DataDirect Technologies Named to SD Times 100 List for its Exceptional Contribution to the Software Development Industry

For the Second-Consecutive Year the Editors of SD Times Recognize DataDirect Technologies for its Innovation, Thought Leadership and Agenda-Setting 2007

BEDFORD, Mass. — June 16, 2008 — DataDirect Technologies, the unparalleled leader in data connectivity and mainframe integration and an operating company of Progress Software Corporation (NASDAQ: PRGS), was named to the 6th Annual SD Times 100 list for 2008, identifying the industry’s top leaders, innovators and influencers. For the second-consecutive year and third time since the inception of the list in 2003, DataDirect Technologies has been recognized for its outstanding achievements and demonstrated leadership in the software development community.

DataDirect Technologies offers the most comprehensive line of software for connecting the world’s most critical applications to data and services, running on any major platform, using standards-based interfaces such as ODBC, JDBC™, ADO.NET, XQuery and SOAP. For DataDirect customers, the company’s best-of-breed middleware components and mainframe integration software have become a strategic part of the software-development process and IT infrastructure. More than 300 independent-software vendors including seven of the top 10 vendors worldwide, and thousands of corporate IT departments rely on DataDirect Technologies to simplify and streamline data connectivity for distributed systems and to reduce the complexity of mainframe integration.

“When choosing the SD Times 100, we carefully considered each company’s offerings and reputation,” said Alan Zeichick, executive vice president and editorial director of SD Times. “Did the company set the industry agenda? Did its products and services advance the software development art? Were programmers anxiously awaiting its developments? The SD Times 100 represents what we believe to be the best of the best.”

DataDirect Technologies made significant product development strides in 2007. The following milestones contributed to the company’s success and its SD Times 100 selection criteria.

• Slashing mainframe total-cost-of-ownership for SOA with introduction of DataDirect® Shadow® Version 7: A revolutionary release of its industry leading mainframe integration platform, DataDirect® Shadow® version 7 is the industry’s only full-feature integration platform for the mainframe to exploit IBM specialty engines. The product incorporates patent-pending technology that allows SOA integration processing and data queries to be diverted from the mainframe’s general purpose processor to the unrestricted, non-speed governed System z9 Integration Information Processor (zIIP) and System z Application Assist Processor (zAAP).
• Bringing superior connectivity to MySQL database users: DataDirect extended its support for open-source software products into enterprise-class software architectures with the announcement of DataDirect drivers for the MySQL Enterprise® database. The company’s award-winning database drivers DataDirect Connect® for ODBC drivers for the MySQL Enterprise database, DataDirect Connect64® for ODBC drivers for the MySQL Enterprise database and DataDirect Connect for JDBC drivers for the MySQL Enterprise database are the only data connectivity products that support every major commercial and open-source operating system, application server and database.
• Advancing industry adoption of XQuery: DataDirect Technologies has been instrumental in the development of the XQuery W3C standard and commercial adoption of the language. With the W3C’s formal recommendation of XQuery in January 2007, DataDirect released the third-generation DataDirect XQuery® engine in May 2007 – the most well supported robust commercial XQuery implementation for XML. At the XML 2007 Conference and Exposition in December, the company announced highlights of DataDirect XQuery version 3.1 including support for the MySQL Enterprise® Server database.

“DataDirect Technologies’ back-to-back inclusion on the SD Times 100 is a testament to the breadth and depth of our product offering and unwavering commitment to easing data access, management and integration challenges faced by software architects,” said John Goodson, vice president and general manager of DataDirect Technologies. “Our customers routinely report increased revenues, improved developer productivity and faster, more scalable applications.”

About BZ Media LLC

BZ Media is a New York-based media company combining the best of print and Internet publishing with industry-leading technical conferences and expositions. BZ Media's SD Times is the twice-monthly newspaper of record for the software development industry. SD Times reaches more than 60,000 subscribers in 131 countries. Visit www.sdtimes.com.

About DataDirect Technologies

DataDirect Technologies is the software industry's only comprehensive provider of software for connecting the world's most critical business applications to data and services, running on any platform, using proven and emerging standards. Developers worldwide depend on DataDirect® products to connect their applications to an unparalleled range of data sources using standards-based interfaces such as ODBC, JDBC™ and ADO.NET, XQuery and SOAP. More than 300 leading independent software vendors and thousands of enterprises rely on DataDirect Technologies to simplify and streamline data connectivity for distributed systems and to reduce the complexity of mainframe integration. DataDirect Technologies is an operating company of Progress Software Corporation (Nasdaq: PRGS). For more information, visit www.datadirect.com.

DataDirect, DataDirect Connect, DataDirect Connect64, DataDirect XQuery, and Shadow are trademarks or registered trademarks of Progress Software Corporation or one of its affiliates or subsidiaries in the U.S. and other countries. Java and all Java based marks are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the U.S. and other countries. MySQL Enterprise is a registered trademark of MySQL AB in the United States, the European Union and other countries. Any other trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.

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