MICRO FOCUS LEADING THE NEXT GENERATION OF COBOL PROFESSIONALS WITH NEW EDUCATION INITIATIVES

-- Micro Focus announces Net Express 4.0 University Edition integrating COBOL with XML, J2EE and Web services as part of programs including software, training and job leads for COBOL professionals --

SUNNYVALE, Calif., July 14, 2003 - Micro Focus International Ltd. (Micro Focus ®), today announced the release of Net Express ® 4.0 University Edition and enhanced COBOL education initiatives aimed at leveraging both new and seasoned IT professionals to lead the integration of COBOL assets with other technologies including Web services, J2EE, XML and .NET. With cost reduction and re-use of existing technology as paramount IT objectives this year, according to industry research, there is a continued demand for COBOL programmers with multi-platform experience. With this announcement, Micro Focus continues its strong commitment to IT education for both students and faculty.

For the last seven years, Micro Focus has been organizing and sponsoring programs designed to help academic institutions prepare a new generation of programmers to meet the increased demand for COBOL skills. Academic institutions are meeting the challenge by modernizing their course offerings to teach programming in a holistic curriculum that prepares students for integrating and extending applications running on COBOL. With today's announcement, Micro Focus expands these efforts through its new programs.

Highlights of Micro Focus' Education Initiatives:

· University Editions - Micro Focus announces the release of Net Express 4.0 University Edition, designed for students who desire a powerful COBOL compiler and IDE to create COBOL applications and extend them to the Web, with access to Web services, J2EE and XML. This software, with its comprehensive tools and wizards, automates the process of building links from COBOL logic to these other technologies that reflect typical architectures in enterprises today.

· Academic Grant Program (AGP) - Students receive hands-on experience with the latest software tools for maintaining, integrating and extending existing business applications and developing new ones through Micro Focus' software licensing program for educational institutions. The worldwide program includes professional schools, two- and four-year colleges and universities. Micro Focus also provides training classes for instructors, as well as complete installation and product support for licensed products free of charge.

· GRACIE Competition - The annual Admiral Grace Murray Hopper Student Programming Competition recognizes students who creatively use COBOL technology in real-world scenarios to solve application development challenges. An independent panel of judges from academia and business selects the winners.

· COBOL Job Exchange - The Job Exchange is a Web site maintained by Micro Focus in conjunction with Legacy Reserves to assist businesses in finding new and experienced developers who can migrate, extend and transform legacy COBOL applications. This Web site can be accessed at www.cobolportal.com .

Today, more than 200 billion lines of COBOL are used in global applications. This number is expected to grow by 5 billion lines of code annually over the next five years. This increased demand for COBOL has placed pressure on businesses to find programmers capable of maintaining and extending mission-critical COBOL applications. Programmers also need to be able to expand these applications by making them Web-ready through newer technologies. A recently published study by Professor Donald Carr of Eastern Kentucky University and Dr. Ronald Kizior of Loyola University of Chicago concludes that the need to recapture investments in COBOL applications will necessitate continued future demand of trained COBOL professionals for at least the next 10 years. 1

"With the majority of today's enterprise systems running on COBOL, skilled programmers are more important than ever in terms of allowing businesses like ours to continue to expand into newer technologies, such as Web services," said Keith Wild, director of programming support at Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina. "IT professionals knowledgeable in COBOL and COBOL generation tools like Micro Focus APS are key to maximizing the return on existing assets and paving the way to fully exploit the value of future technology investments."

"Universities need to step up their efforts to educate and train students who understand COBOL and are able to integrate legacy applications with other environments," said Dr. C. Steven Guynes, Regents Professor for the University of North Texas. "Micro Focus' investment significantly aids academic institutions like the University of North Texas in preparing students to become business-savvy application developers using an integrated programming skill set, ranging from enterprise-based languages like COBOL to more recently developed languages such as Java."

"The Academic Grant Program and Micro Focus' other educational programs grew out of our commitment to COBOL and its vitality on campuses across the globe," said Alan Holdship, vice president of marketing at Micro Focus. "COBOL is a powerful and proven business programming language running critical business systems around the world and Micro Focus is committed to helping organizations meet the increasing demand for programmers skilled in COBOL."

Academic institutions interested in joining this program should contact Kimberly Malanguarnero at Micro Focus for more information. She can be reached at 877-772-4450 x2645 or kimberly.malaguarnero@microfocus.com .

About Micro Focus

Micro Focus is the fastest, most effective way to migrate, extend, develop and deploy enterprise applications. As the industry standard for COBOL, Micro Focus bridges business-critical legacy assets with Web services, J2EE, XML and .NET, enabling organizations to reduce costs, increase agility and minimize risk for accelerated business success. The company's software products for COBOL are among the most widely used in the industry with an estimated 130,000 COBOL developers in 80,000 organizations producing applications used by more than 3,000,000 people around the world. Founded in 1976, Micro Focus is a global company with principal offices in the United Kingdom, United States and Japan. For more information, visit www.microfocus.com.

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1Carr, D. and Kizior, R.J. "Continued Relevance of COBOL in Business and Academia: Current Situation and Comparison to the Year 2000 Study." June 2003.

Micro Focus and Net Express are registered trademarks of Micro Focus International Ltd. All non-Micro Focus products mentioned in this announcement are property of their respective owners.