For Immediate Release
GraphOn obtains jBridge technology from Corel to accelerate
completion of true multi-platform thin client/server conduit
Ottawa, Canada – December 18, 1998 – Corel Corporation and
GraphOn ™ Corporation have taken their strategic alliance to a
higher level with a technology transfer that unifies the two
companies’ thin-client/server products.
GraphOn will acquire Corel’s Java ™-based jBridge ™
solution which lets users run 32-bit Windows® applications from
a variety of client platforms. This gives GraphOn the ability to
merge the technology with its powerful GO-Between ™, GO-Global
(tm) and GO-Joe ™ products. The GO products enable UNIX®
applications to run on any desktop, using GraphOn’s highly
efficient thin wire RapidX ™ protocol. GraphOn’s software has
already been licensed by IBM and Sun Microsystems for distribution
with their UNIX-based computers and Java-based thin client
computers.
“This is absolutely a win-win situation,” Corel’s president and
chief executive officer, Dr. Michael Cowpland said. “It allows us
to focus on our goal of expanding support for our two great brands
– WordPerfect and CorelDRAW – while benefitting from the synergy of
this alliance and the continued success of jBridge. We are
extremely pleased to continue to share ownership of jBridge through
our stake in GraphOn and to have such an exciting young company now
spearhead the completion of this valuable technology.”
GraphOn president and chief executive officer, Walt Keller said,
“As our companies worked together following our strategic alliance
announced this past August, we realized it made little sense for
two companies to devote separate engineering resources to products
that were naturally made for each other.
“jBridge is the last piece of the puzzle that will give us the
technology to deliver the industry’s only true link from any server
platform to any client platform over any connection,” Keller
said.
Corel will receive a 25% stake in GraphOn, currently a
privately-held company. Earlier this month, GraphOn signed a
non-binding letter of intent to merge with Unity First Acquisition
Corporation, a New York-based company which completed an initial
public offering in 1996 with net proceeds of US $6 million. Upon
completion of the merger, Unity First would acquire GraphOn in
exchange for 6.79 million shares of Unity First common stock and
change its name to GraphOn Corporation. The merger would give
GraphOn and Corel stockholders a combined 78% interest in Unity
First.
In addition, GraphOn is in the process of closing a private
placement with proceeds of up to US $5 million through Spencer
Trask Securities. GraphOn also has the ability to raise an
additional US $20 million through the issue of warrants associated
with the Unity First initial public offering, which on completion
would provide GraphOn up to US $31 million in capital.
As stated earlier this year, Corel is concentrating on its core
product lines – the WordPerfect® family of productivity
applications, including the soon-to-be-released WordPerfect Office
2000, and the CorelDRAW ™ line of graphics and desktop
publishing solutions, which currently enjoy a growing base of
approximately 45 million users. This is in keeping with Corel’s
corporate mandate of delivering performance, value and
compatibility.
As a result, GraphOn will be able to accelerate development of
jBridge combined with its suite of products as a core product line.
GraphOn is committed to fulfilling all contracts and commitments to
third parties.
“We believe we will be the only company able to offer IT
managers the ability to deploy UNIX, Linux and Windows-based
applications to every desktop in their organization and over the
Internet with just the touch of a button through a single
application,” said Keller. “This is simplicity, flexibility and
cost efficiency that we firmly believe nobody else can offer.”
GraphOn is hiring the jBridge development team and will take
over Corel’s New Hampshire operations.
“No jobs will be lost,” said Cowpland. “This is an exciting
opportunity for those employees to play a key role in a rapidly
growing, leading edge company.
Corel Continues to support emerging technologies
Corel intends to further redeploy resources to support the
exciting NetWinder ™ family of Linux-based thin client/thin
server computers and applications such as the recently released
Corel® WordPerfect® 8 for Linux.
“There are immediate opportunities in the Linux field which
require the attention of many of Corel’s hardware and software
engineering resources,” said Cowpland. “Linux is stable and proven
on a wide variety of platforms and Corel has committed to porting
all its major applications to Linux to provide cross platform
compatibility.”
This press release contains statements that are forward looking
as that term is defined by the US Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on current
expectations that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual
results will differ due to factors such as customer demand, product
ship schedules, PC shipment growth, product mix, competitive
products and pricing, technological shifts and other issues
discussed in the Company’s Report on Form 10-K and other reports
filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Corel Corporation
Corel Corporation is an internationally recognized developer of
award-winning graphics and business productivity applications.
Development of market-leading products such as the CorelDRAW ™
line of graphics applications and the Corel® WordPerfect®
Suite of business tools is continually evolving to meet the demands
of the corporate, retail and academic markets. Committed to
performance, compatibility, value and open standards, Corel
develops products for the Windows®, Macintosh®, UNIX®,
Linux® and Java ™ platforms. Corel’s common stock trades on
The NASDAQ Stock Market under the symbol COSFF and on the Toronto
Stock Exchange under the symbol COS. For more information visit
Corel’s Web site at www.corel.com.
GraphOn Corporation
GraphOn develops, markets, and supports powerful software to speed
and simplify network computing and enable efficient thin client
applications. Its products include GO-Global, the world’s first
thin client X server for PCs running Microsoft Windows, GO-Joe, the
world’s first thin client Java X server, and GO-Between, the
world’s first thin client X server for multi-user NT (such as
Microsoft® Terminal Server, Corel’s jBridge, Citrix WinFrame,
and New Moon LiftOff). GraphOn has strategic relationships with
major UNIX system vendors, network computer and terminal vendors,
system integrators, and software companies. GraphOn’s customers are
primarily Fortune 1000 corporations. GraphOn is headquartered in
Campbell, California. Find more data on GraphOn at
www.graphon.com.
—
Corel, WordPerfect, CorelDRAW, and the Go further logo are
trademarks or registered trademarks of Corel Corporation or Corel
Corporation Limited. GraphOn, GO-Joe, GO-Global, GO-Between,
GlobalHost, Universal X Server, RapidX and ThinX are trademarks or
registered trademarks of GraphOn Corp. in the USA and other
countries. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. UNIX
is a registered trademark of The Open Group. All other product and
company names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their
respective companies or individuals.