Press Release

Zero G(TM) Ships New Versions of PowerUpdate(TM), Complete Live Updating Solution

Web-Based Service Updates Applications Easily and Automatically, Adds Reporting and Custom Actions

SAN FRANCISCO, June 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Zero G Software®, the leading provider of Java technology-based, multi-platform software deployment solutions, today announced the immediate availability of PowerUpdate Server(TM), PowerUpdate Pro(TM) and PowerUpdate Now!(TM) suite of software products and services. The PowerUpdate family of products delivers a complete live software updating solution that automatically manages the downloading and installation of the latest version of an application, and eliminates the need for software producers to contact end-users whenever there is an update, patch, or new release. Available as a hosted service or as a stand-alone server installation, PowerUpdate ensures up-to-date system-wide software compatibility, lowers the cost of support, and provides developers with a seamless mechanism for deploying software revisions across the enterprise or around the world.

Through the PowerUpdate web-based interface, software producers can specify pertinent information about their application updates -- such as where, when, and how the revision is to be accomplished -- and have those updates performed automatically. Software developers can add live updating to their applications without having to rewrite a single line of code.

Industry Success

Since its introduction in November, 2000, PowerUpdate has registered more than 1,500 developer-users, who have in turn updated tens of thousands of their customers. Plazmic Inc., a leading provider of rich content solutions for Java-capable wireless devices, has standardized on PowerUpdate and InstallAnywhere®, a Zero G software application, to deliver and update Plazmic Workshop(TM), their authoring environment for the rapid development of rich graphical content to their customers worldwide.

The Plazmic product suite enables the creation and distribution of rich wireless content worldwide today. The flagship product, Plazmic Media Engine(TM), is a downloadable, rich graphical player that renders interactive, animated 2-D graphics created using Plazmic Workshop. The company's technology platform allows content providers and content developers to rapidly create and deploy content services and applications for the accelerating base of enterprise users and consumers hungry for a compelling wireless experience.

``Zero G's Java-based multi-platform approach is a good fit for Plazmic,'' said Jay Steele, president and CTO, Plazmic Inc. ``Our customers are global content providers computing on many platforms, and our products are Java-based; Zero G's complete multi-platform deployment and updating solutions were a natural choice for us. PowerUpdate is easy to implement and coupled with InstallAnywhere's industry leading feature set, provides the out-of-the-box enterprise class functionality that we need. From being able to distribute software updates to our customers automatically to installing Plazmic Workshop onto diverse computing environments, Zero G has provided us with a complete multi-platform solution.''

Flexible Updating Methods

The PowerUpdate family provides an ideal solution for the IT professional who manages large workgroups and needs a seamless way to update programs or data, and for the independent software vendor who needs to update a large number of customers. The built-in intelligence of PowerUpdate allows software producers to deploy individual files, multiple files (to update folders or groups of files), or new installers (to reconfigure or significantly modify a prior installation).

``Over time, all phases of the application development lifecycle will migrate to the web, and managing software revision and deployment for client/server systems is no exception to this trend,'' said Tracy Corbo, Senior Analyst, Online Computing Infrastructure, Cahners In-Stat Group. ``With corporate computing becoming more and more distributed, and with more demands being made on limited IT resources, it is neither possible nor practical to update each client system every time there is a software revision or update. Zero G's PowerUpdate solution enables IT departments to automate the process of version control, which in turn frees up IT departments to allocate their resources for more strategic projects.''

Robust Reporting and Custom Actions

PowerUpdate's extensive reporting functionality delivers critical customer usage and product delivery information. PowerUpdate Server and PowerUpdate Pro's well-documented action/decision software development kit (SDK) enables software producers to extend the products' functionality by providing custom code decisions, such as checking file presence, looking up file modification and usage data, executing a web page, or merging registry files.

PowerUpdate Now! and PowerUpdate Pro are hosted services, with all update management data stored on secure servers. PowerUpdate Server has all of the functionality of PowerUpdate Pro, delivered as an internal, stand-alone server application. Built upon a flexible architecture that may be deployed in a redundant, load-balanced environment, PowerUpdate Server is comprised of web servers, data storage and retrieval components.

``PowerUpdate is another step along the path toward realizing our vision of a seamless, multi-platform software deployment solution -- one that enables the delivery of content, data, applications or complex web services to desktops, thin clients, rich clients, servers, mobile appliances, and other network-enabled devices,'' said Zero G founder and CEO Eric Shapiro.

Easy Setup, Seamless Delivery

PowerUpdate's web-based interface takes software producers through the simple process of setting up the service. With set-up complete, the software producer downloads the PowerUpdate client, a ``check for update'' executable, which is then added to the target application. Updates may be invoked automatically, at specific times, or as requested by the end-user for maximum flexibility.

Once invoked, the client contacts a secure server via the Internet, checking the version of the end-user's application against that of the latest release. If there is an available revision, PowerUpdate manages its downloading and installation automatically.

Multi-Platform, Compatible With Existing Deployment Solutions

PowerUpdate runs on AIX, HP-UX, Linux, Solaris, and Windows (95, 98, Me, NT and 2000), and is fully compatible with most commercial installation and deployment solutions, including Zero G's award-winning InstallAnywhere.

    The PowerUpdate Family
    -- PowerUpdate Pro is a complete updating solution, and includes built-in
       rules and actions, an extensible open API, detailed reporting
       capabilities, and same-day email and phone support.  PowerUpdate Pro is
       hosted and operated by Zero G, and comes with a free 30 day trial from
       www.PowerUpdate.com.
    -- PowerUpdate Server contains all of the functionality of PowerUpdate
       Pro, but is available as a stand-alone server application.  It can be
       configured for your own data-center, running either on a single server
       system, or scaled for a multiple, redundant, and load-balanced
       configuration.  PowerUpdate Server is comprised of a web server,
       application server, database storage, and reporting module, customized
       for your specific deployment requirements by Zero G.
    -- PowerUpdate Now! is the easiest, quickest, and most inexpensive way to
       add updating to your software.  PowerUpdate Now! includes the same
       built-in rules and actions as PowerUpdate Pro, without the open API or
       reporting functionality.  It is available as a free service from
       www.PowerUpdate.com.

About Zero G

Founded in 1996, Zero G is the leading developer of multi-platform software deployment and updating solutions. Some of the blue-chip software producers who count on Zero G are Adobe, AT&T, BEA, Borland, IBM, Intel, Nortel, Novell, and Sun Microsystems. Privately held, Zero G is headquartered in San Francisco, California, and can be contacted at 415-512-7771 or found on the Internet at http://www.ZeroG.com.

NOTE: Zero G, Zero G Software, PowerUpdate, PowerUpdate Pro, PowerUpdate Server, PowerUpdate Now! and InstallAnywhere are trademarks or registered trademarks of Zero G Software, Inc.