INTEGRATED ENTERPRISE CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT GIVES MANAGERS BETTER CONTROL OF PRODUCT QUALITY

Visible Systems Acquires Product Data Management Solution to Provide Full Configuration Control over both Hardware and Software Components

WALTHAM, MA -- April 17, 2002 -- Visible Systems Corporation ( www.visiblesystemscorp.com ) announced it has acquired LCSIS, a product data management (PDM) system developed by McLaughlin Research Corporation. Promising to provide the most comprehensive enterprise-wide configuration management solution in today's market, the company plans to integrate LCSIS with its Razor Software Configuration Management tool. The new product offering will give program managers and product engineers a single platform for coordinating changes across hardware and software components of large, complex products.

Mike Cesino, general manager of Visible's Configuration Management business, explained: "For product managers in the defense, telecommunications, aerospace, automotive, and electronics industries, managing change means defining product components, managing their development, and integrating them into a final release. Our new product offering helps managers synchronize hardware and software changes throughout the entire product lifecycle. We believe a unified, integrated account of product changes can help program managers build and deliver products on time and within budget."

George Cagliuso, founder and president of Visible Systems commented: "The product acquisition positions the company in a major growth market of the next decade - comprehensive, enterprise-wide management and control of an organization's assets. As with our other products, LCSIS offers significantly greater value than competing products."

Eric Hovermale, president of McLaughlin Research, said: "LCSIS codifies lessons learned in over 30 years of experience developing and operating solutions for managing design changes to products ranging from simple electronic test sets to the U.S. Navy's world-wide inventory of torpedoes."

Initial Offering

The initial product offering, Razor LCSIS, will be available within the next three months. Razor LCSIS will enable Razor users to synchronize software and hardware changes via an automated notification scheme. At $695 per user, the product pricing and licensing is comparable to that of Razor. A standalone, client version of LCSIS is available on the company's web site as a demo, at http://www.visiblesystemscorp.com/Products/Razor/LCSIS/ .

About LCSIS . LCSIS is a dynamic product data management system that meets the specialized needs of program and product managers of complex products. LCSIS offers a comprehensive product data structure, workflow task processing, versatile communication links, and ironclad data vaulting and access control - all in an easy to use, interactive network environment. Powerful features allow product managers and engineers to quickly gain control of their data and accelerate product delivery cycles while meeting industry standards requirements, such as ISO 9000.

LCSIS comprises product control, workflow, and process management modules. Product control provides a systematized method for developing product documentation from conceptualization to prototyping, full production, and in-service support. Built-in workflow and process management features enable users to define processes and functional relationships and track revision/version control processes. At the core of the modules is an individual workbasket orientation that furnishes task instructions and necessary supporting data to the user through easy-to-use graphic. LCSIS also enables project managers to monitor workflow processes and generate reports on task status, along with metrics in assigning workloads, monitoring performance, and improving work processes.

LCSIS runs under Microsoft Windows 95, 98, 2000, NT, Macintosh, and SUN Solaris Operating Systems. Also supported are ORACLE, SQL/Server, SQL Anywhere for enterprise data management, replication, and synchronization of multi-site or distributed product development.

About Razor . Razor is an activity-based Software Configuration Management tool, providing process management, issue/problem tracking, version control, and release management in one integrated framework. Workflow, templates, rules, and controls can be customized to match a customer's process. Razor logs and reports on every detail of each software project, giving project managers full accountability and enforcement of the development process. Problem and issue tracking - tightly integrated with version control, process control, and release management - organizes the submission, assignment, and resolution of development issues as they arise. Managers can conform Razor's problem tracking feature to their organization's processes and specify event triggers to notify project members of predefined actions, such as missed deadline, incomplete tasks, or inaction on an item.

Visible Systems Corporation

Visible ( http://www.visiblesystemscorp.com ), headquartered in Waltham, MA, is a leader in application development tools, training, and consulting. Visible has over 100,000 users of its products worldwide. Besides Razor and Razor/PDM, the company's products include Visible Analyst, a powerful software analysis and design tool that supports UML, XML, round-trip, and structured software engineering in one integrated tool set, and Visible Developer, a powerful business application modeling and development tool.

McLaughlin Research Corporation

McLaughlin Research Corporation (MRC) ( http://www.mrcds.com ), in Middletown, RI, has provided lifecycle engineering and technical services for a wide range of Department of Defense weapon, sensor, and combat system programs for over 60 years. McLaughlin has a full spectrum of engineering solutions to customers for systems engineering, design, and drafting, configuration management, integrated logistics support, program management, technical documentation, and graphics support.

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©2002 Visible Systems Corporation. All rights reserved. Visible, Visible Advantage and Visible Universal Model are trademarks of Visible Systems Corporation. Visible Analyst and Razor are registered trademarks of Visible Systems Corporation. VBMentor is a trademark of 3t Software. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.