<PAGE> 1
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, DC 20549
FORM 6-K
REPORT OF FOREIGN ISSUER
PURSUANT TO RULE 13a-16 OR 15d-16 OF
THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
For the month of October 4, 1999
MERANT plc
(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 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
LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE ANNOUNCEMENT
Number of reports in announcement:
Not Applicable
Company Name:
MERANT plc
Full Issuer Name:
MERANT plc
AVS Security Number:
Unknown
Release Date:
04/OCT/1999
Release Time:
07:00
Embargo Details:
Telephone Confirmation of Release Required:
Contact Name:
Philip Rosier
Tel. No:
01635 565583 or 07971 848629
Announcement Given To Third Parties:
Amendment:
No
Headline:
Generic Announcement
Investor Relations Contacts:
Financial Dynamics
Giles Sanderson/Edward Bridges
United Kingdom
44-171-831-3113
[email protected]
[email protected]
MERANT ANNOUNCES EGILITY FOR E-ENABLING THE ENTERPRISE
MERANT Egility Allows Enterprises to Cross the Chasm to E-Business
www.merant.com - Oct. 4, 1999 - MERANT (NNM:MRNT; LSE:MRN), today introduced
MERANT Egility - a new framework to help organizations rapidly overcome the
four key challenges they face as they enable the enterprise to compete in
e-business. As relationships across the value chain become increasingly
electronic, the applications that manage them are critical to success. MERANT
Egility delivers technology and expertise to quickly address the application
issues surrounding e-enablement: creating the new, transforming the existing,
integrating the enterprise and managing the application environment.
<PAGE> 3
MERANT Egility lays out the framework for how customers can unite the best of
both worlds to move to the forefront of the e-business world - combining a
highly-creative, compelling new electronic customer experience while leveraging
the reliable, robust existing application assets. The MERANT Egility framework
addresses the challenges to create, transform, integrate and manage, and
delivers Egility solutions for creating e-business strategy, building e-commerce
sites, extending legacy applications, accessing and integrating data and
applications, managing web content, developing web applications, and more.
"Existing companies see the dotcom start-ups and wish they could start with a
clean slate," said Gary Greenfield, MERANT president and chief executive
officer. "MERANT Egility will put the power of the whole enterprise behind their
e-business initiatives and do it quickly. With our unparalleled understanding of
the enterprise and the e-business application requirements, enterprises will
gain the advantages of speed, reliability and scalability to safely beat
competitors to market."
"Companies transitioning to e-business clearly need a total solution that
includes not just products and traditional professional services, but strategic
e-business-oriented capabilities," said Dave Kelly, vice president of
application strategies, Hurwitz Group. "Our research shows that most companies
are looking for a total solution that will blend and leverage existing
infrastructures with new e-business initiatives."
MERANT offers powerful Egility solutions that address specific requirements that
a company faces when considering these challenges. Continued Greenfield, "MERANT
Egility is intended to leverage the core strengths which currently exist
throughout MERANT and establish a focus for future growth. We expect to continue
to build and augment our Egility solutions as our customers' needs require and
the e-world demands."
MERANT Egility solutions include:
o Egility E-Business Strategy: E-Business is a race against the clock. MERANT
will help collapse strategy development time from months to days, and help
companies avoid false starts and dead ends. MERANT will identify business
benefits and marketing opportunities, help establish goals and priorities,
identify the resources and focus the work.
o Egility E-Business Development: MERANT will get companies' e-business up
and running with intranet, extranet and Internet sites, connecting with
their customers and business partners, creating engaging, efficient and
persuasive interactions resulting in real business benefits.
o Egility Enterprise Extension: MERANT helps companies take advantage of what
they already have. No business is an e-business without leveraging, not
just accessing, its core enterprise applications. What companies get is
safe, robust, reliable and efficient enterprise e-business. Fast. o Egility
Data Integration: Wired. Connected. Call it what you will. What makes
e-business possible is the ability to get the right information to the
right place right away. MERANT helps rapidly enable dynamic access to
integrated information for customers, partners, suppliers and employees.
o Egility Web Content Management: E-Business is a work in progress.
Everything is changing, all the time. The mixing of creative content with
mission critical applications exponentially increases the number of
changes, as well as the risks of getting it wrong. MERANT delivers the
infrastructure and process expertise for managing Web content and
applications, and all of the changes that really affect the business, not
just the graphics. When speed threatens control, MERANT delivers both. In
Internet time.
"Companies don't have the luxury to wait to e-enable their businesses. But,
companies are struggling with how to get there from here. At MERANT, we can show
the way," added MERANT's chief technology officer, Andrew Weiss. "We help our
clients build e-business applications, fast, by both building the new
applications and increasing the value of their existing systems and applications
and transition them for e-business. With our unparalleled expertise in legacy
systems and our cutting-edge Internet professional services, we can work with
our customers to build an e-business strategy that integrates the entire
enterprise - legacy applications, new development and partner applications and
systems."
<PAGE> 4
With customers including the entire Fortune 100 and a majority of the Global
500, MERANT has already helped leading companies leverage the power of
e-business. MERANT e-business clients include Wrangler, Healthtex, AAFES, Glaxo
Wellcome, Infoseek, R.J.Reynolds Tobacco Company, Tower Records, Ellison
Windows, Towers Perrin, and more. Each of these companies is committed to
putting the power of the Internet to work in smart, new, profitable ways and
they turned to MERANT.
For more information on these innovative e-business implementations, click on
http://www.merant.com/egility/success. For more information on MERANT Egility,
visit the MERANT web site at http://www.merant.com/egility.
About MERANT
Founded in 1976, MERANT is a leader in Enterprise Application Development,
providing the products, people and processes to accelerate the customer's
business through the application of innovative information technology. MERANT
empowers organizations to transform their enterprise applications for the
changing technology and business requirements of the e-business environment,
manage the application development process, and provide integrated data
connectivity across the enterprise, from the mainframe to the Internet. A global
organization with nearly $400 million in annual revenues and more than 2,000
employees, MERANT has 500 technology partners and more than 5 million licenses
at over 35,000 customer sites - including the entire Fortune 100 and the
majority of the Global 500. For additional information on MERANT and its
solutions, visit the MERANT Web site at http://www.merant.com.
MERANT and Egility are trademarks of MERANT. All other trademarks as they appear
in this release are the property of their respective owners.
The following statement is made in accordance with the U.S. Private Securities
Litigation Act of 1995: This press release contains forward-looking statements
concerning future matters, including the features and functions of, and markets
for, solutions, products and services offered by MERANT and, MERANT's business
plans, initiatives and strategies.. Actual results might differ materially from
the results discussed in the forward-looking statements. These forward- looking
statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, including the risk factors
discussed in the Registration Statement on Form F-4 relating to
MERANT'sacquisition INTERSOLV, Inc., MERANT's Annual Report on Form 20-F for the
year ended January 31, 1998 and Quarterly Reports on Form 6-K for the quarters
ended April 30, 1998, July 31, 1998, October 31, 1998 and January 31, 1999, and
INTERSOLV's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended April 30, 1998 and
Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended July 31, 1998, each as filed
or submitted (as the case may be) with the SEC, as they may be updated and
amended with future filings.
<PAGE> 5
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.
MERANT plc
(Registrant)
Date: October 4, 1999 By: /s/ Kenneth A. Sexton
---------------------------------------
Kenneth A. Sexton
Chief Financial Officer