Leading Technology Companies Join Forces To Promote Smalltalk

Newly Established Smalltalk Industry Council Includes Core Members Cincom®,
GemStone®, IBM® and Knowledge Systems Corporation

New Council Sponsors Smalltalk Solutions 2003 Convention and Trade Show

Cary, North Carolina, March 25, 2003 - To raise awareness and increase the
demand for Smalltalk as the programming language of choice for application
development, the Smalltalk Industry Council (STIC) today announced that it
has reorganized. The new Council's core members include Cincom, GemStone,
IBM and Knowledge Systems Corporation. Allen B. Davis, chief executive
officer for Knowledge Systems Corporation, has been named executive
director.

"Smalltalk is by far the best programming language available for Web and
enterprise development," said Allen B. Davis, Executive Director, Smalltalk
Industry Council. "Smalltalk is a mature technology and well supported.
Since it is underutilized, STIC's mission will be to raise awareness of
Smalltalk, which provides a simpler syntax, much higher productivity and
easier maintainability than other languages. It is the logical next choice
for software developers as well as for businesses interested in reducing
their total cost of ownership for software systems."

STIC's first large initiative is the organization and sponsorship of
Smalltalk Solutions 2003, the premier forum for Smalltalk users, developers
and enthusiasts. Taking place July 13-16, 2003 in Toronto, Canada, Smalltalk
Solutions 2003 will feature keynote speakers Scott Ambler, senior
contributing editor for Software Development magazine and member of
Flashline Software Development Productivity Council, and David A. Smith,
co-developer of Croquet software and creator of "The Colony," the first 3D
interactive game. It will also host a number of sessions, including
"Smalltalk for .NET," "Smalltalk for Eclipse" and "Recruiting
Object-Oriented Programmers."

"Smalltalk Solutions 2003 will bring together hundreds of buyers and sellers
of Smalltalk products and services, while updating the industry on the
latest in Smalltalk technologies," added Davis.

For more information on STIC, please visit www.stic.org. To exhibit at
Smalltalk Solutions 2003 or for more information, please visit
www.smalltalksolutions.com.

About the Smalltalk Industry Council
The Smalltalk Industry Council (STIC) is a nonprofit trade association whose
goal is to promote awareness and increase demand for Smalltalk. STIC was
reorganized in 2003 by Cincom, GemStone, IBM and Knowledge Systems
Corporation, creating a cohesive Smalltalk community where information,
technical issues, new ideas and concerns are openly discussed to benefit
businesses as well as the software industry. STIC's membership consists of
users, service providers and vendors of Smalltalk tools, components,
databases and services. For more information on STIC, please visit
www.stic.org.

Contact: Andrew Ignatow
Smalltalk Industry Council
513.612.2104
aignatow at cincom.com

Contact: Jason Jones
Smalltalk Industry Council
919.789.8549 x.21
jjones at stic.org

Contact: Michele Gray
Edelman
212.642.7746
michele.gray at edelman.com




--
Alan Knight [|], Program Chair, Smalltalk Solutions 2003
knight at acm.org
http://www.smalltalksolutions.com