Macromedia ColdFusion MX 6.1 now available

Macromedia ColdFusion MX 6.1 now available

New release dramatically increases performance, simplifies installation and migration, and streamlines product line

AUCKLAND New Zealand - 7 August 2003 - Macromedia (Nasdaq: MACR) announced the immediate availability of Macromedia ColdFusion MX 6.1, which extends the products unmatched ability to deliver speed, savings and standards to web application development. Customers including Casio, Nissan, Straker Interactive, Tourism Queensland, Sandals and Beaches resorts, and UCLA are among the thousands of organisations using Macromedia ColdFusion MX to deliver their critical applications. For more information on Macromedia ColdFusion MX 6.1, visit http://www.macromedia.com/go/cfmx/.

"Macromedia ColdFusion MX currently meets the demands of thousands of organisations, giving them a competitive advantage building Internet applications," said Phil Costa, senior product manager, Macromedia. "This update gives users better stability and reliability as well as substantial performance gains."

"Performance and productivity are two key metrics for application server software, and ensuring that both continue to increase with each new update is the hallmark of a successful company," said Rikki Kirzner, research director, IDC. "Application servers built on open standards that integrate closely with development tools and maintain an active community online are definitely at an advantage in the new economy."

Performance benchmarks of Macromedia ColdFusion MX 6.1 demonstrate runtime improvements of up to 172 percent over ColdFusion 5, which translates into a better end-user experience and reduced infrastructure costs over time. In addition, dynamic e-mail generation has been dramatically enhanced, enabling users to deliver messages more than 50 times faster than with previous releases. ColdFusion MX 6.1, previously code-named "Red Sky," is also easier to use and administer, with increased backward compatibility, improved installation and configuration tools, and updated Windows, Solaris, and Linux OS version support. ColdFusion MX 6.1 also includes a new offering of bundled installation support, providing customers with direct access to expert technical assistance.

The ColdFusion MX editions have been streamlined as part of this update, so users can more easily select the option that fits their needs. ColdFusion MX 6.1 is available in both an Enterprise and Standard edition.

The new Enterprise Edition provides everything customers need to deliver advanced applications with high performance, security, and reliability. ColdFusion MX Enterprise can be deployed as a standalone server, on the bundled version of Macromedia JRun, or on third-party application servers such as IBM WebSphere, BEA WebLogic, or Sun ONE. As a result, customers can more easily integrate ColdFusion with their chosen environment while increasing security and reliability by isolating applications in separate instances of ColdFusion running on a single server.

The entry-level edition has been renamed ColdFusion MX Standard and is targeted for organisations building basic websites and small to medium-sized applications.

ColdFusion is the Macromedia MX solution for rapidly building and deploying powerful web applications and web services. More than 10,000 companies worldwide, including 75 of the Fortune 100 and 20 of the Media Metrix Top 50 Web Properties, use Macromedia ColdFusion to deliver powerful web applications and web services with less training time and fewer lines of code.

PRICING AND AVAILABILITY Macromedia ColdFusion MX 6.1 is available for immediate purchase from the Macromedia Online Store (http://www.macromedia.com/store/). The update is free for existing ColdFusion MX customers. ColdFusion MX Standard 6.1 is priced at NZ$2218 per server, with upgrades from ColdFusion 4.5 and 5 at NZ$1122 per server. ColdFusion MX Enterprise 6.1 is priced at NZ$10145 per two processors, with upgrades from ColdFusion 4.5 and 5 available for NZ$5085 per two processors. Volume, education, and government licensing is available. Detailed information and the update can be found at http://www.macromedia.com/go/cfmx/.

ABOUT MACROMEDIA Experience matters. Macromedia is motivated by the belief that great experiences build great businesses. Our software empowers millions of business users, developers, and designers to create and deliver effective, compelling, and memorable experiences - on the Internet, on fixed media, on wireless, and on digital devices. www.macromedia.com/ap

Beta customers benefit from increased performance, enhancements in ColdFusion MX 6.1

Straker Interactive, New Zealand. "We have found the beta of Macromedia ColdFusion MX 6.1 to be the best release of ColdFusion full stop. The most impressive things from our end were the speed increases and the stability; it's not that we didn't think ColdFusion MX was unstable or slow before, it's just much faster now. The other thing for us at Straker Interactive, was that the underlying Java architecture changes have now allowed us to extend the underlying object orientated architecture of Shado. This means that we can now quickly develop applications that also run faster. It is reassuring that Macromedia didn't try and produce a build full of new features, but concentrated on making ColdFusion MX more powerful and stable." - Grant Straker, Founder and CIO, Straker Interactive.

Tourism Queensland "With the release of ColdFusion MX 6.1, Macromedia have done a fantastic job making an already great product even better. The new language and component enhancements coupled with the significant performance improvements make this a must have upgrade. We are very excited about putting ColdFusion MX 6.1 into production." - Barry Moore, Director of E-Commerce, Tourism Queensland.

Casio, Inc. "ColdFusion MX 6.1 is the release I have been waiting for. The compatibility and improved migration tools made the upgrade easy, and we can immediately benefit from the increased performance. Plus, since the J2EE capabilities are now included in ColdFusion MX Enterprise, we can begin to leverage features like multiple instances and integration with back-end Java components." - Nathanael Waite, Internet systems manager, Casio, Inc.

Nissan North America "This is a great update to ColdFusion MX. When we saw the improved responsiveness in the Nissan Digital Asset Management System during the beta program, we were excited to move version 6.1 into production. Updating our servers was easy, and we're experiencing better performance and stability. Now we plan to start taking advantage of some of the great feature enhancements, like improvements to CFHTTP, web services, and CFMAIL." - Linda Kato, manager, advertising creative, Nissan North America

Sandals and Beaches resorts "Macromedia ColdFusion MX 6.1 has dramatically stabilised and improved performance on all of our applications, especially our Sandals and Beaches Online Booking Engine, which we designed using ColdFusion Components and web services. The install was fast and easy. We migrated and upgraded our MX servers in as little as 10 minutes. With our high traffic and mission critical applications, Macromedia ColdFusion MX 6.1 exceeds our expectations and has helped us to build robust and mission critical applications with ease." - Luis Majano, senior software engineer, Sandals and Beaches resorts

UCLA School of Theater, Film & Television "This is the easiest ColdFusion upgrade yet, particularly for those already running ColdFusion MX. Those who haven't upgraded from earlier versions need to see what they're missing, both in terms of speed and functionality. The new attributes for CFHTTPPARAM simplify the process of calling web services (particularly SOAP), and CFMAIL is now as robust a tag as anyone doing mass e-mailing could want." - Angela McGregor, web application programmer, UCLA School of Theater, Film & Television

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