MACROMEDIA FLASH REMOTING MX AVAILABLE FOR JAVA AND MICROSOFT .NET FRAMEWORK-BASED APPLICATION SERVERS

Open solution enables application servers, including those from Microsoft, Sun, and Oracle, to easily communicate with Macromedia Flash Player

San Francisco—September 21, 2002—Macromedia, Inc. (Nasdaq: MACR) today announced Macromedia Flash Remoting MX for Microsoft .NET Framework and Java technology based application servers. Already a native feature of Macromedia ColdFusion MX and JRun 4, Macromedia Flash Remoting MX now supports rich Internet application development using Macromedia Flash with Java and Microsoft .NET Framework-based application servers. Macromedia Alliance partners are already praising the ability to bring their existing applications online using this technology (see attached quote sheet). This new server product, available Tuesday from the Macromedia Online Store, delivers on Macromedia's commitment to providing an open deployment solution for rich Internet applications. The trial version is available for immediate download today at http://www.macromedia.com/go/remoting/.

"Rich Internet applications are an important milestone in the evolution of the Internet as they provide effective, desktop-like user experiences in a browser and reduce overall infrastructure costs," said Paul Madar, general manager, Macromedia. "Macromedia Flash Remoting MX enables companies to re-skin their existing applications to get these benefits by leveraging existing web application server platforms."

The combination of Macromedia Flash MX and Macromedia Flash Remoting MX makes client-server computing a reality in today's Internet. Macromedia Flash Player provides a client runtime environment capable of interacting with business logic and data stored on the server. With the addition of Macromedia Flash Remoting MX for Microsoft .NET and Java, developers can now build rich Macromedia Flash interfaces using their existing infrastructure.

Macromedia Flash Remoting MX makes it fast and easy to create rich Internet applications by providing a powerful yet simple programming model. Developers can access web application services such as EJBs, Microsoft .NET components, ColdFusion components, or SOAP-based web services using four easy commands. The powerful NetConnection debugger further simplifies testing and debugging by allowing developers to watch and trace events across both the client and server. Macromedia Flash Remoting MX also includes new capabilities for recordset handling and databinding that simplify development and reduce time to market.

"We used Macromedia Flash Remoting MX to connect a Macromedia Flash rich user interface to our Java business logic, making our new group management functionality interactive and easier to use, and enabling users to complete tasks in dramatically reduced time," said Timothy Chi, senior director of technology, Blackboard, Inc. "With only a few lines of code, our existing infrastructure and rich Internet application were quickly talking back and forth. Macromedia Flash Remoting MX improved not only the performance of our developers, but our users as well. Blackboard is extremely excited about the impact that this technology will have on teaching and learning in the eEducation marketplace."

While the base functionality of Macromedia Flash Remoting MX is the same across platforms, and includes support for standards such as SOAP, WSDL, and web services, each version of the server is also specifically tuned to take advantage of the strengths of each platform. For example, using Macromedia ColdFusion MX, Macromedia Flash Player can access ColdFusion Components, ColdFusion pages, and server-side ActionScript.

Macromedia Flash Remoting MX for Microsoft .NET supports Microsoft ASP.NET pages, ADO.NET Objects, DLLs, Assemblies, and Web Services. It is 100 percent managed code, providing optimal performance, functionality, and security for developers using Microsoft .NET.

"We're pleased that Macromedia is delivering a product to enable Macromedia Flash developers to access the .NET Framework," said John Montgomery, group product manager, developer platform and evangelism division, Microsoft Corp. ".NET was designed to be the best platform for application development, and now Macromedia Flash developers will be able to take advantage of its capabilities."

Macromedia Flash Remoting MX for Java supports Java resources such as Java Objects and Java Beans, and J2EE resources including Java classes, EJBs, and JMX MBeans. The server is a pure Java implementation and can be deployed on both J2EE and Java application servers.

"The Java platform enables open development solutions that harness Java technology's proven compatibility and interoperability capabilities," said Mark Herring, director of Java, webservices and tools business, Sun Microsystems. "Macromedia Flash Remoting MX is one of the several options developers have to create rich visual applications that leverage Java technology. We are excited to see Macromedia Flash developers become part of the Java community."

"Oracle9i Application Server is a complete, integrated, and 100 percent standards-compatible application server ideally suited for rich Internet applications," said Thomas Kurian, senior vice president, Oracle9i Application Server at Oracle. "With Macromedia Flash Remoting MX, developers can connect rich Macromedia Flash user interfaces to business logic running on Oracle9i Application Server and deploy these enterprise-class applications on existing Web infrastructures quickly."