FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Troi Automatisering releases Troi Serial Plug-in 2.0 for FileMaker Pro 5

New ready-to-use Plug-in lets wide array of devices--from weight scales to
credit card swipes--to work directly with FileMaker Pro 5 databases

Alphen a/d Rijn, The Netherlands, October 18, 1999--Troi Automatisering
today announced the release of Troi Serial Plug-in 2.0, for FileMaker Pro 5
both on Mac OS and Windows.

This plug-in gives FileMaker Pro easy and powerful access to one (or more)
of the computer's serial ports and works completely cross platform. The
plug-in can read from and write to the serial ports of the computer
directly from FileMaker Pro without the need of a separate application.

Peter Baanen, company president, states that "The release of FileMaker Pro
5 gave databases ActiveX support on the Windows platform. The Serial
plug-in uses ActiveX and Apple Events on the Mac to get incoming data into
the database.
This makes for a really elegant cross-platform implementation!"

New control function

The Troi Serial Plug-in 2.0 is now very well suited for the use in
electronic devices that send data to the computer continuously, like most
electronic weighing scales. We have added a new "Serial-Control" function
for this. This function can temporarily suspend the incoming data stream
and resume it when you are interested in the data. An example file for a
weighing scale is included in the download.

Other suggested uses

Suggested uses for this plug-in are connecting to a modem, custom
switchboard dialing, caller ID, credit card swiping, controlling external
devices, data acquisition and data transfer. The plug-in can be used
whenever you need to send ASCII data over a serial port.

List of new features

Troi Serial Plug-in 2.0 has the following new features:

- Added support for FileMaker 5
- Added ActiveX support (on Windows) for Script Triggering
- Added Apple Event support (on Mac OS) for Script Triggering
- Added Control function, which can temporarily suspend the incoming
data stream.
- Added Wait for Match function, which can wait for a specific
character string before triggering.

Key features of the Troi Serial Plug-in

- Support for high speed connections up to 230 kbps.
- Unlimited number of serial ports can be opened.
- Buffering of data up to 64k per port.
- Dispatch Scripting(tm) can trigger a script for data entry into database.
- Clear sample databases and a user manual to get started quickly.

We invite you to test drive this version and would like to hear what _you_
can do with it! A fully functional version is available for downloading at
Troi's Web site.

The plug-in works with all types of serial ports including those added
through an extension card. This plug-in runs on any machine that is able to
run FileMaker Pro 4.0 or later. You can also license it to include the
plug-in with runtimes of the 4.0 Developer edition version.

Pricing & Availability

A fully functional try-before-you-buy version is immediately available for
downloading at Troi's Web site at:
(http://www.troi.com/software/serialplugin.html). Troi Serial Plug-in 2.0
is available for Mac OS and Windows95/98 and NT and costs US$ 69 per user.
Product upgrades are available at US$ 25 per user. Upgrade for licenses
purchased between September 1 and October 25 is free. Details on developer
licenses and multi-user discounts can be found on our web site. You can
order licenses via our web site.

About Troi Automatisering

Troi Automatisering is leading developer of cross platform FileMaker
plug-ins, databases and utilities. For more information, visit our Web site
at: (http://www.troi.com/).

Contact information

Peter Baanen (mailto:peter@troi.com)
Troi Automatisering
Vuurlaan 18
2408 NB Alphen a/d Rijn, The Netherlands
Telephone: +31-172-426606
Fax: +31-172-470539
Newsroom: (http://www.troi.com/news/)