsors are NCR Corporation and Microsoft Corporation. Mark Hurd, senior vice president, NCR Teradata Solutions Group, observed that his company, as a global leader in high-end data warehousing, finds Winter Corporation's research insightful and useful. "Many of our customers are pushing the frontier of database scalability," he said, "and we're pleased that a number of these companies have participated in Winter Corporation research and been recognized for their superior database implementation."

"Microsoft is solidly positioned in the high-end database market with SQL Server 2000 and the Windows 2000 platform," noted Microsoft's Paul Flessner, vice president, SQL Server and Middleware. "This combination gives us the ability to support companies' largest data warehousing and business-critical applications. We're pleased to be a sponsor of the Database Scalability Program and look forward to working with Winter Corporation to highlight our exceptional customers."

In addition to NCR and Microsoft, the Database Scalability Program is being sponsored by EMC Corporation, Hewlett-Packard Company and Sybase Inc Sponsorships will be accepted until April 30.

Data collection for Database Scalability Program 2000 runs until June 15. Awards identifying the top databases will be announced later in June and distributed soon thereafter.

About Winter Corporation

Winter Corporation is a leading center of expertise in database scalability for e-business, enterprise applications and business intelligence. The company provides research, consulting and education services that help users and vendors define their database solutions, architect their implementations, and manage their scalability issues. Winter Corporation focuses on database technology near, at and beyond the frontier of scalability.

For more information, contact Winter Corporation by e-mail at info@wintercorp.com, on the Web at www.wintercorp.com, or by calling 617-695-1800.