ANTS software and Four Js sign asset purchase agreement for ANTS DATA SERVER
Agreement Seen as Critical Step to Achieving Companies’ Respective Strategic Milestones
BURLINGAME, Calif., May 22, 2008 – ANTs® software inc. (OTCBB:ANTs), a leader in compatible, high-performance SQL database management systems, and Four Js® Development Tools, Inc., a leader in development tools for business applications, today announced they have reached an asset purchase agreement covering the ANTs Data Server (ADS). Under the agreement, Four Js will purchase the ADS – rebranded by Four Js as Genero db – its intellectual property rights and patents, and certain fixed assets. The agreement enables ANTs to focus exclusively on its newly-released ANTs Compatibility Server (ACS) product, and provides Four Js with a powerful enhancement to its Genero® product line, while opening the door to a $16 billion database market. The ADS brand will dissapear in favour of Genero db.
“Genero db is the perfect complement to our strategy and leverages our existing strengths in application development,” said Jean-Georges Schwartz, CEO Four Js. “Now that we own the technology, we can better fit the development agenda to our needs. What excites me the most about this agreement is the opportunity to disrupt the market with a revolutionary enterprise-class architecture. Through its compatibility layer, we can migrate customers painlessly and its ability to slash the number of servers in a cluster will surely be well received by a world increasingly keen to conserve energy.”
As part of the multi-million dollar agreement, employees working on the ADS will join Four Js and current ADS customers will receive support from Four Js. Under the terms of the purchase, ANTs retains fifty percent of license and maintenance revenue from its reseller agreement with IBM® to supply the US Navy DDG1000 Destroyer program for a period of four years. ANTs will also retain unrestricted license rights to key ADS technologies that are utilized in the ANTs Compatibility Server.
Genero db is a high-performance, scalable, relational database for mission-critical applications already being used to manage 900 stores of a Fortune 100 US retailer.
“We are pleased with the agreement, which offers Four Js a strong competitive advantage in its target market and enables ANTs to build on the technologies developed for the ANTs Data Server,” said Joseph Kozak, chairman and CEO of ANTs Software. “Moving forward, ANTs is in an excellent position to focus its full resources on development, sales and deployment of the ANTs Compatibility Server.”
A full featured, standards-compliant relational database management system, the ANTs Data Server is based on a breakthrough, high-performance SQL query execution engine that incorporates patented lock-free operations. The ANTs Data Server is compatible with applications written for Oracle, Oracle-TimesTen, Informix and MS SQL Server databases.
About Four Js Development Tools
Four Js is a privately held company that develops, markets and sells Genero – a development and deployment environment purpose built for the creation of highly scalable, mission critical, transaction oriented business applications. Genero improves programmer productivity by enabling the rapid and predictable development and deployment of business process logic across a variety of clients (Windows®, Apple® Mac®, Web browser) databases (Microsoft® SQL Server, IBM, Oracle®) and operating systems (Windows XP®/Vista®, Unix®, Linux®).
Present on five continents, Four Js has a prestigious roster of clients: adidas, Antonio Merloni, BBC, British Petroleum (BP), Daewoo Heavy Industries Inc., Deluxe, Fritolay-Pepsico, Hastings Entertainment, the Mexican Govt. Institute of Civil Servant Social Security Services (ISSSTE), the Italian Foreign Office (MAE Italia), Kmart, Office Cleaning Services (OCS), Pace Petroleum, the Public Broadcasting Service of America (PBS), Porto Seguro, Reebok, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Sears, Skechers, the Spanish Air Force and Army, Sprint, Tramontina, the US Naval Safety Center, and Xcel Energy to name but a few. For more information visit www.4js.com.
About ANTs software inc.
ANTs software inc. (OTCBB: ANTs), based in Silicon Valley, is the developer of the ANTs Compatibility Server, a software solution that accelerates database consolidation between database vendors, enabling application portability. The company’s mission is to help customers reduce hardware, software, and development costs by providing exceptional data management solutions. For more information, visit www.ants.com.
Contact:
Cesar Rojas
ANTs software inc.
(650) 931-0535
www.ants.com
Trademark notices:
ANTs and ANTs Compatibility Server (ACS) are trademarks of ANTs software inc.
Apple and Mac are registered trademarks of Apple Corp.
Four Js and Genero are registered trademarks of Four Js Development Tools in the US and elsewhere.
IBM and Informix are registered trademarks of IBM Corporation.
Linux is a registered trademark owned by Linus Torvalds.
Microsoft, MS Windows, SQL Server, XP and Vista are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.
Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation.
Sybase is a registered trademark of Sybase Inc.
UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group in the United States and other countries.
This press release is neither an offer to sell, nor a solicitation of offers to purchase securities. This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including statements concerning product development activities and sales and licensing activities. Such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, are sometimes identified by words of condition such as “should,” “could,” “expects,” “may,” or “intends,” and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, known and unknown, that could cause actual results to differ materially from those intended or anticipated. Such risks for ANTs include, without limitation: that ANTs will not be paid the full consideration for the sale; that the market will not respond positively to the Compatibility Server, that the Compatibility Server will not be developed into a marketable product, challenges arising from competition, problems encountered in commercializing the ANTs technology, potential of undetected infringing technology or non-infringing competitive technologies, difficulties experienced in product development, roadblocks experienced in sales and marketing activities, longer than expected sales processes, difficulties in recruiting knowledgeable and experienced personnel, possible problems in migrating applications using the Compatibility Server, potential problems in protecting ANTs’ intellectual property, and problems securing the necessary financing to continue operations should revenues not be sufficient to offset expenses. Further information concerning these and other risks is included in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Company’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended March 31, 2008. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise such forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of this press release.