"For more than six years, ColdFusion has empowered developers with an easy-to-use, highly productive environment for building Web applications," said Jeremy Allaire, chief technology officer, Macromedia. "Our technology strategy is to bring those strengths to an even broader market, and the strong support we are receiving from leading industry vendors will help make that possible."

Without changing the basic ColdFusion Markup Language (CFML) programming environment, the next release of ColdFusion will support a new Java technology based architecture. The new architecture will enable standalone deployment similar to past releases, as well as a new capability to deploy applications on leading Java technology based servers including BEA WebLogic, IBM WebSphere, and Macromedia JRun. In addition, the new ColdFusion architecture will support interoperability with Microsoft .NET platform technologies through support for XML Web Services and .NET servers.

By extending ColdFusion with more flexible deployment options and expanding the interoperability with key industry standards, the Neo release of ColdFusion will enable companies to achieve a higher return on their investments in Internet infrastructure by increasing productivity and expanding the range of developers who build on these systems. Industry leaders have already voiced their support of the ColdFusion technology strategy.

BEA "We're pleased that Macromedia has made the decision to bring the popular and easy-to-use ColdFusion development environment to BEA WebLogic Server," said Scott Dietzen, chief technology officer, BEA E-Commerce Server Division. "The ability to deploy ColdFusion applications on BEA WebLogic Server will enable ColdFusion customers to take advantage of the scalability, reliability and manageability of the BEA WebLogic E-Business PlatformÔ, as well as to mix and match ColdFusion applications with JSP and J2EE applications."

IBM "Many of our customers are already using ColdFusion as an environment for rapid application development," said William Reedy, vice president business development, Software Solutions Division, IBM. "Macromedia's strategy to move ColdFusion to a Java architecture will make it possible for those customers to deploy their applications on IBM WebSphere Application Server and combine the ease of use of ColdFusion with the flexibility, extensibility, and robustness of the WebSphere software platform."

Intel "Intel-based servers lead the industry in shipments and provide customers with a choice of manufacturers and platforms, creating the ideal development and deployment environment for applications built using Macromedia products," said Richard Wirt, Intel fellow and co-general manager, Intel Software and Solutions Group. "With the introduction of ColdFusion's new architecture, developers will experience outstanding application performance and scalability that the Intel® Xeon™ processor family provides."

Sun Microsystems, Inc. "By moving ColdFusion to the Java architecture, Macromedia is helping to lead the industry trend of creating Web content on the Java platform. Now, an even broader developer base can take advantage of industry standard J2EE application servers," said Rich Green, vice president and general manager, Java and XML Software, Sun Microsystems. "ColdFusion has a proven track record as an easy-to-use Web development environment, and we welcome ColdFusion to the family of Java compatible development tools."

ABOUT MACROMEDIA Macromedia is passionate about what the Web can be. Its award-winning products empower designers and developers to efficiently create and deliver the most engaging experiences on the Web, and enable innovative Internet business applications. Headquartered in San Francisco, Macromedia (NASDAQ: MACR) has more than 1,500 employees worldwide and is available on the Internet at www.macromedia.com