Windows IT Pro, SQL Server Magazine and Office & Sharepoint Pro.com Names DataDirect Technologies' DataDirect Connect for ADO.NET Best of Tech-Ed 2007 Awards Finalist

Orlando, Fla. and Bedford, Mass. — June 05, 2007 — For the third consecutive year, Penton Media's Windows IT Pro, SQL Server Magazine and Office & Sharepoint Pro.com announced that DataDirect Technologies' DataDirect Connect® for ADO.NET data providers were selected as a finalist for the Best of Tech-Ed 2007 Awards in the Database Developer and Administration category. The winners will be determined after final judging at Tech-Ed 2007 in Orlando, Fla. and announced on June 6 at an evening reception hosted by Windows IT Pro. Festivities will take place at the Peabody Hotel beginning at 7:00 p.m.

"The field included more than 260 entries and after technically evaluating all of the submissions, we chose finalists based on the product's strategic importance to the market, its competitive advantages and the value to the customer," said Michael Otey, Technical Director for Windows IT Pro.

DataDirect Connect for ADO.NET data providers enable developers using Microsoft's .NET Framework, including the 64-bit version, to securely, quickly and efficiently access application-critical data from any major database—making it easy to develop .NET applications leveraging DB2, Oracle and Sybase ASE and SQL Server.

As the industry's only comprehensive suite of ADO.NET data providers built on 100 percent managed code, the unique architecture of DataDirect Connect for ADO.NET eliminates dependencies on database vendor client library software and offers enhanced performance and reliability. Newly added security features including operating system (OS) authentication that leverages Kerberos and data encryption utilizing Secured Sockets Layer (SSL) allow organizations to implement rigorous security policies to protect information assets and comply with regulatory requirements.

Other reported benefits of DataDirect Connect for ADO.NET data providers by end users include:

• Improved Runtime Performance: Applications are faster, more scalable, reliable and secure seeing as all database related code runs within the Microsoft common language runtime (CLR) engine.
• Development and QA Cost Reductions: Development and quality assurance (QA) costs can be minimized due to the elimination of versioning issues and the superior, award-winning developer aids and interoperability support provided by DataDirect Technologies.
• Reduced Deployment Costs: Initial and ongoing deployment costs are greatly reduced given that the DataDirect providers eliminate the need to deploy and maintain the native database client and can be deployed along with the application code.

For more information about DataDirect Connect for ADO.NET, visit the DataDirect Technologies' conference booth #829 or go to www.datadirect.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.

About Windows IT Media

Penton's Windows IT Media, the largest independent Windows IT community in the world, has Windows IT Pro as its flagship print publication. Windows IT Media also includes SQL Server Magazine and MSD2D. The Windows IT Media network has 2.5 million unique visitors to its Web sites each month, and over one million subscribers who opt-in to one or more email newsletters. Windows IT Media is the worlds leading producer of custom roadshows, paid conferences and paid workshops for Windows and SQL Server IT professionals.

For more information visit: www.windowsitpro/pressroom, and www.windowsitmedia.com.

DataDirect and DataDirect Connect are trademarks or registered trademarks of DataDirect Technologies Corp. 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. Any other trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.

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