U.S. Commerce Trade Official Honors
Northern California Companies for Export Achievements

San Francisco, CA - March 22, 2004 – Grant Aldonas, U.S. Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade today presented Matisse Software Inc., of Burlingame, and AmEnglish.com of Pleasanton with the Commerce Department’s Export Achievement Certificate. The award recognizes companies that have used the export services of the U.S. Commercial Service to make their first export sale or open new foreign markets.

“Every successful export to a foreign market is an investment in American jobs,” Aldonas said. “By expanding exports to foreign markets, which are home to 95% of the world’s consumers, U.S. companies can grow and create more jobs at home for American workers. In today’s global marketplace, small business owners, like these here today, are showing that America will not shrink from the competitive challenges, especially when we are so capable of meeting them head-on. And at Commerce, we will continue to work with them by promoting and insisting upon free and fair trade around the globe.”

Matisse Software Inc., a Burlingame based company, is a supplier of database software and services to companies. Since its inception in the early 1990’s Matisse has worked with leading companies across industry sectors in solving some of the most complex data management applications. U.S. Commercial Service trade specialists from the San Francisco U.S. Export Assistance Center have been working with Matisse for the past several years, and provided trade leads through USAID.

AmEnglish.com provides products and services to improve communication skills for non-native speakers of English at the intermediate and advanced levels. These products are designed for both working professionals and college students. Over the past five years, the Commercial Service’s U.S. Silicon Valley Export Assistance Center has assisted AmEnglish in a number of foreign markets by forwarding trade leads and referrals, providing relevant market research and arranging meetings with overseas buyers. This work has provided added-value assistance in AmEnglish's sales to Japan, Korea, India and Saudi Arabia - all new-to-market sales for this client.

The U.S. Export Assistance Centers in San Francisco and Silicon Valley are part of the global network of the U.S. Commercial Service, a Commerce Department agency that helps small and medium-sized U.S. businesses sell their products and services globally. The U.S. Commerce Department’s Commercial Service network includes offices in 108 domestic cities and 85 countries. More information is available at www.export.gov

About Matisse Software
Matisse Software, Inc. delivers database software and services to companies that need to rapidly, and cost effectively, develop and deploy scalable applications and services. Matisse, the company's flagship product, is the first ever SQL-Object programmable data server on the market. Matisse has enabled developers across the world to implement applications and services that require high performance on complex data that goes beyond the modeling capabilities of legacy relational databases. The Matisse database has been powering mission critical systems including nuclear power plants and pharmaceutical plants for over a decade. Matisse Software Inc. is a privately held company. For more information visit www.matisse.com.

###

Matisse Software, Inc. Press Contact
Claude Ezran
cezran@matisse.com
www.matisse.com

US Department of Commerce, Press Contact
Mary-Brown Brewer
202-482-3809