Company Press Release

First Macintosh USB Auto-Restart Device Ensures Server Availability --

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., USA at Macworld Expo Booth #3446 -- Sophisticated Circuits gave the first demonstration of Kick-off!, the first USB member of its PowerKey family of server availability and automation products for the Macintosh platform. A highly integrated hardware/software solution, Kick-off! provides a fully automated system for easing management of machines and ensuring optimal up-time for USB Macintoshes worldwide. Expected to ship in April, Kick-off! is list priced at US$199. Macworld Expo attendees can see Kick-off! demonstrated at Booth #3446 today through the end of the Macworld trade show.

Kick-off! continuously monitors unattended computers for problems and, if necessary, automatically relaunches applications, relaunches the Finder, or reboots the system by briefly switching off its AC power. Kick-off! sports a similar feature set and application monitoring as Rebound! 2.0, also announced. Kick-off!, however, is different than Rebound! in that it utilizes a USB interface instead of ADB and resets the CPU by cycling its power rather than by sending the keyboard reset sequence.

Pricing and Availability:
Kick-off! will be list priced at US$199, with significant quantity discounts available for bulk buyers. Kick-off! is expected to be available directly from Sophisticated Circuits, Inc. in April of 1999. Information about Kick-off! and other Sophisticated Circuits' products.

ADB Auto-Restart Device Software Now With Advanced Logging, Event Messaging and Updated Automatic Crash Recovery

BOTHELL, Wash., -- at Macworld Expo Booth #3446 -- Sophisticated Circuits, Inc. announced the Rebound! 2.0 software upgrade for its popular ADB auto-restart device, now with advanced logging, event messaging and significant advancements in automatic crash detection, recovery and prevention. Now for the first time, Rebound! 2.0 can relaunch individual applications, keep detailed logs and automatically notify administrators when priority events occur.

In a related announcement, Sophisticated Circuits today for the first time began demonstrating Kick-off!, an auto-restart device designed for USB-equipped Macs. Kick-off! will have software features similar to Rebound! 2.0. The Rebound! 2.0 software upgrades will be available for download in February, 1999 for $19.95. Any Rebound! purchased in 1999 can be upgraded for free. Rebound! is available for $99 directly from Sophisticated Circuits.

"Rebound! was designed as a simple restart device, but many customers requested that we include some of the more advanced features of our PowerKey Pro products in Rebound!," said Jonathan Feinstein of Sophisticated Circuits. "We incorporated those wishes and much more into a powerful new package which retains the heralded ease-of-use and affordability of its predecessor."

Advanced Logging Gives Admins Details:
Rebound! 2.0's new, advanced logging feature replaces the simple logging dialog box with a sophisticated logging facility which logs both system and application activities. Now system administrators can view a detailed log including the date, time, priority, source and nature of activity, choosing from activities such as: when an application was launched; when it was quit or automatically restarted due to a problem; and when the system crashed and was rebooted. Administrators can make their logs as simple or complex as they desire by custom specifying activities included in the log. Applications can also write to the log, allowing administrators to centralize both system and application monitoring. In addition, Rebound! 2.0 includes a W*API plug-in module to allow remote viewing of the log from any web browser. Now, with Rebound!'s new Remote Log Viewer Plug-in, administrators get up-to-the-second data, without the extra overhead and latency of periodically regenerating HTML files.

Remote Notification Keeps Admins Informed:
Administrators responsible for unattended servers at remote locations can now receive automatic notification of a problem. Rebound! 2.0 logs messages locally, plus now immediately forwards high-priority alerts to an e-mail address. Remote notification features can be easily incorporated with PageNow! from Mark/Space Softworks to instantly forward email alerts to a pager.

Administrators can now receive messages in one central location -- a huge advantage for administrators responsible for machines at multiple sites. Log messages can now also invoke all the newest commands in AppleScript, allowing AppleScript users complete, automated control over error handling.

Expanded Application Monitoring:
Rebound!'s comprehensive crash detection for applications uses a unique, two-level approach-- simple monitoring and Application Watchdog Timer monitoring. Simple monitoring, which requires no developer support or system overhead, intercepts application crashes that typically result in the infamous "Application Unexpectedly Quit" error message. Traditionally, Rebound! incorporated MacsBug to achieve simple monitoring. Now with Rebound! 2.0, simple monitoring has been integrated into the Rebound! software without requiring the use of MacsBug.

Application Watchdog Timer monitoring goes far beyond simple monitoring, using patent-pending "Application Watchdog Timers" to detect several additional error conditions which can cause an application to fail without actually quitting. Developers add a few simple "hooks" to their programs to let Rebound! monitor their internal workings. A free, open source PowerKey Tickler WebServer Plug-in is available that adds this support to any W*API-compatible application.

Most major Mac server-related software vendors currently support Sophisticated Circuits' Application Watchdog Timer technology in their products, including: Apple Computer, Inc.; StarNine Technologies, Inc.; Maxum Development Corp.; Imagina, Inc.; Purity Software, Inc.; Tenon Intersystems; Stalker Software, Inc.; Spider Island Software; MDG Computer Services, Inc.; Social Engineering Inc.; and Fog City Software.

"Developers immediately saw the significant advantages of supporting our Application Watchdog Timer technology." Feinstein explained. "Each developer knows the inner workings of their software better than anyone on the outside ever could. By providing us with status information from within their running applications, we are able to detect and respond to many additional kinds of problems."

Enhanced Crash Recovery:
Sophisticated Circuits' patent-pending Application Watchdog Timer technology enables Rebound! to respond to problems it detects using a three-level fall-back mechanism. Now, Rebound! 2.0 has the totally new ability to automatically relaunch a single failed application, which otherwise leaves the operating system and other applications running.

If the application fails to relaunch, or fails a user-set number of relaunches within a specified period (such as "3 times within the past 8 hours"), Rebound! will then progress to initiate a "clean" Finder restart. If a Finder restart fails, or if the system crashes, Rebound! will fall back to resetting the computer by sending the command-control-power-on keyboard reset sequence over the ADB port.

Rebound's new bookmark capabilities now gives administrators the option of ensuring the system recovers exactly the way it was. Any time Rebound! 2.0 restarts the system, it can now automatically relaunch all applications that were bookmarked as running on the computer at the time it crashed.

Crash Avoidance:
Rebound! 2.0 now allows administrators to schedule periodic restarts of the computer, to prevent crucial problems before they occur. Automatic restarting of the system and bookmarked applications enables regular "house cleaning" and helps eliminate common problems and performance degradation caused by gradual memory leaks or fragmentation from long, uninterrupted software usage. Whether resulting from a scheduled restart or failure recovery, all applications running at the time the computer is restarted are bookmarked and automatically restored.

About Sophisticated Circuits:
Founded in 1984, Sophisticated Circuits, Inc. is a privately held corporation located in Woodinville, WA. Sophisticated Circuits, Inc. develops elegant, highly integrated hardware/software tools which make the lives of computer professionals easier by enhancing the reliability, remote access and automation capabilities of servers and personal computers. Further information on Sophisticated Circuits may be obtained by accessing Sophisticated Circuits' Web site, calling 800-769-3773, or sending e-mail to info@sophisticated.com. International inquiries can also reach Sophisticated Circuits by calling +425/485-7979, or sending a fax to +425/485-7172.