Short Takes - Financial Watch:

Computer Associates To Expense Stock Options

Computer Associates International Inc (CA) announced that in the future it will expense the cost of all new stock options granted by the Company. CA said this practice will commence with all options granted in its next fiscal year, which begins April 1, 2003.

Said Sanjay Kumar, president and Chief Executive Officer, "CA's decision to expense stock options is part of our ongoing commitment to adhere to best practices in everything we do. The new policy puts options on an equal footing with other kinds of compensation and will allow us to continue to design compensation packages that motivate employees and align their interests with those of all share owners."

CA will adopt the fair value based method of recording stock options contained in SFAS No. 123, Accounting for Stock-Based Compensation.

After April 1, 2003, all future employee stock option grants will be expensed over the stock option vesting period based on the fair value at the date the options are granted. The Company expects the impact of adopting this accounting methodology to be approximately $ .02 per share in the initial year following its adoption.

About Computer Associates

Computer Associates International Inc delivers The Software That Manages eBusiness. CA's world-class solutions address all aspects of eBusiness management through industry-leading brands: Unicenter for infrastructure management, eTrust for security management, BrightStor for storage management, CleverPath for portal and business intelligence, AllFusion for application life cycle management, Advantage for data management and application development, and Jasmine for object-oriented database technology. Founded in 1976, CA serves organizations in more than 100 countries, including 99% of the Fortune 500 companies. For more information, visit ca.com.

Veeco's Second-Quarter Slump

Veeco Instruments Inc whose equipment is used by makers of computer chips and data storage devices, said sales were lower in the second quarter, and that it had a profit loss. The Woodbury-based company, which has been slumping along with most others in the technology industry, said it lost $1.6 million in the quarter, compared to net income of $10 million in the similar period last year. Sales in the quarter dropped 31 percent, to $77.3 million.

On a per-share basis, Veeco lost 6-cents against a gain of 40-cents in the corresponding period in 2001. Veeco also said its sales for the first half of this year declined, 34%, to $157.5 million. Veeco said it lost $5.1 million, or 18-cents a share, in the first six months of 2002, compared to net income of $22.9 million, or 91-cents a share, in the first six months of 2001.

The company has taken steps in recent months to cut costs. It eliminated about 15% of the approximately 1,500 people on its payroll, reduced executives' pay, and combined smaller factories into larger ones. Veeco last month announced the largest acquisition in its history - a $1-billion stock purchase of FEI Co in a deal that will create the country's sixth-largest maker of semiconductor equipment. The deal is expected to close in October, after shareholder approval.

Shares of Veeco rose $1.02, closing at $13.71 yesterday on the Nasdaq exchange.

NSI Software And Stratus Technologies Form Partnership

NSI Software, provider of data replication technology and services, announced a worldwide reseller partnership with fault-tolerant server maker, Stratus Technologies, to deliver distributed fault-tolerant solutions to enterprises worldwide. By combining the companies' best-of-breed replication and faulttolerance technologies, enterprises achieve the highest level of application and data availability to preserve business-as-usual operations.

Emerging as the de-facto replication engine for fault-tolerant environments, NSI Software's Double-Take product allows Stratus customers to build distributed fault-tolerant solutions that maintain replicas of critical information at multiple locations. Double-Take will be available with the Stratus ftServer family, an Intel processor-based line of fault-tolerant servers for Windows 2000 operating environments. Through the partnership, Stratus also becomes the newest member of NSI's Xcelerate Partner Program with worldwide distribution rights, and sales and marketing support from NSI Software.

This Xcelerate partnership builds upon NSI Software's "Data Replication for the Real World" initiative, which was launched earlier this month. The initiative enables the highest level of accessibility, affordability and usability to data protection solutions through NSI's replication products, OEM and reseller partnerships and professional services organization.

Stratus selected NSI's Double-Take replication engine to enhance its portfolio of products for ensuring business continuity. "Our partnership with NSI Software is in direct response to customer demand for distance replication capabilities," said David Mazursky, Stratus vice president of Worldwide Professional Services. "The reliability and performance of Double-Take complements our ftServer platform exceptionally well and enables us to quickly fulfill demand. Our partnership allows both companies to secure new market share and revenue by delivering uninterrupted business operations at an affordable price point."

Stratus ftServer systems combat the primary causes of system downtime and data loss, including single points of failure, cluster failover time, faulty device drivers and human error, to keep businesses online. Double-Take, with Windows 2000 logo certification, combines continual real-time backup and automatic failover capabilities to virtually eliminate downtime and data loss.

Stratus will offer Double-Take with its ftServer family through direct and indirect channels worldwide. Stratus will also offer NSI's GeoCluster product for customers introducing ftServer systems into clustered-server environments.

"Demand for replication technology in Windows environments is at an all-time high, with enterprises worldwide investing in zero-downtime environments," said Bob Guilbert, vice president of marketing and business development for NSI Software. "Our partnership with Stratus exemplifies our strategic initiative to make high-quality replication technology available, affordable and accessible."

About Stratus Technologies

Originally founded in 1980, Stratus Technologies designs, sells, and supports fault-tolerant computer servers for operations where uninterrupted processing, business continuity, and reliability are important. Through its 24-7 Technologies Division, Stratus also licenses technology for continuous computing on Intel processor-based platforms to other global manufacturers. Stratus has been named by FORTUNE magazine as one of the 2002 "FORTUNE 100 Best Companies to Work For" and by UPSIDE magazine among the "UPSIDE Hot 100 for 2002." Stratus is a U.S. Microsoft Gold Certified Partner.

About NSI Software

Established in 1991, NSI Software is a leading developer of patented, awardwinning data replication technologies and services. NSI Software products, including Double-Take, GeoCluster and Balance, enable companies to recover quickly and easily from disasters and continue to provide business-critical information for demanding customer environments. Privately funded, NSI has strategic technical and marketing relationships with industry leaders including Microsoft, IBM, Dell, HP and many others. NSI Software works with its OEM partners and reseller channel to deliver comprehensive solutions and support to business users.

For more information on NSI Software, call 888-674-9495 or visit the Web site www.nsisoftware.com.