FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MICRO FOCUS BECOMES IBM ADVANCED BUSINESS PARTNER

- Building on a History of Working with IBM to Maximize the Value of Enterprise Applications, Processes and Skills -

NEWBURY, England and ROCKVILLE, Md., Dec. 12, 2006 - Micro Focus® (LSE: MCRO.L), a leading provider of enterprise application modernization software, today announces that it has achieved IBM Advanced Business Partner status. This accomplishment reflects Micro Focus' commitment to provide joint customers with application development and modernization solutions for IBM's key computing platforms, including the IBM System z and zSeries mainframes.

With today's announcement, Micro Focus is extending its Enterprise Application Modernization capabilities based on the strong foundation of its core COBOL expertise. Advanced Partner status will ultimately help joint customers improve the value of their enterprise applications, processes and skills by using industry-standard services technology, within a Services-Oriented Architecture (SOA), on IBM's flagship mainframe platform.

Micro Focus has long been recognized for z/OS development tools, and is also supporting the IBM platform with the recent release of Micro Focus Server Express 5.0 for zSeries Linux. Today's announcement also builds on Micro Focus' stated support for the Eclipse Framework as well as its acquisition of HAL Knowledge Solutions to increase the breadth and depth of its Application Portfolio Management capabilities. [1] In

continuing its commitment to the mainframe, Micro Focus is leading the industry in modernization solutions.

"Micro Focus' renewed commitment to z/OS underscores the importance of the mainframe," said Carl Gehr, Lead Developer and Principal Consultant for Edge Information Group. "A majority of the world's business applications are based on COBOL and having Micro Focus support IBM customers is important to modernizing and maintaining these applications."

"We are very excited about our enhanced relationship with IBM to provide products that help our joint customers efficiently deliver business results," said Stephen Kelly, chief executive officer of Micro Focus. "Our commitment to IBM is coupled with our commitment to customers to offer a compelling Enterprise Application Modernization approach that improves the business value of enterprise applications by embracing the full capabilities of the modern IBM System z9™."

About Micro Focus

Micro Focus provides innovative software that helps companies to dramatically improve the business value of their enterprise applications. Micro Focus Enterprise Application Modernization software enables customers' business applications to respond rapidly to market changes and embrace modern architectures with reduced cost and risk. For more information please visit www.microfocus.com.

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Micro Focus is a registered trademark and Server Express is a trademark of Micro Focus. All other products mentioned in this announcement are trademarks of their respective owners.