Data General Announces MUMPS Data Extractor / October 6, 1999 / Page 1

NDA Until Monday, October 11

PR Contacts:Eithne EganMeghan LaTour

Data General Corp.Brodeur Porter Novelli

508/898-6664617/587-2841

DATA GENERAL ANNOUNCES FIRST DATA MIGRATION TOOL CAPABLE OF CONVERTING CRITICAL INFORMATION FROM MUMPS TO MICROSOFT SQL SERVER 7.0

The MUMPS Data Extractor™ Increases Efficiency at Veterans Administration Hospitals

WESTBORO, Mass., Oct. 11, 1999 - Data General today announced the MUMPS Data Extractor (MDE)™, a data migration product that helps users of the proprietary MUMPS computer language convert important data to SQL Sever 7.0. The MDE dynamically moves data from the MUMPS based FileMan system to any SQL Server 7.0 based data mart, data warehouse or replication database, enabling users to access and use critical patient and financial data. The MDE was developed by Strategic Reporting Systems, Inc. as part of a technology alliance with Data General.

In an early implementation of the MDE, Data General and Strategic Reporting Systems are helping the Veterans Administration Central Iowa Health Care Systemmigrate MUMPS data from its VISTA application to SQL Server 7.0 on Data General AViiON® NT Servers, so that users can use tools like ReportSmith and Microsoft Visual Basic for searching and reporting important patient information.

With the MDE, users can create and distribute information in a far more timely manner throughout the enterprise, using commonly available reporting tools, such as the award-winning ReportSmith, that work with the Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 database. For example, the Veterans Administration Hospital will now be able to access “live” data and produce reports within 10 minutes, a process that previously took up to three weeks to complete.

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“This product enables us to respond to the needs of our patients, management, and organization better than any other product I’ve evaluated,” said Jim E. Presley, Chief Information Officer at the Veterans Administration Central Iowa Health Care System. “In our first experience with the MDE it took us only minutes to move an entire prescription file to an SQL database, and access lab data to see what costs existed in certain areas. We also quickly moved our entire patient database, sorted by county, and received information on where our patients come from, their age, and primary diagnosis. The MDE is usable right out of the box and provides the pathway from MUMPS to Microsoft, so we can do our jobs better, faster, smarter, and more efficiently.”

“We saw a need in the Veterans Administration Hospitals to access financial and clinical data within the VISTA application,” explains Michael J. Sutkowski, general manager of Data General’s US Healthcare Division. “SQL Server 7.0 was our choice of database because it affords the user community the breadth and depth of tools needed to allow them to move data quickly and easily and move it throughout the enterprise.”

"Microsoft's SQL Server 7.0 is the ideal database for generating healthcare reports and running analytical queries," said Rich Noffsinger, worldwide healthcare group manager at Microsoft. "Data General's use of SQL Server 7.0 will give MUMPS-based application users such as VISTA the ability to quickly retrieve large quantities of data and produce reports within hours that previously took weeks. SQL Server 7.0 in combination with Data General's hardware and Strategic Reporting Systems’ MDE, will enable healthcare organizations with MUMPS-based applications to better respond to the needs of their patients by providing faster access to critical information at a lower total cost of ownership."

"With the MDE, the Veterans Administration now has a complete solution to reach into its rich MUMPS data repository, extract that data, and use it to produce results that benefit every layer of the Veterans Administration organization,” said David Lenhart, vice president and general manager of Strategic Reporting Systems.

The MDE can be used directly on the client for interactive "quick" data retrieval by the user. For larger jobs, from the server, the MDE has the capability to move large amounts of data into a Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 database, for quality control, performance-based management, or even data backup. The MDE is slated for general availability on November 15, 1999.

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About Strategic Reporting Systems

Strategic Reporting Systems, Inc. is the developer of the MUMPS Data Extractor (MDE)™ and the award-winning ReportSmith®, which has been a leading Windows based query and reporting software application since its release in 1992. ReportSmith is a powerful visual database reporting and query tool, and provides a streamlined approach to creating reports using database files and tables. Used by more than 50% of U.S. Fortune 500 Companies and over one million users worldwide, Strategic Reporting Systems has all of the client services available necessary for the successful installation and support of its products.

Data General’s Expertise in Healthcare and Information Technology

For the past 20 years, Data General has been a leader in providing high-technology enterprise solutions to the healthcare industry, with solutions currently in use at more than 3500 hospitals worldwide. Data General’s Worldwide Healthcare Division currently generates $260M a year in revenues from its strategic alliances with leading HIS vendors, as well as four specialized initiatives. The company’s healthcare solutions include:

  • Imaging solutions for radiology, medical records and business office departments
  • Internet/intranet solutions customized for the healthcare environment
  • Wireless Point-of-Care Solutions - devices, implementation service and support
  • IT infrastructure solutions for the healthcare enterprise

Additional information on Data General’s healthcare solutions is available at

About Data General

Data General Corporation (NYSE:DGN), based in Westboro, Mass., is a major supplier of storage and enterprise computing solutions for customers worldwide. The company’s products include CLARiiON® Fibre Channel storage systems, high-end NT and UNIX AViiON servers, and related software and services. The company reported fiscal 1998 revenues of $1.5 billion.

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AViiON and CLARiiON are registered trademarks of Data General Corporation. All other brand names and product names referred to in this press release may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.