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Transitive Corporation Selected as Technology Pioneer for 2007 by the World Economic Forum

LOS GATOS, Calif., – December 4, 2006 – The World Economic Forum today announced 47 Technology Pioneers for 2007. Transitive Corporation, the leading provider of software that enables transportability of software applications across multiple hardware platforms, has been selected as one of these Technology Pioneers. The Technology Pioneers were nominated by the world’s leading venture capital and technology companies. The final selection from 225 nominees was made by a panel of leading technology experts appointed by the World Economic Forum. Technology Pioneers 2007 are invited to attend the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum to be held in Davos, Switzerland from 24-28 January 2007.

Transitive’s QuickTransit hardware virtualization technology enables software applications written for one processor/OS pair to run on another platform without the need to ‘port’ or rewrite code. QuickTransit technology currently supports the PC, workstation and server markets, and is poised to expand into many other technology platforms in the future. By breaking the software/hardware bonds, organizations can transition to newer, higher performance, low-maintenance, energy-efficient platforms, without spending valuable human or financial resources on re-writing legacy software. In the server market, for example, this means that Transitive’s global customers can quickly and easily remove outdated and inefficient IT hardware from their data centers without disruption to users, while at the same time extending the useful life of key software applications. This transformation also allows organizations to more rapidly standardize on commodity-priced IT infrastructure, which delivers operational cost savings, improved service levels, simplified maintenance, faster responsiveness as well as lower energy costs and reduced environmental impact. 

“Our ultimate mission is to allow any software application to run on any hardware platform,” said Bob Wiederhold, chairman, president and CEO of Transitive.  “As a recognized Technology Pioneer, we will continue to seek new opportunities to apply our solutions to a broader range of technologies so that our customers and partners can migrate to new platforms that are higher performing, energy-efficient, easily maintained, lower cost, or all of the above. We look forward to interacting with the Technology Pioneers community and to contributing to the program’s initiatives to harness technology innovations for positive uses throughout the world.”

Technology Pioneers are companies that have been identified as developing and applying highly transformational and innovative technologies in the areas of energy, biotechnology and health, and information technology. This year’s class of companies has been selected not only because of the cutting-edge work undertaken by these organizations, but also because their work has potential long-term impact on business and society.

“The competition to become a Technology Pioneer has been more intense than ever. It is evident that technology and innovation are playing a key role in the shifting power equation at a global level. Driving this shift is the tremendous amount of innovation taking place outside of traditional hubs. The wide geographic spread of this year’s Technology Pioneers is a testament to this trend. We are pleased to welcome these exciting companies to our Community of Technology Pioneers, and look forward to engaging these industry leaders of the future into the community of the World Economic Forum,” said Peter Torreele, managing director of the World Economic Forum.

To be selected as a Technology Pioneer, a company must be involved in the development of life-changing technology innovation and have the potential for long-term impact on business and society. In addition, it must demonstrate visionary leadership, show all the signs of being a long-standing market leader – and its technology must be proven. Previous Technology Pioneers have included Autonomy, Cambridge Silicon Radio, Encore Software, and Google.

The selection criteria include:

  1. Innovation. The company’s technology must be truly innovative. A new version or repackaging of an already well-accepted technological solution does not qualify as an innovation. The innovation should be recent – not more than two years old. The company should invest significantly in R&D.
  2. Potential Impact. This company’s technology must have the potential to have a substantial long-term impact on business and society in the future.
  3. Growth and Sustainability. The company should have all the signs of being a long-term market leader and should have well-formulated plans for future development and growth.
  4. Proof of Concept. The company must have a product on the market or have proven practical applications of the technology. Companies in “stealth” mode and companies with untested ideas or models will not qualify.
  5. Leadership. The company must have visionary leadership that plays a critical role in driving the company towards reaching its goals.
  6. Status. The company must not currently be a Member of the World Economic Forum. This criterion applies to the parent company – thus wholly-owned subsidiaries of large firms are not eligible.

About Transitive Corporation
Transitive is a pioneer and leader in providing solutions that allow the transportability of software applications across multiple hardware platforms. The company’s QuickTransit hardware virtualization solution allows software applications that have been compiled for one processor/operating system to run on another without any source code or binary changes and at speeds comparable to native ports. QuickTransit allows data center managers to transport legacy enterprise applications quickly and easily from outdated, proprietary hardware to modern, industry-standard platforms without incurring the costs and delays of porting projects, and with no disruption to end users. QuickTransit also facilitates computer companies’ migration to new hardware platforms; dramatically reduces software developers’ cost, risk, and time-to-market in supporting multiple hardware platforms; and makes significantly more software available for more hardware platforms. QuickTransit technology provides the engine for Apple’s Rosetta translation software and is currently shipping on all of Apple’s Intel-based computers.

Transitive Corporation is located in Los Gatos, California with a research and development team in Manchester, England. The company is privately held, with funding participation by Pond Venture Partners Ltd., Manchester Technology Fund, Crescendo Ventures and Accel Partners. For more information, please visit Transitive’s website at www.transitive.com.

About the World Economic Forum
The World Economic Forum (http://www.weforum.org), based in Geneva, Switzerland, is an independent organization committed to improving the state of the world. Funded by the contributions of 1,000 of the world's foremost corporations, the Forum acts in the spirit of entrepreneurship in the global public interest to further economic growth and social progress. The Forum serves its members and society by creating partnerships between and among business, political, intellectual and other leaders of society to define, discuss and advance key issues on the global agenda. Incorporated in 1971 as a foundation, the World Economic Forum is impartial and not-for-profit, and is tied to no political, partisan or national interests. In 1995 the Forum was awarded NGO consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.

Transitive, QuickTransit and the Transitive logo are registered trademarks of Transitive Corporation and/or its affiliates in the United States and other countries. All other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

“ The advantages of the virtualization trend are many and varied, but many datacenters may be forced to launch multiple virtualization strategies or expensive porting projects to account for the multiple platforms they maintain. Cross-platform virtualization eliminates this obstacle, allowing datacenters to take a single, simple approach to virtualization that delivers the maximum benefits from initiatives related to server consolidation, disaster recovery, energy efficiency, and legacy migration. By enabling immediate software migration to chosen strategic server platforms, we believe that Transitive can help eliminate much of the difficulty and expense that companies face when upgrading hardware.”

Tony Iams
VP and Senior Analyst
Ideas International