Ashton-Tate Divisions2-2-2-2-2

concentrate on developing valuable service-based programs,examine service areas for the corporate environment, and explorenew business opportunities.

"The Software Products division will be responsible fordesktop products from inception to quality assurance. It willcontinue to develop and market advanced, state-of-the-artmicrocomputer software products, and publish a growing library ofcomputer publications and utility software," Esber added.

Folk, 40, joined Ashton-Tate in August 1985 as executivevice president, marketing and strategic planning. Previously, hewas president/CEO of Paladin Software Corp., which he founded inOctober 1983. He also spent more than two years as a marketingmanager for visiCorp, and served in key marketing positions forDEC, Xerox, Amcomp and Applicon. He holds three degrees from theMassachusetts Institute of Technology, including an MBA and an MSin computer science.

Posner, 44, has been associated with Ashton-Tate since April1984 in a variety of high-level positions, including member ofthe board of directors, acting vice president of internationaloperations, and executive vice president, marketing, sales andinternational. He has been executive vice president, sales andinternational, since August 1985. Previously, Posner waschairman/CEO of National Training Systems, a leading provider ofmicrocomputer trainng services, which he founded in 1974. He hasalso held marketing and sales positions with Xerox and theCoca-Cola Company. He holds an MBA from the Harvard BusinessSchool.

Ashton-Tate reported revenues of $41.2 million and netincome of $5.1 million for the first quarter of fiscal 1987,ended April 30, 1986, increases of 71.8 percent and 118.6percent, respectively, from the same period of the previousyear. The company reported record revenues of $121.6 million andrecord net income of $16.6 million for fiscal 1986, ended January31, 1986.

The company markets best-selling products in three majorcategories: database management software, with theindustry-standard dBASE family of products; word processing, withthe MultiMate product line; and integrated software, withFramework II.

RAshton-Tate, dBASE and Framework are registered trademarks ofAshton-Tate. MultiMate is a registered trademark of MultiMateInternational Corp., an Ashton-Tate Company.

tmFramework II is a trademarkof Ashton-Tate.

1. Q.

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ASHTON-TATE REORGANIZATIONQUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Will Ed Esber's role change as part of thereorganization?

Ed Esber will remain as President/CEO withresponsibility for overseeing and directingall current Ashton-Tate activities. He willalso maintain his focus on long-range planning andbusiness strategy development. In addition tofinance and administration, and operations,functions reporting directly to the President/CEOwill now include the sales and internatio~units. The development and documentatio~ '

groups, formerly reporting to Ed Esber, willnow report through Roy Folk, executive vice-president and general manager, Software ProductsDivision.

Q. Do you anticipate any employee layoffs asa result of the reorganization?

A. No. The reorganization is designed to positionus for future growth. It is a very positivemove for the company, and we will need thecontinued help and support of all Ashton-Tateemployees to make these changes work.

How will the reorganization affect my individualdepartment? Will I continue to report to mysame supervisor?

Q.

A. There will be minimum impact on most departmentsin the company. A few new reporting relationshipswill result. For example, the Software SupportGroup, led by Jay Hanson, will now report toRon Posner's new systems, Service and InformationDivision. Karen Orton's marketing programs group,formerly reporting to Roy Folk, will also be parta part of SSI. We expect detailed plans for eachdepartment affected to be complete by June 23.

Q. Will the reorganization involve physical moves ofdepartments or employees?

No, not at the present time.A.

Q. Are there any written procedures I have to followor forms I have to fill out if I am transferringto a new division?

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No. Any paperwork required will be handled bythe Human Resources department.

When will detailed plans be available?

We expect detailed plans for each department,including revised organization charts where required,to be available by June 23.

Q. Why is Software Support being transferred to the newSSI division?

A. An important strategic goal of the company is tobuild a full-scale computer services organization, inaddition to offering top-quality desktop microcomputersoftware products. Our new divisional structurereflects that goal. The Software Support organizationis, by nature, a supplier of service and support toour users. It's a logical step to make them an inte-gral part of SSI.

Q. Does the reorganization affect any of my benefitsor vacation accrual?

A. No.

Q. Will my salary be affected by the reorganization?

A. No.

Q. Why did the company feel it was important toreorganize?

A. Ashton-Tate, like the microcomputer industry, isconstantly changing. Strategies and approachesthat produced results in late 1984 are not aseffective given the current industry environment andthe company's present stage of development. Thisreorganization is designed to help us addressthese new conditions and ultimately positionour company for future growth.

Q. Didn't the company go through a similarreorganization about a year and a half ago?

A. Yes. At the time we were also faced withthe need to make changes that would helpsteer the company toward further growth.As we have all witnessed, that decisionhelped the company almost double in size

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over the past 18 months.

Q. There are rumors about the hiring of a newpresident. Is there any truth to this?

A. The reorganization is exactly as outlined in theorganizational chart. The company has planned noother announcements at this time.

Q. Have we leased the other part of this buildingand will we be moving departments over there inthe near future?

A. Though we haven'tthe other half offor a first rightowners.

signed a lease agreement onthis complex, we have arrangedof refusal with the building

Q. Why did Ed Esber choose to have so many directreports?

A. The number of direct reports to the President/CEOhas not changed. There were six direct reportsbefore the reorganization and there will be the samenumber now.

Q. Who is responsible for product quality assurance?

A. Operations, under the direction of Barry Berke.

Q. Was this reorganization implementedin an effort to gain control overproduct bugs?

A. The reorganization was implemented tobetter position the company for thefuture and is consistent with ourrecent comments regarding the company'scontinued presence in the computerservices industry. We constantlymonitor our products to assure theyare as "bug-free" as possible.

Q. What new services does the companyplan to offer?

A. We have nothing specific to discuss at this time.Details of our services programs will be forthcoming.

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Q. Why was the strategic sales departmentseparated out of sales?

A. There are several reasons. (1) strategicalliances between Ashton-Tate and othermajor players in the industry are oftenformed well in advance of productannouncement, distribution and sales.(2) strategic sales often present situationsin which Ashton-Tate products are distributedby other companies' sales forces and distributionnetworks. (3) strategic sales also are frequentlytargeted at a specific market (the government, forexample, requires a different set of service andsupport activities.

Q. How soon will the reorganization take effect?Is it effective immediately?

A. The reorganization is effective immediately.

Q. Why was the decision made to have developmentreport through Roy Folk?

We felt it was important to place totalresponsibility for all microcomputer softwareunder one division. In the new SoftwareProducts division, Roy Folk is responsible forall aspects of microcomputer software startingwith inception, through development andproduction, up to quality assurance.

A.

Q. What do you mean by "non-mainstream" productsas part of the Systems, Service and Informationcharter?

A. We are referring to all products not categorizedas desktop or in the microcomputer arena.

Q. with this reorganization, are we positioningourselves for another acquisition?

A. We are positioning ourselves for future growth.There is always the possibility we will acquireother companies if the right match is found.

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