Progress Software Announces Company's First-Ever Apptivity Reseller Program

[hayman@bedford.progress.COM (Liza Hayman)]

Liza Beth Hayman			Andy Murphy/Manya Rossignoli
Progress Software Corporation		Schwartz Communications, Inc.
781.280.4697				781.684.0770
hayman@bedford.progress.com		andym@schwartz-pr.com


		    PROGRESS SOFTWARE CORPORATION ANNOUNCES 
		COMPANY’S FIRST-EVER APPTIVITY RESELLER PROGRAM 

                  New Partner Program Launched to Promote
      Apptivity Line of Java Business Application Development Tools 

BEDFORD, Mass.—October 20, 1997— Progress Software Corporation (NASDAQ: PRGS), a 
leading supplier of application development tools, database technology and 
support services for business applications, today announced it is launching the 
ApptivityTM Partner Program, a new reseller program designed to promote sales of 
its Apptivity  line of Java business application development tools.

While Progress Software has a long-standing Application Partners Program, which 
currently includes more than 2,300 application developers worldwide, the 
Apptivity Partner Program represents the first time that Progress Software has 
created an incentive program for the reseller channel.  

"Apptivity is ideal for resellers given the fast-growing demand for Java-based 
business application tools that can be used ‘out of the box,’" said Jennifer 
Bergantino, vice president of marketing and strategic planning for Progress 
Software. "And Progress Software is a great partner for resellers, with 
discounts, special pricing and award-winning global support that is simply 
unavailable from some of the smaller companies competing in the Java business 
application development tool space. Through this program, we expect to attract 
significant numbers of new customers who want to build Java-based, 
enterprise-wide applications."

According to Bergantino, the key benefits of the Apptivity Partner Program for 
resellers include:

· High margins on Apptivity software sales and Apptivity embedded applications
· Unlimited consulting opportunities to help companies build customer 
  applications using Apptivity
· Significant Apptivity training opportunities with corporate Java developers
· Partnership with Progress Software’s global network of hundreds of sales and 
  systems engineers.  

Apptivity 2.0 is the first Java development tool that supports developers 
through every stage of the development process—from small pilot projects through 
global deployment with thousands of users. It is also the first tool to deliver 
on the promise of cross-platform Java.  In internal tests conducted by Progress 
Software, application components built in Apptivity 2.0 performed equally as 
well on a PC, Macintosh and Sun Solaris workstation. 

"We needed to provide our customers with a tool that provides client-side Java 
for Internet applications. We reviewed all of the products currently being 
released in this category and  Apptivity was clearly the best of breed," said 
Jim Maresca, vice president of sales for Context Integration, Inc., San 
Francisco, the inaugural member of the Apptivity Partner Program. 

The Apptivity Partner Program will offer various levels of participation, with 
graded levels of competitive discounts. Resellers will purchase directly from 
Progress Software, eliminating any channel conflicts. Resellers will also be 
eligible for special pricing, which will vary according to revenue generation 
and length of time in the program, plus technical and marketing assistance.  
Progress Software has already begun a global recruitment campaign and is seeking 
to partner with a limited number of resellers in each major market.   

About Progress Software Corporation
Progress Software Corporation is a worldwide supplier of application development 
tools, database technology and support services, with 1,100 employees in nearly 
50 offices across North America, Europe, Asia, Australia and Latin America. 
Professional developers use Progress Software solutions, including the 
Apptivity, WebSpeedTM, ProtoSpeedTM and PROGRESS* products, to build, deploy and 
maintain applications across Internet, client/server and host/terminal computing 
environments. Progress Software’s products are used by more than 2,300 
application partners (APs) and customers, who in turn generated more than $1.5 
billion in applications sales in 1996.

		                    # # #

PROGRESS is a registered trademark of Progress Software Corporation.  Apptivity, 
WebSpeed and ProtoSpeed are trademarks of Progress Software Corporation.   All 
other trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.




-- 
Liza Beth Hayman
Manager of Public Relations 
Progress Software Corporation
Tel:	781-280-4697
Email:  hayman@progress.com
www.progress.com