<PAGE> 1
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, DC 20549
FORM 6-K
REPORT OF FOREIGN ISSUER
PURSUANT TO RULE 13A-16 OR 15D-15 OF
THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
For the month of June 16, 1997
Micro Focus Public Limited Company
(Translation of Registrant's Name into English)
The Lawn, Old Bath Road, Newbury, England RG14 1QN
(Address of Principal Executive Offices)
(Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant files or will file annual
reports under the cover of Form 20-F or Form 40-F.)
Form 20-F ___X__ Form 40-F ______
(Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant by furnishing the
information contained in this form is also thereby furnishing the information to
the Commission pursuant to Rule 12g3-2(b) under the Securities Exchange Act of
1934.)
Yes ___X__ No _____
(If "Yes" is marked, indicate below the file number assigned to the
Registrant in connection with Rule 12g3-2(b):82-795.)
<PAGE> 2
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Editorial Contacts:
Dan Spalding Mary Carlisle
Micro Focus Miller/Shandwick Technologies
(415) 843-7358 (415) 962-9550
[email protected] [email protected]
MICRO FOCUS(R) INTRODUCES COMPREHENSIVE SOLUTION
FOR YEAR 2000 CRISIS
SoftFactory/2000 Provides Significant Efficiency Improvement through
Intelligent, Rules-Based Windowing Solution
NEW YORK - June 16, 1997 - Micro Focus (NASDAQ:MIFGY), a leading supplier of
tools and solutions for the development and maintenance of enterprise
application systems, today at PC Expo announced SoftFactory/2000(TM), a
comprehensive Year 2000 (Y2K) toolset and methodology that enables IT
organizations to correct Y2K problems with intelligent rules specifically
optimized for logic-based remediation. Customer demand is rapidly shifting to
this approach as time is running short. This solution allows software systems to
continue operation after 1999 and addresses date problem criteria more
efficiently than current industry methods.
Micro Focus has leveraged more than 20 years of experience in
maintaining legacy systems to create SoftFactory/2000. SoftFactory/2000 helps
solve the impending Y2K date change crisis that will affect every organization
whose systems depend on date fields in COBOL-based legacy systems. Many of the
systems which are not Y2K compliant will fail or produce inaccurate results
after 1999. Gartner Group estimates that it will cost as much as $650 billion to
fix Y2K bugs nested within the 220 billion lines of COBOL code in use.
"We have used Micro Focus products as a part of our service offering to
clients and have developed an appreciation for the company's ability to deliver
tools needed to meet the challenges of changing business needs," said Penny
Quist, manager of Analyst International Corporation's Year 2000 Practice. "Year
2000 software compliance is a particularly pressing challenge, since companies
and institutions face an absolutely unyielding deadline of Dec. 31, 1999 -- just
more than 2-1/2 years away now."
SoftFactory/2000 is specifically optimized for a "windowing" solution
and identifies only those dates which require fixing, such as dates used in some
calculations and comparisons. Windowing leaves the two-digit dates in place, but
adds logic to differentiate between centuries.
"In a perfect world, doing four-digit expansion was a flawless
solution, but the time for that procedure has come and gone," said Peter de
Jager, speaker, consultant and president of de Jager and Company Ltd. "We are
now in a position where time is driving the industry, and windowing and
utilizing technology optimized for windowing is the only way to reach compliance
by the year 2000."
SmartFind/2000(TM), an intelligent rules-based analysis tool for
identifying lines of COBOL code that require remediation to become Y2K
compliant, is the core of the SoftFactory/2000 solution. SmartFind/2000 is
highly optimized for Y2K conversions utilizing logic-based windowing fixes to
the century date-change problem. SmartFind/2000 is a dramatic improvement over
existing date pattern recognition-based tools because it minimizes
labor-intensive operations and identifies dates that would otherwise be missed
because of naming conventions. The rules-based detection methodology of
SmartFind/2000 is considerably more effective than other methods which identify
date fields that do not need conversion and require extensive manual
intervention.
<PAGE> 3
"The deadline for fixing Year 2000 bugs cannot be extended, and the
SoftFactory/2000 approach will help IT departments slash implementation time and
budget with proven parsing technology and highly sophisticated and comprehensive
logic-based rules," said Peter Katz, Micro Focus Year 2000 Solution general
manager. "Not only does Micro Focus deliver a complete solution that works
across all types of code and scales up to the largest systems, but we deliver a
solution that users can implement quickly for a real competitive advantage."
SoftFactory/2000 also includes Revolve/2000(TM), a proven tool for
identifying and categorizing Y2K code in several languages and supporting
multiple Y2K conversion methodologies; Process/2000(TM), a proven planning and
implementation guide for Y2K conversions; and Workbench/2000(TM), a
comprehensive development and testing environment for Y2K modified code.
SoftFactory/2000's technology advances address the shortage of time
remaining until the Year 2000, as well as the escalating costs and shrinking
availability of trained resources for the Y2K problem. SmartFind/2000 enables
Micro Focus to deliver a solution that defines the least expensive, lowest risk
plan to eradicate Y2K code errors. Whether implemented in-house, combined with
Micro Focus' consulting services, or with assistance from Micro Focus Y2K
consulting partners, SoftFactory/2000 enables IT organizations to establish an
on-site Y2K code conversion factory using Windows NT or Windows 95.
SoftFactory/2000 is available today from Micro Focus, as well as through
Micro Focus' network of Y2K solution partners.
Micro Focus provides tools and technology to help corporations meet
changing business requirements. The company's state-of-the-art programming
solutions allow application developers to manage and extend their enterprise
applications for: Distributed Computing - developing and deploying production
systems in distributed environments; Legacy Solutions - moving application
development and maintenance off the mainframe; and Year 2000 assessment and
implementation - providing solutions for preparing systems to handle the
millennium date change.
In the U.S., Micro Focus is located at 2465 East Bayshore Road, Palo Alto,
Calif. 94303. Telephone: 415-856-4161. In the U.K., the company is located at
The Lawn, Old Bath Road, Newbury, England, RG14 1QN. Telephone: 01635-32646. For
additional information on Micro Focus and its products, visit Micro Focus' Web
site at http://www.microfocus.com.
# # #
Micro Focus is a registered trademark of Micro Focus. All other companies and
products as they appear in this release are trademarks or registered trademarks
of their respective holders.
<PAGE> 4
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the
Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the
undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.
Micro Focus Group Public Limited Company
(Registrant)
Date: September 25, 1997 By: /s/ Loren E. Hillberg
---------------------------------
Loren E. Hillberg
Vice President and General Counsel
