| New Digital Spin-Off Eyes Huge Microsoft Developers' Market for X86 Platforms
PR Newswire, Wednesday, February 19, 1997 at 09:27
TracePoint Technology, Inc., Readies Revolutionary Software Development Tool
Suite to Meet Demand
MAYNARD, Mass., Feb. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Digital Equipment Corporation
(NYSE: DEC) today launched TracePoint Technology, Inc., to exploit the
skyrocketing demand for x86 leading-edge software development tools for
Microsoft Windows 95 and Windows NT, known as the Win32 environment. Tools
for Intel PCs and clones make up 85 percent of the current $2.5 billion Win32
market, expected to exceed $13 billion by the year 2000.
TracePoint Technology is an independently operated Digital subsidiary
located in San Jose, California. The spin-off capitalizes on the efforts of a
research group at Digital's Western Research Laboratories that developed a
unique set of highly successful software development tools for the Alpha 64-
bit UNIX(R) system platform. TracePoint's initial thrust is to provide Win32
programmers for Intel and other x86-based PCs with similar robust capabilities
through the first development tool suite that operates on binary code for the
Windows environment. Later offerings may target Java and other development
platforms.
TracePoint Leadership
Key TracePoint employees include Mike Skelton, president and CEO; Amitabh
Srivastava, vice president of engineering and chief technical officer; Dewaine
Miller, vice president of marketing and sales; and David Stager, controller.
Owners and Directors
Digital Equipment will retain a majority interest in TracePoint. A
venture capital group led by Sequoia Capital and including SoundView Financial
Group and Stanford Management will participate. Employees will own the
remainder. TracePoint's board of directors includes: Skelton; Jay Zager,
Digital vice president of operations, Corporate Strategy and Technology; Paul
Milbury, Digital vice president and treasurer; John Tiberi, partner, ETEC
Business Consultants; and Mark Stevens, general partner, Sequoia Capital.
First BCI Tools
"TracePoint is expected to be the first company to release a suite of C
and C++ software developer tools that provide binary code instrumentation to
the Microsoft Windows market," Skelton said. "This suite of tools will
quickly deliver precise results for x86 platforms, and all are designed to
meet exacting requirements for flexibility and performance." According to
William D. Strecker, Digital vice president and chief technical officer,
"TracePoint technology has played a key role in optimizing Digital's
Alpha/UNIX platform and its software applications, enabling customers to
achieve major productivity gains. Now developers in the Win32 environment for
x86, one of the software industry's fastest growing segments, will be able to
take advantage of this robust tool suite."
Explosive Growth
Industry analysts estimate that more than one-million C and C++ software
programmers currently are developing in the Win32 environment, which is
projected to expand at a 68 percent compound annual growth rate. TracePoint
tools will help these developers improve the quality, performance and testing
of their final software code.
"Using patented core technology called the 'TracePoint Framework,' our
employees can design and bring to market new development tools in about half
the time required by competing technology approaches," said Srivastava. "This
allows TracePoint to be more responsive to the changing needs of developers
and rapidly expanding market opportunities," he added.
Marketing On the Internet
TracePoint will distribute company and product information, along with
demonstration software, through the Internet. It will also market and
distribute its products via two-tier distribution and software resellers in
addition to the World Wide Web. For further information, see:
http://www.tracepoint.com
The company name was derived from tracepoints, or probes, that are
inserted into code to measure or analyze the functionality of the software.
Digital Equipment Corporation is a world leader in open client/server
solutions from personal computing to integrated worldwide information systems.
Digital's scalable Alpha and Intel platforms, storage, networking, software
and services, together with industry-focused solutions from business partners,
help organizations compete and win in today's global marketplace.
NOTE: Digital and the Digital logo are trademarks of Digital Equipment
Corporation. Windows, Windows NT and Win32 are registered trademarks of
Microsoft Corp. TracePoint and TracePoint Technology are trademarks of
TracePoint Technology, Inc. Java is a trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc.
UNIX is a registered trademark in the United States and other countries
licensed exclusively through X/Open Company Ltd.
SOURCE Digital Equipment Corporation
-0- 2/19/97
/CONTACT: Ed Canty, 508-493-9449 or cantye@mail.dec.com, or Sarah Miller,
508-493-9448 or millersa@mail.dec.com, or Tom Madden, 508-493-9437 or
maddent@mail.dec.com, all of Digital Equipment Corporation/
Companies or Securities discussed in this article:
Symbol Name
NYSE:DEC Digital Equipment Corp
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