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Social Media Release: Micro Focus Throws a Birthday Bash for COBOL at Micro Focus World 2009

User conference to highlight intelligent, cost-effective use of existing IT assets; Launches two contest competitions – the COBOL Evolution Contest and the ExpresseIT Graphic Design Competition

NEWBURY, England and MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA - January 27, 2009

Highlights / Key Facts:
•    The theme for Micro Focus World '09 (MFW ’09) is Business 2.0: On the Web, In the Cloud, On the Move.
•    MFW '09 takes place May 11-13, 2009 in Dallas, Texas.
•    MFW '09 agenda will incorporate a variety of business-issue and technology focused tracks that will detail best-practice approaches to a wide range of real-world scenarios.
•    The MFW '09 agenda consists of over a 100 sessions spread across over 15 tracks.
•    Conference to celebrate COBOL's 50th birthday through a series of unique events.

COBOL Evolution Contest:
•    On the occasion of COBOL's 50th birthday in 2009, Micro Focus is sponsoring the first annual COBOL Evolution Contest.
•    Developer contestants are challenged with building a solution using COBOL, which can be a fully featured business solution addressing a particular business problem, a personal application or even a game!
•    Two key criteria include: the solution must be built using COBOL and other programming languages or technologies may be used but the majority of the functionality implemented must be using COBOL.
•    Entries to the competition will be judged and awarded a prize in three categories: Most innovative solution, Best business opportunity, Best academic submission.
•    Winners of the competition will receive an all expenses paid trip to attend MFW '09.
•    For contest rules and instructions how to participate, go to www.microfocusworld.com/interact/cobolevolution.asp

ExpresseIT Graphic Design Competition:
•    With its first annual ExpresseIT Graphic Design Competition, Micro Focus is inviting the general public to submit an original graphic and/or slogan to be printed on the back of MFW '09 conference t-shirts (pre-determined color of shirt is dark blue).
•    Contestants are challenged to create a graphic and/or slogan hitting upon at least one of the following themes: The importance of Enterprise IT (eIT) systems in the business world today, The relevance and importance of COBOL in the world today, or Business 2.0 – On the web. In the Cloud. On the Move.
•    The winner will receive $750 along with acknowledgement and recognition within event materials and on the Website. Contest participation is easy - just submit an original graphic and/or slogan online at www.microfocusworld.com/interact/expresseIT.asp

COBOL Articles
•    Datamonitor White Paper: COBOL – continuing to drive value in the 21st Century http://www.microfocus.com/21ccobol
•    "COBOL: Don’t Call it a Comeback": http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Application-Development/COBOL-Dont-Call-it-a-Comeback/
•    "A World without Cobol?": http://tinyurl.com/9os6b2
•    "COBOL Still in Demand Despite its Age": http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/care/27CE5D8BA49BE3E4CC2573F70000389B
•    "Micro Focus Aims to Make COBOL Learning Fashionable Again": http://www.networkworld.com/newsletters/edu/2007/1126ed1.html

Links / URLs:
•    MFW '09 homepage: http://www.microfocusworld.com/
•    MFW '09 registration page: http://www.eventreg.com/microfocusworld2009/registration/
•    MFW '09 Agenda: http://www.microfocusworld.com/Agenda/default.asp
•    MFW '09 Blog: http://microfocusworld.blogspot.com
•    MFW '09 LinkedIn Group: http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/894727
•    MFW '09 YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/microfocusworld
•    COBOL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobol
•    Hilton Anatole: http://www1.hilton.com/en_US/hi/hotel/DFWANHH-Hilton-Anatole-Texas/index.do

Executive quote

Quotes:
• Stephen Kelly, CEO, Micro Focus: "Micro Focus World is the event for business leaders preparing for the changing technological requirements of their organizations. We are seeing a sea change in customers' attitudes toward modernization as they realize it allows enterprises to maximize existing IT investments while also meeting today’s economic needs for cost reduction. This event will be attended by several hundred business executives and managers representing major blue chip companies worldwide."

Video Quote:
• Stephen Kelly, CEO, Micro Focus: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Al-TgNIOb8c

Customer quote

• Debby Okata, Senior Systems Engineer, Corporate Information Systems, Title Guaranty of Hawaii Inc.: "We're attending MFW because it helps my team stay up-to-date on the latest Cloud, .NET developments and user case studies. Being able to ask questions directly to the Micro Focus development team and users is a tremendous help to explore the possibilities and challenges we face. These resources are invaluable and help support the arguments I'm making to my senior managers with respect to technological innovation."

Analyst quote

• Gartner: "Cloud computing represents the fusion of very real trends, such as global-class architecture, Web platforms, massively scalable processing and the Internet. The impacts will be felt widely as we deal with the real and hype-driven changes that many consider to be a re-envisioning of other distributed and utility computing models, such as utility computing, on-demand services, grid computing and software as a service (SaaS)."1

About the company

Micro Focus, a member of the FTSE 250, provides innovative software that allows companies to dramatically improve the business value of their enterprise applications. Micro Focus Enterprise Application Modernization and Management software enables customers’ business applications to respond rapidly to market changes and embrace modern architectures with reduced cost and risk. For additional information please visit www.microfocus.com

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