Chelmsford, MA. – October 29, 2001 -- Ready-to-Run Software today announced that it has signed an agreement with Microsoft Corp. to assist with the continuing efforts of advancing the cross-platform interoperability of the Microsoft .NET Passport service. Ready-to-Run Software (RTR) will provide engineering and maintenance services to migrate, enable, test and sustain .NET Passport capabilities within non-Windows configurations. Initially, these platform configurations include both Sun^® Solaris^® and Red Hat^® Linux^®.

"Microsoft is excited to be working with a leader in cross-platform software services in an effort to continue developing .NET Passport interoperability across many platforms," said Christopher Payne, Vice President of Marketing for .NET My Services at Microsoft Corp. "The strength and skills of RTR in understanding and addressing both migration and interface requirements within diverse, heterogeneous networks as exemplified today by the Internet can be significant in unleashing the full benefits of .NET to many organizations."

"We understand that emerging Web Services will be an essential element to the enterprise and, in fact, is a vital next step in fulfilling objectives such as increased productivity, an improved on-line experience and an accelerated supply chain," said Jeff Moskow, CEO of Ready-to-Run Software. "RTR is pleased to continue our work with Microsoft in the development and deployment of the critical Internet foundation layer provided by .NET Passport authentication. Microsoft has taken the initiative in creating an environment and building the technologies to support the development and implementation of the next generation of web applications. Our company is helping to unleash this new paradigm by making it more broadly enabled."

With more than 200 million accounts, .NET Passport is the leading authentication service providing single sign-in across multiple Web sites. .NET Passport users can use one sign-in name and password across multiple Web sites and services. In addition, .NET Passport offers significant benefit for Web site and service operators because it helps streamline sign-in and registration processes, giving customers a secure, customized experience. For more information about Passport, visit http://www.passport.com/.

Authentication is the process of uniquely and securely identifying a user, after which particular privileges on a particular site, service or network can be determined. Enabling and understanding how authentication services can be implemented across platforms is a key element of the entire Microsoft .NET strategy. The agreement with Ready-to-Run Software is a cornerstone to ensuring .NET Passport interoperability.

Ready-to-Run Software is the industry leader in software porting and cross-platform services helping companies migrate and support their solutions across various platforms, operating systems, architectures and technologies. Operating since 1991, RTR clients include companies such as IBM Corporation, Microsoft, 3M Corporation, Sun Microsystems, America Online, Agilent, Alcatel, TRW, and SpeechWorks International.