Press Release

Rational Software & ActiveState Sign Joint Development and Support Agreement

VANCOUVER, British Columbia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 26, 2000-- ActiveState, a leading supplier of Internet programming software and services today announced an agreement with Rational Software, the e-development company, for ActiveState to provide support and quality assured Perl for inclusion in Rational products.

``This puts the incredible power and popularity of Perl at the hands of the many users of Rational ClearQuest,'' said Dick Hardt, Founder & CEO, ActiveState. ``Rational ClearQuest is already the most flexible defect and change tracking tool, and we are excited to work with Rational to provide further extensibility and reliability to Rational customers.''

One of the major advantages of this development and support agreement is the availability of new Perl features and enhanced debugging capability to Rational ClearQuest customers. Combined with improved technical support for Perl usage in Rational ClearQuest, it will enable development teams to further accelerate their development cycle.

``We're enthusiastic about working with ActiveState, the leading Perl vendor. Their proficiency in open source programming software is a good fit with our expertise in software configuration management tools,'' said Sandy Wilbourn, VP and General Manager, Defect and Change Tracking Products, Rational Software. ``Perl's flexibility and excellence as a scripting solution on multiple platforms made it the ideal choice for embedding into Rational ClearQuest.''

Under the terms of the agreement, ActiveState is supplying tested, validated releases of Perl and Perl support for Rational ClearQuest. The agreement also includes the exchange of tools technologies between the two companies. The contract is renewable on an annual basis.

About ActiveState:

ActiveState is at the forefront of open source infrastructure software, providing Internet programming products and services for all popular operating systems including Linux, Solaris, and Windows. ActiveState's key technology platforms are Perl, the Internet's most popular programming language and Python, a user-friendly scripting language. ActiveState solutions provide enterprise-wide deployment of Perl and Python, improved programmer productivity, and seamless integration with other technologies. ActiveState believes in the evolution of core Perl and Python technologies and is committed to broadening the appeal of Perl and Python by making available easy to install packages for popular operating systems. For more information visit www.ActiveState.com.

     ActiveState
     Lori Pike, 604/484-6417
     LoriP@ActiveState.com