GAITHERSBURG, MD, June 8, 1999 - Outside of Hollywood movies, the number of satellites bent on global destruction is, generously speaking, minute. Still, with a growing number of these spacecraft orbiting our planet for the purpose of providing up to the minute weather reports, crystal clear cellular communications, and the opportunity to watch the final episode of Melrose Place from Sidney, Australia, the subject of tracking and controlling these ultra high tech systems from the ground becomes vital to their owners.

For more than ten years, Maryland-based Integral Systems (www.integ.com) (Nasdaq:ISYS) has been a leading global provider of fully integrated ground systems for satellite command and control. Integral Systems' EPOCH 2000 product, a commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) package, not only tracks and controls the satellite; it also processes and analyzes the information it gathers.

However, the task of configuration in inherently UNIX environments was causing delays for Integral's customers.

``We use VNI's PV Wave software to program our Archive Browser and Extractor (ABE) software which is one module of EPOCH 2000,'' said Barbara Hageman, Senior Systems Programmer for Integral Systems. ``It's a data analysis tool used by the spacecraft engineers to analyze the telemetry data using graphs, plots and tables.''

Integral Systems uses the VNI software as their programming language. While Integral Systems' clients use the same VNI software to run the ABE application, the client version is a ``run time only'' license and does not include the development tools required for making the various program adjustments that are necessary and specific to each customer's site.

``That meant we couldn't perform any onsite configuration changes what-so-ever using our customer's machines,'' Hageman explained. ``We could create and deliver software that we thought would work for the customer, but if they had any problems, we couldn't just go to the customer's site and do any troubleshooting. Our development license couldn't be extended to their machines,'' Hageman continued, ``and their run-time license couldn't perform the necessary programming tasks.''

Still, the software had to be configured to the customer's unique system and satellite configurations. To compensate, the programmers at Integral Systems developed some solutions in an attempt to bypass the licensing problem. One solution was to have the customer explain the problem over the phone so Integral Systems' programmers could try to determine, and then FTP a solution to the customer's site for them to try.

``It's a nuisance having to FTP back and forth,'' said Hageman, ``but it's also not exactly the best solution to ask your customer to try out your change for you.''

What Integral Systems needed, was a system they could take with them to the various customer sites. With a portable system, the programmers could do the necessary trouble shooting and then give the customer a new executable that they could immediately use.

``There were three problems with our first attempt at bringing the solution to the customer,'' Hageman said. ``We took an entire workstation, complete with a 19-inch monitor, put it in the back of a car and drove it to the site so that we would have a development system. This was time-consuming, expensive and inefficient.''

Once troubleshooting or site-specific changes were resolved, Hageman and her team had to write the program and transfer the new information to the customer's system. For the first ten years of business, Integral Systems relied on tape technology for this task. However, while tape offered a slightly lower cost per megabyte than other removable storage technologies, data transfer rates were considerably lower. From the customer's point of view, CD was an ideal solution; however, while every UNIX system is configured with an internal CD-ROM drive, Hageman soon discovered no one made CD- Recordable drives for the UNIX OS.

``We didn't realize this prior to our search for a solution,'' said Hageman, ``but you can't get a CD-R drive for UNIX. They don't exist. So, I began searching the Web for any kind of solution and I found Tracer Technologies and their stand-alone CD-R drive software called Magna, that would allow me to write a CD from UNIX. Now we can take a Solaris laptop to the customer sites for troubleshooting tasks, fix the problem, write the software to the CD and drop the CD right into the customer's UNIX-based workstation. Tracer's solution has saved us, and our customers, both time and money.''

Integral Systems' solution includes a Sun Solaris Spark Laptop with an 8x20x CD-R drive from Plextor running Tracer's Magna CD-R authoring software. The Magna CD-Recordable software package provides users with a powerful, reliable, easy- to-use set of software tools designed specifically for the production of ISO9660 compliant CD discs under a broad range of UNIX platforms.

``I did the integration myself and it was pretty simple,'' said Hageman. ``I did have to call Tracer's tech support line once because I'm not very fluent in UNIX system administration . . . I'm more of a technical programmer, but I've been kind of thrust into the duties of system administration. The technician that was helping me was wonderful,'' Hageman continued. ``I think I was on the phone with him for a half an hour and then he had me call him back after I got the system up to make sure I had everything working okay.''

Magna simplifies multisession as well as 1, 2, 4, 6 and 8-speed recording through the web-based HyperMAN interface written in HTML and JavaScript. Using this user- friendly interface, CDs can be recorded on the server using popular web-browsers such as Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer. Once Magna is integrated, users can configure CD-R devices, make CD recordings and receive online help through the HyperMAN interface.

``The learning curve was minimal,'' said Hageman. ``I really like the software's graphical user interface and it's very simple to use. I've shown one of my programmers how to use the system just so he'd know too, and he picked it up quickly also.''

For added security and data integrity in multi-user environments, interface access can be controlled on a per-user basis.

``We've really just started using this solution a month ago,'' said Hageman, ``but I'm already seeing it's impact in a number of areas.''

Prior to the Tracer software solution, Integral Systems used only 4mm tape to deliver their software packages and patches. More recently however, as CD technologies have gained application support, a growing number of Integral Systems' clients have upgraded to UNIX workstations without tape drives.

``This stand-alone solution also takes care of that client demand also because now we can deliver our software on CD,'' said Hageman. ``That makes our customers much happier. It's simply more efficient for our customers be able to upload our software from CD rather than tape. With Tracer's solution,'' Hageman continued, ``we're able to save ourselves considerable time, and provide greater convenience for our customers.''