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Technology Stocks : BEA Systems (BEAS) - Undiscovered Growth Stock -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Eric Klein who wrote (465)	4/28/1998 8:21:00 AM
From: JakeStraw	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 2477

Microsoft unveils middleware initiative SAN FRANCISCO, April 27 (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. said Monday it has an effort underway to make it easier for various business programs to share information, an initiative that could compete with so-called middleware software vendors. Bob Herbold, Microsoft executive vice president and chief operating officer, said the company plans to create a standard way of letting sophisticated financial, manufacturing and distribution programs store and share data through the Windows NT operating system. Currently, big companies use a hodge-podge of software to manage their manufacturing, inventory-management, financial and retailing operations. In order to let these computer programs share information, companies need a special kind of software called middleware to translate the data, the executive said. Companies like BEA Systems Inc. (BEAS - news), Borland International Inc. (BORL - news) and Tibco, a unit of Reuters Group PLC (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: RTR.L), supply middleware. Herbold said Microsoft is talking to about 100 business software vendors to set up a Value Chain Initiative. The effort would make it easier to splice together complex business software systems using Microsoft Windows NT as the foundation, Herbold said. ''This is simply a great idea for customers because of easy integration,'' he told investors at the Hambrecht & Quist Technology Conference in San Francisco. Herbold said the initiative is currently in the ''proof of concept'' stage. Separately, Herbold declined to speculate whether federal or state antitrust officials would take steps to curtail Microsoft's software release plans. In the past few weeks, state officials have suggested they are planning moves to stop the introduction of Windows 98, one of Microsoft's biggest product releases in 1998, because of antitrust concerns. The release is expected in May.