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To: Veiko Herne who wrote (285)	2/26/1999 4:07:00 PM
From: Shinie	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 1238

As dutifully as I have always been, here is yesterday's Centura monthly chat log edited by Marlene: ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Welcome to Centura's Monthly Online Chat! This months guest speaker is John Boman, Centura's CFO. Please join us in Centura Monthly Chat room by choosing Rooms. We are changing the format for this chat. We will be completely focused on Centura's 1998 financial results and will be fielding product questions at Joe Falcones' chat on March 4th Please post all questions via a private message to Question. Thanks! scottbroomfield: This is Scott aI am going to be heading of to a press meeting but I will turn the chat over to John Bowman to field your questions question: Any questions? Please send them to me (Question) and I will repost them for you! Thomas Althammer: Who is "question" - is this you, Marlene? question:Of Course it's me Thomas! question: What were Q4 results like - I hadn't heard anything? scottbroomfield: The results can be found on our web site in either the press room or the investor relations area scottbroomfield: Generally results in the 4th quarter were not as strong as we hoped for, however,invoicing levels where up from last year, but we have been profitable for 7 consecutive quarters scottbroomfield: In addition, our cash position was slightly up from the 3rd quarter scottbroomfield: Generally, not outstanding results but by no means a disaster question: Could you please comment on the decline on sales. I have been watching the Yahoo web site and there is a certain amount of negative waves regarding your press release. . scottbroomfield: Invoicing levels are what we talk about because it represents current business. Invoicing leveles where up in the 4th quarter over the 3rd quarter in the prior year for the total year where up from 50.6 to 52.2 million scottbroomfield: The difference between invoicing and revenue is account for by deferred revenue. Deferred revenue is business that was booked in prior period but not recognized until a subsquent event and is shown on the balance sheet as refered revenue liability scottbroomfield: Our biggest challenge in 1999 to return the company to growth. 1998 was about stability and viability question: Could you also comment on the sharp decline in share price after your results were posted and give us an analysis of what you think happened. Luckily your share price has risen the last day or so.. scottbroomfield: The share prices really only dropped about $.10 and never speculate on market behavior. question: Do you have any strategies to return the company to growth that you can share with us scottbroomfield: Yes scottbroomfield: :-) scottbroomfield: Products scottbroomfield: When we came here over a year ago we had a vision for the company - to expand our tradition client server market up to the web and down to the mobile spaces. We are continueing to prosue the strategy. We are currently on press tour and will formally be announcing next week our SQLBase SafeGarde encrypted database product which is and end to end security product that no one else in the market has. It is unique in a hot space. We also announced an upgrade to our older SQLHost connectivity product this week which is endorsed by IBM for the first time. Not a big opportunity, but it will help. The mobile database/connectivity products are very exciting,but we are not in a position to talh much about them yet. question: I hear a new version of SQLBase is coming out. Do you see this encryption product making an impact on your business? . scottbroomfield: Yes, very much so. We have export permission from the US gov. to export 128bit Triple DES to banks, financials, insurance. We will be seeking to expand the markets we can export to. There are no restrictions within the US and our 56 bit DES version can be shipped virtually anywhere today (with some minor restrictions) question: I know that there has been at least one large deal in Europe. When will you be using this news in marketing? . scottbroomfield: Unfortunately, many of these deals take place at the end of the quarter during our "quiet period" prior to issuing our financial results. So we are cautious about press releases at that time. We do need to get the good news out. Europe had a strong Q4. question: What's happening with Sterling? Are they dumping the stock they have? scottbroomfield: Sterling has said that they are now long term holders, and have not recently been selling. But they are not under any legal restriction to hold. I can not predict what they will do at any time. question: Why do you think PeopleSoft has stopped endorsing SQLHost as their connectivity solution? You could sell a lot more of that product with their help, yes? . scottbroomfield: Peoplesoft decided to be an IBM shop some 3 years ago when Centura was going a different direction. We are actively trying to get PSoft to support us now that we have the IBM seal of approval for SQL Host. PSoft is somewhat in disarray given recent RIF's , so this is a challenge. question: What are you forecasting Q1 1999 will look like? . scottbroomfield: As a matter of policy, I can't comment on forecasts. I am not displeased with where we are today. question: I know that this is a product / marketing question, but I will ask it anyway. Does Centura have any plans on releasing a scaled down version of CTD to seed the tools marketplace. There seems to have been alot of pressure on the newsgroup to do this. Wouldn't it be very cheap to create such a product and make it freely available from your Website? . scottbroomfield: No plans at this time to scale down, but we are looking at the total market strategy for CTD. Why don't you follow up with Joe Falcone at the next chat and he may be able to comment more at that time. question: What about the rumored Sybase acquisition? Will this impact Centura? scottbroomfield: I used to work with John Chen at Unisys, and he is a very smart guy. He recently came out and said effectively that Sybase is available for sale, but not at today's values. He has a real challenge there. Microsoft is tough enough to compete with today. I don't know what they would do with Sybase' products that they can't do already with their own. question: If you have a look at www.shareware.com, www.winfiles.com etc. some of the competition have their products available for download. Wouldn't it be an idea to do the same with net.db, SqlBase nd maybe even CTD? . scottbroomfield: We have many products available for download on our website now. Look under "Products" section for free downloads. question: Where you see Centura this time next year? scottbroomfield: Redwood Shores, CA :-) question: Yes, but what I was thinking of is the free marketing you get if you seed the shareware sites with your software. This is one of the ways I find useful software to be used in our R&D department. Any comment? . REPOST scottbroomfield: Great Idea! will pass on to Joe and Charity. Bring up at the chat on the Mar. 4, 11:00 am jgupta: ok question: What have the analysts been saying about Centura. What has been the general response from the analysts and press??? scottbroomfield: Very impressed with the concept and capability of SafeGarde. We offer end to end security, where RSA sell a toolbox (for a lot of money). question: Is there any risk to be delisted soon? What about a reverse split? How longer can CNTR hold at this prices before being delisted? . scottbroomfield: We were at $1.00 last I looked. Let's see how the market responds to the product announcements and be steady at the helm. A reverse split has been considered, but I don't think by itself it would be a panacea. question: What about how long cna CNTR hold at this price $1? . scottbroomfield: Who knows? If you look at industry multiples, it is very cheap today. How many software companies are profitable, over $50mm in revenue, and sell for a dollar? The answer is very few. The momentum needs to change in the stock, and it starts with people who use the products and know how good they are. scottbroomfield: It is at a great price .... now is the time to buy! :-) question:What were the biggest challenges that Centura overcame in 1998..what do you see as the companies biggest challenge in 1999 scottbroomfield: 1998 was about viability, stability, and product direction. We made more money in 98 a than all previous years combined -- excluding years with losses (only profitable years). Equity grew from -$10mm to +$7.3mm -- up $17MM!!! We also generated positive cash flow for the first time in years. We achieved stability. 1999 is about returning to strength and growth - geeting our new products out so that we are not talking about what we are going to do, but doing it. question: I meant in total market capitalization, is there a minimun? I trying to evaluate the risks of a reverse split. . scottbroomfield: Total market cap is not a risk at this time. I recall that it is a $8mm market cap limit egonza: When is next major release for CTD ? answer: Please bring up this question at Joe Falcone's chat on March 4 question: Is "Blazer" (the scriptlet server announced on emWare magazine by Centura, not the internal name) still going to be ready by end of 2Q99? . scottbroomfield: Great question - but I would prefer to have Joe address this next month at the Mar. 4 chat session question: Ok. We have two more minutes. Anyone else have any financial questions? egonza: What are your planning for Ads Magazines, Events, Conference in 99 ? scottbroomfield: We are supporting each product launch with integrated marketing campaigns beginning with press and analyst tours as we are completing w/ SQLBase SafeGarde. In addition we are supporting our sales channel and dev. partners with tools and campaigns that will make it easier for them to be successful in marketing our products On the dev. side, we will focus on marketing the Apps being built with our tools WW so the benefit to our developers become obvious. scottbroomfield: Thank you for your participation today. egonza: I'm Glad to chat that in Centura Community question: Thank you so much for joining us. Please join Joe Falcone in our product related chat on March 4 at 11am. We will be announcing the next date and time for Scott's next chat in the coming weeks. egonza: See you chat on chat on March 4 at 11 am pacific time qestion: One Final Question: How many new CTD are sold every year approximately? I don't need the exact number but just an order of magnitude ( 100, 1000, +). . question: Gianluca. We don't have that answer at this minute. I'll get back with you this week. question:We'll see you folks on March 4. Thanks!