FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

GRAL Inc. Acquires Allegria Software Inc.

Merged Organization Combines Strong International Distribution with Proven View and Mark-up, Plot Management & Graphics Conversion Products Plus New Enterprise-wide Networked-Windows Applications Solutions

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Laguna Hills, CA. & Darmstadt, Germany. On February 4, 1997, GRAL Inc. purchased Allegria Software, a privately held California corporation. Allegria is a leader in developing enterprise-wide view and mark-up products, with GRAL Inc. being the development arm of GTS-GRAL AG, an internationally known supplier of graphics conversion and plotting software. As part of the acquisition, GRAL Inc. has obtained all rights to Allegria's ForReview family product line, which provides an easy method to view, mark-up and print sophisticated drawings and documents, and accommodates the sharing of information between corporate partners and clients over Wide Area Networks, Intranets and the Internet.

As a result of the acquisition, GRAL is now able to extend their existing product line of graphics conversion and plot management software by adding an established view and mark-up tool. In addition, Allegria will greatly benefit from GRAL's strong distribution and support structure. The combined development resources of the two companies will also enable much more rapid development of new products to serve the needs of corporate enterprise-wide documentation management systems. Especially tailored towards the EDM/PDM market, ForReview is already integrated with many EDM/PDM packages, such as with Matrix, Documentum, Metaphase, WorkManager, WorkCenter, DOCS OPEN, FileNet and more. In addition, GTS-GRAL extends their overall enterprise-wide solution set by selling and supporting WinCenter Pro software and Explora desktops developed by NCD. These products enable GRAL to tailor the most efficient and effective deployment environments for all of their EDM/PDM support products.

"This acquisition also gives GRAL Inc. an immediate entrance into the U.S. market," says Robert Bruns, CEO of GRAL Inc. "By combining our headquarters with Allegria's, and opening subsequent regional offices, we can now more effectively serve the entire United States. The combination of our conversion and plot management software with the established ForReview product line, plus the WinCenter Pro and Explora offerings gives us a comprehensive set of offerings tailored to the needs of our industrial customer and prospect base."

"The integration with GRAL allows us to increase our development resources for the ForReview product line dramatically", says Koushik Dutta, VP of R&D at Allegria. "There are a number of modules common to both GRAL product lines, gralXconvert, gralXnetPlot, and to the ForReview family. In addition, we can triple our development manpower almost instantly."

GTS-GRAL AG is the European headquarters of a network of international GTS-GRAL marketing companies. According to Dr. Guenther Pfaff, CEO of GTS-GRAL AG, "The ForReview product line will ideally complement the gralX graphics product line and boost our sales in the fast growing EDM/PDM market. Most of our customers today have a need for an efficient and integrated view and mark-up package. With ForReview, we can now offer one of the best choices available in the market."

Brief overviews of the combined GTS-GRAL product offerings are as follows:

ForReview

ForReview's highly configurable view and mark-up user interface adapts easily for both non-technical users and demanding power-users. Because virtually all file formats (including both PC and UNIX platforms) are supported, there is no need to install costly CAD applications to every desktop. This allows companies to easily use a single view and mark-up product to satisfy the diverse needs of all its departments and users. Because ForReview can be easily customized for each "type" of user involved in the review process (such as administrators, engineers, checkers, assembly personnel, clerks, and even clients) only one viewing application needs to be purchased and deployed. This obviously reduces installation time, upgrade time, training time, and support costs.

gralXconvert

gralXconvert is used to convert graphic files for applications such as plot processing (converting into specific plotter languages, rotation, scaling, overlaying, pen mapping, conversion and optimization of hybrid data, etc.) and to link with archive and documentation systems (conversion into compact raster formats like TIFF, display on screens, plotting of scanned and/or archived data). gralXconvert can be easily integrated into any programming environment.

gralXnetPlot

gralXnetPlot is a universal plot and print file management system for TCP/IP networks. gralXnetPlot solves many common networking problem situations, such as when a number of users want to access shared plotters, want to be informed about their plot status, want to continue to use their existing plot interface when new devices or new applications are introduced, when an accounting mechanism is desired, etc. gralXnetPlot uses a client/server concept in which clients are available for UNIX, MS-Windows and - via a file interface - also for mainframe operating systems. gralXnetPlot can be connected to any application producing graphics files via plot clients. Using the integrated format converter (gralXconvert), it drives almost all existing plotter and printer peripherals available to the network.

WinCenter Pro

WinCenter Pro provides a seamless integration between Windows and UNIX that enables any application native to Windows NT, Windows 95 and Windows 3.1 to also be accessed from within any standard UNIX environment. WinCenter Pro combines ease of use, tight security, and high performance with enterprise wide access to powerful Windows productivity applications, such as ForReview or any other Windows-based solution.

Explora

Explora is a hardware Network Computing platform that can be used as a cost-effective complement to any of the other GRAL products or can be deployed independently to provide thin-client, networked, access to Windows and UNIX applications throughout the enterprise. Built upon Internet standards, Explora platforms enable display of simultaneous applications windows from different machines and operating systems throughout the network. Built around the 32-bit PowerPC RISC processor, Explora desktops, offering a minimum of 256 colors and supporting up to 1280 X 1024 resolution, can easily handle all graphics intensive applications.

For more information about Allegria's products, please check out their website at www.allegria.com.

23201 Mill Creek Drive, Suite 125 Laguna Hills, CA 92653-1248 Phone: 949-462-7115 Fax: 949-462-7119 E-mail: info@allegria.com

For More Information Contact:
Robert L. Bruns, Allegria Software, 949-462-7115
-or-
James D. Hunt, JD Hunt Communications, 619-744-9310, jdhunt@jdhunt.com

23201 Mill Creek Dr, Suite 125 | Laguna Hills, CA 92653, USA
(949) 462-7115 (Voice) o (949) 462-7119 (FAX)