FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SD Times 100 Recognizes Top Industry Leaders, Innovators

Second annual awards highlight the companies, organizations, standards bodies and key influencers that lead the software development industry

Oyster Bay, N.Y., May 14, 2004 - BZ Media's SD Times, the newspaper for the software development industry, today announced that its May 15, 2004 issue will contain the second 2004 SD Times 100, a ranking of the companies and organizations that demonstrated the greatest innovation and leadership in the software development industry over the previous year.

Alan Zeichick, co-founder and editor-in-chief of SD Times, said, "Software-development technology advances every year, and many of those key advances derive from individual vendors, from standards bodies and other key influencers.

The SD Times 100 identifies the 'best of the best' -- those that demonstrate true leadership within our industry, making the biggest difference by advancing the state of the art and setting the agenda.

The 2004 SD Times 100 lists the top companies, organizations and influencers in the following categories, which broadly reflect the software-development industry: Modeling; Tools & Environments; Components & Libraries; Test & Performance; Collaboration; Deployment Platforms; Integration & Middleware; Database and Data Access; Embedded & Mobile; and Influencers. (In 2003, the Influencers category was called Standards Bodies & Consortia.)

Some companies lead in only one category, while others are blazing a trail in multiple areas. In each of the categories, one company has been singled out for special notice with a lengthier description of its innovation or leadership in the SD Times story accompanying the award.

Judging for the 2004 SD Times 100 was conducted by the editors and writers of SD Times.