SUN MICROSYSTEMS AND LOTUS SIGN JOINT DEVELOPMENT AND MARKETING AGREEMENT
 
SAN FRANCISCO-- July 18, 1989-- Sun Microsystems and Lotus Development
Corporation today announced the signing of a joint development and
marketing agreement aimed at strengthening each company's efforts to
provide solutions for the emerging desktop UNIX(R) marketplace.  The
news was made public at a seminar held here.

Under the agreement, Lotus will develop application software for Sun's
three computing platforms -- its SPARC(TM)/OPEN LOOK(TM)-based
workstations; 68000-based Sun-3(TM) line; and the 80386-based
Sun386i(TM) -- as well as for other SPARC compatibles.

Financial terms of the agreement and specific product timetables were
not disclosed.

The development efforts with Sun represent Lotus' entry into the
RISC/UNIX environment.  Since Sun's SPARC systems are compatible with
SPARC systems from other vendors, application software offered by Lotus
will have a broad hardware base.

The two companies will build applications that exploit UNIX and will
explore approaches to evolving UNIX-based application programming
technologies in networked environments. The agreement also stipulates
that Sun and Lotus will work together to better understand customers'
needs for UNIX applications.  The two companies plan to develop methods
for distributing and supporting these products.

"This partnership with Sun is an important element in our strategy to
give customers compatible applications that run across the mix of
hardware platforms and operating systems that comprise their computing
environments," said Jim Manzi, Lotus president and chief executive
officer.

"UNIX is significant to us because of its presence on many platforms,
its comprehensive networking capabilities and its influence in the
movement toward standards," he added.  "We are excited that our first
entry into UNIX is with Sun because of its leadership in UNIX and
networking, in the development of high-performance, low-cost RISC
systems, and because we both share a similar vision of customer needs
in this marketplace."

According to Scott McNealy, president and CEO of Sun: "The demand for
distributed computing and standards is leading to the emergence of a
new computing platform based on SPARC, UNIX and the easy-to-use OPEN
LOOK graphical interface.  An alliance between Sun and a top software
company like Lotus gives corporate users the platform they need to take
them into the 90s.

"Unlike the standard platforms of the past, SPARC makes possible a
range of systems -- from laptops to supercomputers -- that all run the
identical application software," McNealy added.  He said that there are
now more than 600 applications for SPARC-compatible systems, known as
SPARCware(TM), which are included in Sun's Catalyst program of
third-party software vendors.

"Momentum is clearly growing for SPARC/UNIX workstations and we expect
this announcement to further that momentum," said Manzi.  "Customers
worldwide have told us they want Lotus application software available
on Sun's hardware platforms.  Our two companies are providing extensive
resources to accelerate this effort," he said.

Headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., Lotus Development Corp. is the
leading developer of applications for personal computers and
information services delivered on CD-ROM.

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.


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Press Contact:  Kay Hart (415) 336-3561