Leading Edge R&D:

ACCELRYS/SUN TO OPTIMIZE DISCOVERY STUDIO TO J2EE STANDARD

Accelrys Inc, a wholly owned subsidiary of Pharmacopeia Inc, and Sun Microsystems Inc announced the expansion of their long-standing alliance in the life sciences market to jointly support the development of Discovery Studio, Accelrys' forthcoming platform for accelerating pre-clinical drug research. Discovery Studio will be based on Sun's Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) technology standard, with both companies contributing to the design and certification to ensure its adherence to these standards. By delivering to the market a solution based on open standards, Accelrys and Sun are helping to increase ease of adoption, integration and interoperability with third-party and in-house informatics and data management solutions.

"We're excited to expand our strategic alliance with Sun, the leader in the push toward standards-based Web services. Open systems are critical to our plans to deliver a platform to the life sciences community that will enable innovation and enhance the efficiency of drug discovery organizations," said Dr. Scott Kahn, general manager and senior vice president of life sciences for Accelrys. "Our use of J2EE technology is key to helping us deliver a platform that can leverage informatics systems that have been developed in-house or that can be quickly integrated with third-party applications."

This expanded alliance builds on a long-standing relationship between Accelrys and Sun that is focused on supporting several of Accelrys' life sciences informatics and data management applications on the Sun Solaris platform. The companies will continue to support existing Solaris applications and also engage in joint-marketing and training efforts for these products.

"The healthcare and technology industries have hit a watershed moment, where the convergence of networked, high-performance computing technologies and the explosion of genetic data have created a unique opportunity for IT to help drive drug discovery to an unimagined level of efficiency, innovation and productivity," said Sia Zadeh, Ph.D., group manager, Life Science Group at Sun. "Accelrys and Sun are at the forefront of this movement in the life sciences industry."

Sun is working closely with the life sciences community to ensure that it can deliver technologies that help speed the discovery process. For example, Sun played a significant role in the development of the Interoperable Informatics Infrastructure Consortium (I3C), an international consortium of life sciences and information technology organizations. The I3C is developing common protocols and interoperable technologies (specifications) for data exchange and knowledge management for the life sciences community. Sun also created a Life Science Informatics Advisory Council (IAC), which has held two summits in which internationally acclaimed scientists and IT specialists from across academia, industry and public agencies have come together to address the escalating computational analysis needs and requirements to support the life sciences community. Currently, Sun is partnering with numerous companies involved in life sciences, including Caprion Pharmaceuticals and others.

About Accelrys

Accelrys is a leading provider of software for computation, simulation, and the management and mining of scientific data used by biologists, chemists, and materials scientists for product design, drug discovery, and development. Accelrys' platform technology and consulting services enable enterprise-wide solutions tailored to today's leading research organizations. The company's three main centers of excellence are in San Diego, CA, Princeton, NJ, and Cambridge, UK. These centers combine research and product development with facilities to support significant collaborative projects. Accelrys is a subsidiary of Pharmacopeia Inc and was launched in June 2001, combining leading software companies Molecular Simulations Inc, Synopsys Scientific Systems, Oxford Molecular, GCG, and Synomics Ltd.

More information on Accelrys can be found at www.accelrys.com.

About Sun Microsystems Inc

Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision -- The Network Is The Computer -- has propelled Sun Microsystems Inc to its position as a leading provider of industrial-strength hardware, software and services that power the Internet and allow companies worldwide to take their businesses to the nth. Sun can be found in more than 170 countries and on the World Wide Web at www.sun.com.

Contact Jim Rivas of Accelrys Inc, 858-799-5393, jrivas@accelrys.com.