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		Ashton-Tate And Sun Microsystems Sign Joint 
		Product Development And Marketing Agreement

SunFLASH Vol 13 #24 					 January 1990 
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TORRANCE, Calif.--January 23, 1990--Ashton-Tate Corporation
(NASDAQ:TATE) and Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ:SUNW) today announced the
signing of a joint development and marketing agreement to make dBASE IV
available for Sun computer systems.  Terms of the agreement were not
disclosed.

This announcement marks Ashton-Tate's entry into the Sun workstation
market with dBASE IV, a productivity data management and application
development environment.  dBASE software is the PC industry standard
for data management with more than 2.5 million users worldwide and in
excess of 10,000 application programs.  dBASE IV includes 4GL (4th
Generation Language) tools such as query, report, form, symbolic
debugger, template language and automatic code generator.

The agreement also supports Sun Microsystems' strategy of offering
industry-standard, shrink-wrapped UNIX(R) software to users of its
powerful desktop systems such as the SPARCstation(TM) 1.  Product
development has been underway since June of 1988.

"dBASE IV for Sun allows us to address the needs of our dBASE customers
who told us that they need power beyond what a PC can currently provide
and need the level of computing power offered by UNIX-based
workstations," said Ed Esber, president and chief executive officer of
Ashton-Tate.  "We selected the Sun platform because of its leadership
in the workstation market and the growing acceptance of SPARC(TM) by
power users of desktop systems," Esber added.

"The product we're developing gives Sun workstation users the PC-level
ease of use and 4GL productivity tools of dBASE IV," Esber continued.
"dBASE products have long been recognized in the PC community for their
power and flexibility.  With dBASE IV for Sun, Sun customers will have
immediate access to thousands of existing dBASE applications and a
large pool of dBASE expertise."

"Our partnership with Ashton-Tate underscores a major shift in the
computer industry that greatly benefits users," said Scott McNealy,
chief executive officer of Sun Microsystems.  "Now they can have dBASE
IV, a leading PC application, on the next-generation hardware of the
nineties.  Sun's SPARCstation platform features the power of SPARC and
UNIX plus the easy to use OPEN LOOK(TM) graphical user interface.  Sun
and Ashton-Tate expect the resulting workgroup productivity gains to be
phenomenal."

dBASE IV for Sun will allow current dBASE users to leverage their
investments in applications, data and training by enabling them to port
applications and share data between PCs and workstations.  For those
customers who are not currently using dBASE products, dBASE IV for Sun
will complement their existing database system with an easy-to-use and
productive language and tool set.  dBASE IV for Sun brings the power of
UNIX to a wider group of people.

Ashton-Tate's commitment to the UNIX market can also be seen in the
company's investment in Interbase Software Corporation of Bedford,
Massachusetts.  Interbase is a Sun Catalyst Advantage Vendor that
designs advanced database management systems for workstations and
minicomputers.

Sun Microsystems, Inc., headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., is a
leading worldwide supplier of network-based distributed computing
systems, including professional workstations, servers and UNIX
operating system and productivity software.

Ashton-Tate Corporation, based in Torrance, Calif., is one of the
largest developers and marketers of business software worldwide.  Its
products cover five application areas including database management
systems, word processing, business graphics, integrated decision
support systems and spreadsheets.

Ashton-Tate has a majority interest in Interbase Software Corporation.
Interbase develops and markets distributed relational database
management systems for Sun, Apollo, HP and DEC workstations and
minicomputers.

###

Ashton-Tate, the Ashton-Tate logo, dBASE and dBASE IV are registered
trademarks of Ashton-Tate Corporation.  SPARCstation and SPARC are
trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc.  UNIX is a registered trademark
and OPEN LOOK is a trademark of AT&T.  All other products or services
mentioned in this document are identified by the trademarks or service
marks of their respective companies or organizations.

Press Contact:  Cindee Mock (415) 336-3563
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Sunflash is an electronic mail news service from Sun Microsystems,
Ft. Lauderdale, FL. Please address comments to John McLaughlin
(sun!sunvice!johnj or johnj@sunvice.sun.COM). (305) 776-7770.