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Alphablox Corporation Announces Release Of Alphablox 4.1

Alphablox Corporation, an enterprise analytics software and services company, has announced delivery of Alphablox 4.1, which includes support for Hyperion Essbase 6.5, SmartCache improvements for customers using Alphablox's Java client, and an innovative toolkit called Blox Palette.

Alphablox's new Blox Palette extends the company's leadership in supporting a wide range of analytic applications by introducing a code-free, drag-and-drop development toolkit which enables the fast and easy creation of basic reporting and data access applications by business analysts. This first-of-a-kind development framework, delivered as a set of presentation and data analysis components or "Blox" through a non-proprietary Web palette, enables business analysts with limited technical Web skills (i.e., basic HTML, no programming experience) to quickly and easily build their first Alphablox applications with minimal assistance from IT. This announcement supports Alphablox's continued commitment to providing the only open, standards-based platform for assembling J2EE-based, enterprise-class analytic applications.

"Alphablox now provides different application building capabilities to address a range of skill sets and broad spectrum of business analytic applications," said Bill Wagstaff, senior vice president of products and marketing for Alphablox. "Our developer services are designed to enable rapid development and deployment of analytic applications for application builders at all skills levels -- not just J2EE experts. With the addition of Blox Palette, we are enabling non-technical business analysts to build standards-based, analytic applications -- delivering business value almost immediately."

Alphablox supports an open development environment in which creating an Alphablox analytic application is very similar to creating a Web site. The new Alphablox Blox Palette, used within Macromedia Dreamweaver MX, enables the non-programmer to leverage a palette of Blox and controls to develop pages of an application quickly and simply without IT assistance. Business analyst developers drag and drop Blox from the palette to the page, and are walked through the steps necessary to choose the data access source and other properties with the help of a "wizard." The product ships with starter templates. Application builders can easily start with a template page that matches their corporate Web site look and feel.

More experienced Alphablox developers can easily extend applications built with Blox Palette -- creating application extensibility and richness that supports workgroup to enterprise-class solutions. In addition to providing an entry point, Blox Palette also strengthens Alphablox's innovation in the development and deployment of flexible, extensible enterprise-class analytic applications. For example, Alphablox JavaScript and Java developers can also leverage Blox Palette. This new offering will help these developers speed time to deployment for initial applications, as well as enable the building of more feature-rich, customized templates that can be used by business analyst developers. An Alphablox application started with Blox Palette can be enhanced to include more sophisticated analysis components and business logic over time, based on the needs of the organization. This powerful extensibility and flexibility delivers immediate business value, while supporting the growth of analytic solutions from workgroups to enterprise-wide deployment.

"Blox Palette is a significant point-of-entry solution for organizations that are first looking to get their feet wet with analytic applications," said Henry Morris, vice president, applications and information access for International Data Corporation. "Blox Palette provides the ability to develop applications that deliver interactive reporting and analytical queries through a non-proprietary interface. Built to be flexible and extensible, an organization can leverage the foundation with richer, more sophisticated functionality as their needs grow."

Alphablox Blox Palette is bundled into the existing suite of developer services for the Alphablox 4 platform.

About Alphablox

Alphablox Corporation provides an enterprise platform for rapidly assembling and broadly deploying custom analytic applications. Alphablox-based solutions help Global 2000 organizations gain improved visibility into business operations and optimize business performance by maximizing the value of their corporate information assets.

Alphablox 4, the company's flagship product, extends commercially available application servers with components and services required to deliver robust, easy to use analytic solutions. Based on industry standards, the Alphablox platform seamlessly integrates with existing IT infrastructure, offers unlimited flexibility, and scales from small workgroups to thousands of users.

Market leaders in financial services, telecommunications, manufacturing, and energy rely on Alphablox to meet the analytic needs of their employees, customers, partners, and suppliers. Customers include: ABN Amro, Bank of America, Cingular Wireless, Deutsche Bank, GE, Harley-Davidson, Merck, Royal Bank of Canada, SBC Communications, Telstra, and Xerox.

Founded in 1996, Alphablox is headquartered in Mountain View, California, and has offices throughout the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Alphablox is a recognized innovator and was selected by Computerworld Magazine as a "Top Emerging Company for 2002"; by Intelligent Enterprise Magazine as "A Company to Watch in 2002"; by Upside Magazine as "A Hot 100"; and by Technologic Partners as one of ten "Investors Choice for 2002" award winners. Additional information on Alphablox and its products can be obtained by calling 888-256-9669 or via the company's Web site at http://www.alphablox.com.

Contact: Alphablox Corporation, Janet Kluczynski, 650-526-1146, e-mail jkluczynski@alphablox.com.